The writer's field guide to the craft of fiction / Michael Noll
- Author:
- Noll, Michel
- Published:
- Austin, Texas : A Strange Object, [2018]
- Copyright Date:
- ©2018
- Physical Description:
- xiii, 283 pages ; 23 cm
- Contents:
- Introduction: a grand theory of not knowing what you're doing -- How to use this book (or, how to be taught to write fiction) -- Part 1. Tools of the trade. How to start and keep writing : Drop an elephant into the room: "The heart" by Amelia Gray ; Give your characters what they wish for: "Lazarus dying" by Owen Egerton ; Let a character respond to an expected scene: Jam on the vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett ; Turn a premise into drama: Percival Everett by Virgil Russell by Percival Everett -- How to make setting dramatic : Take a tour: "Pomp and circumstances" by Nina McConigley ; Break setting into neighborhoods: "It will be awesome before spring" by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho ; Give setting a human geography: Gone girl by Gillian Flynn ; Manipulate characters with setting: "Waiting for takeoff: by Lydia Davis -- How to create compelling characters : Create characters with a single, definitive trait: The regional office is under attack! by Manuel Gonzalez ; Make your characters into something new: Half-resurrection blues by Daniel José Older ; Define your character's emotional response to conflict: "My views on the darkness" by Ben Marcus ; Generate tension by giving characters unequal access to an object of desire: "Proving up" by Karen Russell -- How to write scenes : Give your characters space to themselves: Honky tonk samurai by Joe R. Lansdale ; Use repetition to increase tension to an unsustainable level: "Encounters with unexpected animals" by Bret Anthony Johnston ; Write action sequences with minimal choreography: The flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner ; Make interiority the focus in action scenes: Open city by Teju Cole -- How to make dialogue snap : Create a power imbalance: NW by Zadie Smith ; Turn dialogue into narration: Pull me under by Kelly Luce ; Critique how a character talks: Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois ; Resist conclusion: The peripheral by William Gibson -- How to move through time and space : Slide between the particular and general: "Nobody you know" by Elizabeth Tallent ; Create space for all of your narrative tools: "The night of the satellite" by T. C. Boyle ; Move from action to interiority: A brief history of seven killings by Marlon James ; Create Simultaneity: Salvage the bones by Jesmyn Ward -- Part 2. Lenses for the artist's vision. How to create structure : Interview your character: "Boys town" by Jim Shepard ; Juxtapose emotional states: Who do you love by Jennifer Weiner ; Repeat yourself: "The lost & found department of Greater Boston" by Elizabeth McCracken ; Use storytelling to expand your story's world: The moor's account by Laila Lalami -- How to drive plot forward : Add plot elements that change the course of the story: Station eleven by Emily St. John Mandel ; Predict the future: The queen of the night by Alexander Chee ; Turn a character's desire into knuckle-biting suspense: Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz ; Use the possibility of escape to raise the stakes: An untamed state by Roxane Gay -- Develop your prose style : Riff off a single detail: "The semplica-girl diaries" by George Saunders ; Use language and style to surprise the reader: "Summer boys" by Ethan Rutherford ; Leap between linguistic frames: Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt ; Refresh an old story with new prose: The radiant road by Katherine Catmull -- Part 3. Putting it together on page one. Migratory animals by Mary Helen Specht : Introduce setting with a few strong details--or one detail viewed many ways ; Get the reader's attention with a statement that needs explaining--then explain it in an intriguing way ; Use figurative language, but be quick about it ; Show readers the kind of story they're reading -- Long division by Kiese Laymon : Give the voice something to comment on that isn't itself ; Introduce something interesting that will happen, but don't tell us yet how it happened ; Introduce and then break a rule -- The friendship of criminals by Robert Glinski : Start with a shared experience and make it unfamiliar ; Make a one type character seem like another type character ; Add an element of danger -- Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng : Begin with incompatible ideas ; Introduce character personalities in a single line ; Use short sentences -- Conclusion: now what? -- Appendix: fiction by narrative trope.
- Summary:
- "THE WRITER'S FIELD GUIDE TO THE CRAFT OF FICTION offers a refreshing approach to the craft of fiction writing. It takes a single page from forty contemporary novels and short stories, identifies techniques used by the writers, and presents approachable exercises and prompts that allow anyone to put those techniques to immediate use in their own work. Encompassing everything from micro (how to "write pretty" and "move between action and interiority") to macro (how to "create characters" and "drive plot forward"), and even how to put it all together on page one, this is a field guide for anyone who wants to start writing now (or get some shiny new gear for their fiction toolbox.)" -- Publisher's description
- Subject(s):
- ISBN:
- 9780998518411
0998518417
View MARC record | catkey: 22860440