Making Of A Story

by Laplante,Alice

• ISBN13: 9780393061642
• ISBN10: 0393061647
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

The Making of a Story is a fresh and inspiring guide to thebasics of creative writing'”both fiction and creative nonfiction. Itshands-on, completely accessible approach walks writers through eachstage of the creative process, from the initial triggering idea to therevision of the final manuscript. It is unique in combing the threemain aspects of creative writing instruction: process (findinginspiration, getting ideas on the page), craft (specific techniqueslike characterization), and anthology (learning by reading masters ofthe form). Succinct, clear definitions of basic terms of fiction areaccompanied by examples, including excerpts from masterpieces of shortfiction and essays as well as contemporary novels. A special highlightis Alice LaPlante's systematic debunking of many of the so-called rulesof creative writing. This book is perfect for writers working alone aswell as for creative writing classes, both introductory and advanced.

Author Biography

Alice LaPlante teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University and Stanford University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 19
What Is This Thing Called Creative Writing?	p. 23
The Basics	p. 23
Getting Started	p. 23
Reconciling the Method with the Madness	p. 24
Some Basic Definitions	p. 25
Creative Nonfiction: A Working Definition	p. 26
Writing That Is Surprising Yet Convincing	p. 27
Resisting Paraphrase	p. 28
Creative Nonfiction: Capturing What Has Eluded Capture	p. 30
On Sentiment and Sentimentality	p. 31
Our First Job as Writers: To Notice	p. 35
Avoiding the "Writerly" Voice	p. 36
Exercises	p. 38
"I Don't Know Why I Remember..."	p. 38
I Am a Camera	p. 39
Reading as a Writer	p. 40
"On Keeping a Notebook"	p. 40
"Emergency"	p. 47
The Splendid Gift of Not Knowing	p. 57
Writing as Discovery	p. 57
Getting Started	p. 57
What Do You Know?	p. 58
Creative Nonfiction: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary	p. 61
Writing Down What You Don't Know (About What You Know)	p. 62
On Rendering, Not Solving, the Mysteries That Surround Us	p. 63
Moving from "Triggering" to Real Subject	p. 65
Surprise Yourself, Interest Others	p. 67
Obsession as a Creative Virtue	p. 68
Exercises	p. 69
Things I Was Taught / Things I Was Not Taught	p. 69
I Want to Know Why	p. 71
Reading as a Writer	p. 72
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"	p. 72
"Welcome to Cancerland"	p. 87
Details, Details	p. 107
Concrete Details as the Basic Building Blocks of Good Creative Writing	p. 107
Getting Started	p. 107
On Thinking Small	p. 108
Defining "Image" within a Literary Context	p. 109
Imagery That Works on Two Levels	p. 111
On Seeing the General in the Particular	p. 113
On Crowding the Reader Out of His Own Space	p. 116
Don't Lose Any of Your Senses	p. 117
Use of Concrete Details in Creative Nonfiction	p. 119
Use and Abuse of Metaphor	p. 120
When Should You Use Metaphor?	p. 123
Avoiding the "S" Word: Banishing Conscious Symbols from Your Writing	p. 124
Imagery as Creative Source	p. 124
Exercises	p. 127
Harper's Index on a Personal Level	p. 127
Render a Tree, Capture the Forest	p. 130
Reading as a Writer	p. 131
"The Things They Carried"	p. 131
"Nebraska"	p. 147
The Shapely Story	p. 152
Defining the Short Story	p. 152
Getting Started	p. 152
Some Basic Definitions	p. 152
The Conflict-Crisis-Resolution Model	p. 155
Linear vs. Modular Stories	p. 157
To Epiphany or Not to Epiphany?	p. 159
Is Change Necessary? (The Debate Continues)	p. 161
On Not Becoming Slaves to Theory	p. 162
Exercises	p. 165
False Epiphanies I Have Had	p. 165
Opportunities Not Taken	p. 166
Reading as a Writer	p. 167
"What Makes a Short Story?"	p. 167
"Helping"	p. 178
Why You Need to Show and Tell	p. 204
The Importance of Narration	p. 204
Getting Started	p. 204
Some Basic Definitions	p. 204
Why "Show, Don't Tell" Is Such Common Advice	p. 206
The Show-and-Tell Balancing Act	p. 210
Traditional Uses of Narration (Telling)	p. 213
Why Narration Is Such an Important Creative Tool	p. 214
How Showing and Telling Complement Each Other	p. 216
Good Intentions, Bad Advice	p. 216
The Showing-Telling Continuum	p. 218
Showing and Telling in Creative Nonfiction	p. 223
Exercises	p. 224
Tell Me a Story	p. 224
What Everyone Knows / What I Know	p. 226
Reading as a Writer	p. 227
"Brownies"	p. 227
"Winner Take Nothing"	p. 245
Who's Telling This Story, Anyway?	p. 258
Introduction to Point of View	p. 258
Getting Started	p. 258
Some Basic Definitions	p. 259
First Person	p. 259
Whose Story Is It?	p. 261
Second Person	p. 265
Third Person	p. 267
A Word about Attitude	p. 272
Distance and Point of View	p. 272
Shifts in Narrative Distance	p. 275
Choosing a Point of View for Your Creative Work	p. 276
