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Bezig met laden... Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniquesdoor James Hynes
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. This book/DVD combination contains 24 half-hour video lectures and a corresponding chapter in the book that summarizes the important points. The chapters average seven pages in length and can be read quickly after viewing the DVD. The topics provide a thorough coverage of the main topics in writing fiction including character development, narration, dialogue, plotting, point of view, and pacing. The narrator is knowledgeable, articulate, and effective on camera, but the production values are bare-bones. The narrator faces one direction for a couple of minutes, then turns 45 degrees to face the other direction. A few images and graphics are used, and occasionally a list of points of emphasis appears on the screen, but for the most part, the presentation is a straight-forward lecture. Each chapter concludes with a writing exercise and a brief statement of the next topic to be covered. I found this to be an excellent overview of writing from a scholarly point of view, but I doubt it will be useful in teaching users how to write. The exercises, for example, are not particularly useful. This material will be most satisfying to readers who desire an intellectual analysis of important considerations in writing and evaluating fiction. Learning how to write isn't something you can do by reading books about writing or listening to lectures on the subject unless you are, at the same time, actually writing and doing it seriously. Why? Because theory is all well and good, but until you can actually see how these things operate in your own work, it's really difficult to assimilate those lessons. I'm glad I came to this course after having begun to ghost write. The lessons I've learned by actually creating someone else's vision of a story mesh beautifully with what Professor Hynes is telling us in his lectures. He talks about structure and technique, of course, but he also covers topics like research, and the why of writing. I often found myself nodding vigorously as he discussed things like revising as you go vs. having to do it all once you've created a draft. (I've done it both ways, and I'll revise as I write, thanks very much, because by the time I hit the end of the story, I'm so sick of it that I never want to look at it again. For at least six months anyway.) His lecture on the balance between research and imagination struck familiar chords with me since it's often a difficult balance to maintain. Now, when I'm doing fiction research, I want to put a sticky note on my computer screen that says, "Don't' be a show-off!" This is a course where the companion PDF is hugely useful because you will probably want to follow along and annotate, add bookmarks, and use the (substantial) bibliography to follow up on ideas in the lectures. But it isn't just for writers, or at least I don't think it ought to be, necessarily. Readers could benefit from listening, and learning what it is they're seeing on the page, learning what kind of planning goes into the books they enjoy, or perhaps why they didn't enjoy a particular book as much as they thought they would. Yeah, I know that's a lot of work, and no, it doesn't have a plot or a romance, or even a happy ending where the antagonist is foiled and the protagonist lives happily ever after, but if you love fiction, why not learn more about it? Writing has made me a better reader. Possibly a weirder one, it's hard to say. So for working writers, this course is valuable. For aspiring ones, it may be a little scary. For readers, it might be eye-opening. Something for everyone here, at least in my opinion. And how can that be bad? geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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HTML: Whether you're huddled around the campfire, composing an email to a friend, or sitting down to write a novel, storytelling is fundamental to human nature. But as any writer can tell you, the blank page can be daunting. It's tough to know where to get started, what details to include in each scene, and how to move from the kernel of an idea to a completed manuscript. Writing great fiction isn't a gift reserved for the talented few. There is a craft to storytelling that can be learned, and studying writing techniques can be incredibly rewarding - both personally and professionally. Even if you don't have ambitions of penning the next Moby-Dick , you'll find value in exploring all the elements of fiction. From evoking a scene to charting a plot to revising your drafts, Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques offers a master class in storytelling. Taught by award-winning novelist James Hynes, a former visiting professor at the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop, these 24 insightful lectures show you the ins and outs of the fiction writer's craft. Get tips for developing believable and memorable characters, explore how to craft plausible dialogue that serves the purposes of your narrative, compare the advantages of different points of view, and more. A wealth of exercises will inspire you to practice the many techniques you learn. Professor Hynes is an able guide, showing you what has worked for him and other novelists, and pointing out pitfalls to avoid. Writing Great Fiction is truly an exceptional course for anyone interested in storytelling. .Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresGeen genres Dewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)808.02Literature By Topic Rhetoric and anthologies Rhetoric and anthologies Authorship techniques, plagiarism, editorial techniquesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Whether or not this is going to help you sit down and write a novel, or even a short story, is hard to say. it is interesting to get inside a writer's head in this manner, and one can see that Hynes is driven to write. But even if you aren't an aspiring writer, but just an ambitious reader, I recommend this course. Hynes analysis of things such as point of view, settings, characterization, etc. will help you enjoy other things you read a bit more, and some of his insights into his example works are illuminating--but beware of spoilers. The best thing is that Hynes doesn't use the academic gibberish that can so spoil some courses about literature. Naturally after watching the 24 lessons (actually after watching about half of them), I decided to check out some of Hynes' own work, his novel Kings of Infinite Space. Stay tuned for that review. ( )