Revealed: Come and See, Naomi Bonfanti

[NaomiBonfanti]

Write Away:

 

Overall, this text was useful for me, in that its balance between instruction and examples is well-composed. It is far easier to become immersed in the theory of the instruction with well-chosen examples of the applied practices, and the examples of dialogue were most eye-opening for me.

On page 108, included is an example from For the Sake of Elena, in which you can see the use of animated characterization. The dialogue portrayed how seamlessly dialogue can develop character and character relationships, rather than contrived dialogue with flat character animation. Dialogue is what I struggle with most, generally, when I write fiction.

On page 113, still within the chapter on Dialogue, George encourages aspiring authors to carefully observe and listen to people speak. It is quite profound, though seeming obvious, that the most successful path toward realistic dialogue is to be well-verse in speaking with actual people in the literal world.

 

 

Writing The Breakout Novel

 

This book is written in an organized, compartmentalized structure, which is helpful for me, personally. I am by nature, easily overloaded with excessive information and therefore, I organize my own writing in a very structured manner. A novel can be an ominous, overwhelming task,in which case structure is imperative to keep the process clean and organized.This structure of this text made for easy reading and reverting back to sections for further study.

 

Most helpful in this text is the chapter on Characters. Perhaps I found this chapter most helpful, because, aside from Dialogue, Characters is my weakest area in writing fiction. Also, on Page 103, Maas encourages writers to be bold and take risks with "larger-than-life" characters, allowing the characters to do and say things that people may not ordinarily be audacious enough to do/say. Somehow I found this advice freeing. I always thought characters needed to ring true (which they do!), and this restricted me to keep them within bounds which apply to people I've known in life, personally. However, it is necessary to take risks in order to create interesting and enthralling characters.

 

 

The Writing Life

This book is not as much an instructional text as an insightful text into the life of writer, as it is so named. Rather than a book on instruction, the writer offers a dose of reality for aspiring writers and non-writers, alike.

Most of Dillard's likely resonates with most writers, as she is insightful with the metaphors she chooses in order to depict the struggle of a writer. One anecdote which resonated with me, personally, was the painter who became a painter because he "liked the smell of paint." Dillard relates this same idea to writers who like sentences.

Another anecdote, which metaphorically represents part of the novel-writing process is found on pages 40-44.

The wood can be thought to be narrative leading to the climax, or denouement. Dillard says you have to look past the wood and aim for the block; likewise, a writer must look past the process of the narrative and stay focused on the plot, which must unfold according to the outline, smoothly extending to the climax and finally, the denouement.

 

That being said, I did not enjoy reading this book and I would not read it again. I personally found it depressing and discouraging. I have been creative my whole life, as well as introverted. I already know how lonely it can be to be an introvert, how frustrating it can be to consistently struggle to morph creative inspiration into a working piece of literary art. Reading this book felt akin to recounting the loneliness and most trapped portions of my writing process. I would rather read something uplifting, because writing can be exhilarating and relaxing, as well as frustrating and lonesome.

I would not choose to read this book again, nor would I quickly recommend it for reading.

 

The Art of Fiction

 

Though I enjoyed reading this text and gleaned insight from the text, the format was not a structurally-organized as was Writing The Breakout Novel. However, I liked how Gardner kept his focus on creating a work of art when composing narrative.

In particular, on page 18, Gardner addresses the common assumption that writers must write about what they know. He says to not write about what you know, but write about what you enjoy reading. Though writers should write about a topic they are able to master and convincingly portray, imagination still needs room to breathe, and strictly writing about what I "know" can become a dead-end.

On page 188, Gardner includes the Fichte's Curve. It is a visual progression of suspense/action in plot outlining, and is very helpful in keeping in mind while striving to keep the narrative energetic. Though this isn't directly different from what is used in the Author Salon program, it is a different approach. The focus is on the use and integration of action and suspense in order to keep the reader curious.

Though Fichte's curve is useful in guiding the plot toward climax and denouement, the chart on the following page is too involved and becomes crowded, once applied to practical plot outline.

I will likely refer back to this text, and especially keep the illustrated Fichte's Curve in mind when outlining a manuscript.