Point of View and Creative Nonfiction	p. 278
Common Point of View Problems	p. 280
Exercises	p. 282
Change Point of View and Dance	p. 282
Using Point of View as a Way "In" to Difficult Material	p. 283
Reading as a Writer	p. 284
"The Lady with the Little Dog"	p. 284
"Moonrise"	p. 299
How Reliable Is This Narrator?	p. 318
How Point of View Affects our Understanding of a Story	p. 318
Getting Started	p. 318
How We Judge the Integrity of the Stories We Hear and Read	p. 318
First Person Point of View and Reliability	p. 319
Third Person Point of View and Reliability	p. 324
Exercises	p. 328
He Said, She Said	p. 328
See What I See, Hear What I Hear	p. 329
Reading as a Writer	p. 330
"The Swimmer"	p. 330
You Talking to Me?	p. 341
Crafting Effective Dialogue	p. 341
Getting Started	p. 341
What Dialogue Is Good For	p. 342
What Dialogue Is Not	p. 343
A Word about Attribution	p. 344
Five Important Tips on Dialogue	p. 345
On Subtext	p. 350
A Word about Dialect	p. 351
Using Placeholders	p. 353
Dialogue in Creative Nonfiction Writing	p. 354
Exercises	p. 355
Nonverbal Communication	p. 355
Them's Fighting Words	p. 355
Reading as a Writer	p. 356
"Hills Like White Elephants"	p. 356
"Inside the Bunker"	p. 360
The Plot Thickens	p. 375
Figuring Out What Happens Next	p. 375
Getting Started	p. 375
Story vs. Plot: Some Basic Definitions	p. 375
A Word about Causality	p. 377
Render How-Don't Try to Answer Why	p. 379
On Metafiction	p. 380
Character-Based Plotting	p. 380
On Conflict	p. 381
Analyzing Plot Points	p. 384
Avoiding Scenes a Faire: Recognizing Cliched Plot Twists	p. 386
Exercises	p. 388
What's Behind the Door of Room 101?	p. 388
"By the Time You Read This..."	p. 389
Reading as a Writer	p. 390
"Sonny's Blues"	p. 390
Recognizable People	p. 418
Creating Surprising-Yet-Convincing Characters	p. 418
Getting Started	p. 418
Flat vs. Round Characters	p. 419
Eschewing the General in Favor of the Particular	p. 420
Consistency as the Hobgoblin of Characters	p. 422
Ways of Defining Character	p. 423
Character and Plot	p. 427
Wants and Needs	p. 431
Characters in Relationships	p. 433
Character in Creative Nonfiction	p. 434
Exercises	p. 435
Emptying Pockets	p. 435
Sins of Commission, Sins of Omission	p. 437
Seven or Eight Things I Know about Him/Her	p. 438
Reading as a Writer	p. 441
"Surrounded by Sleep"	p. 441
"No Name Woman"	p. 453
Raising the Curtain	p. 465
Beginning Your Story, Novel, or Nonfiction Piece	p. 465
Getting Started	p. 465
Your Contract with the Reader	p. 465
Characteristics of a Good Opening	p. 467
Unbalancing Acts	p. 468
Starting in the Middle	p. 469
Beginning with Action	p. 471
On the Nature of Suspense	p. 473
Beginning Your Creative Nonfiction Piece	p. 474
Exercises	p. 475
Give It Your Best Shot	p. 475
Start in the Middle	p. 477
Make Them Squirm	p. 478
Reading as a Writer	p. 479
"People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk"	p. 479
What's This Creative Work Really About?	p. 507
The Art of Transferring True Emotions Onto Sensory Events	p. 507
Getting Started	p. 507
Many Different Answers to the Same Question	p. 508
Writing about What Matters	p. 508
Transference: Borrowing from Freud	p. 509
We Are Made of Dust	p. 510
The Road to Universality	p. 511
But It's the Truth! And Other Common Pleas for Clemency	p. 512
Creative Nonfiction: On Being True as Well as Factual	p. 513
Making Things Carry More Emotional Weight than They Logically Should	p. 513
Transference and Creative Nonfiction	p. 516
Exercises	p. 518
Getting an Image to Spill Its Secrets	p. 518
What I Lost	p. 519
Reading as a Writer	p. 521
"Ralph the Duck"	p. 521
"The Knife"	p. 533
Learning to Fail Better	p. 542
On Revision	p. 542
Getting Started	p. 542
Advice for Writers from Writers	p. 543
Perfection Is Our Enemy	p. 544
The Workshop Method	p. 544
Undue Influence: A Cautionary Tale	p. 548
The Developmental Stages of a Creative Work	p. 549
"Hot Spots" and Other Noteworthy Aspects of an Early Draft	p. 550
An Exercise-Based Approach to Deep Revision	p. 551
A Word about Constraints	p. 552
Exercises	p. 553
Analytical/Mechanical Exercises	p. 553
Creative Exercises	p. 554
Research-Based Exercises	p. 555
Chance-Based Exercises	p. 556
Revision Example: "The Company of Men"	p. 556
Reading as a Writer	p. 574
"Shitty First Drafts"	p. 574
"The Carver Chronicles"	p. 578
"The Bath"	p. 591
"A Small, Good Thing"	p. 597
Getting beyond Facts to Truth	p. 619
Some Final Thoughts on Creative Nonfiction	p. 619
Getting Started	p. 619
Just the Facts, Ma'am	p. 620
Recollections and Re-creations	p. 621
Ethical Considerations	p. 624
Subjectivity vs. Objectivity	p. 626
A Trip of Self-Discovery	p. 628
To Be In or Out of the Story?	p. 630
Reading as a Writer	p. 633
"Learning to Drive"	p. 633
Glossary	p. 643
Bibliography	p. 647
List of Stories	p. 657
Permissions	p. 659
Index	p. 665
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.