Narrative Design : A Writer's Guide to Structure

by Bell, Madison Smartt

• ISBN13: 9780393971231
• ISBN10: 0393971236
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-01-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co

Summary

With clarity, verve, and the sure instincts of a good teacher, Madison Smartt Bell illuminates the process of narrative design in this much-needed book. Offering a unique and thoughtful approach to fiction-writing courses, Bell emphasizes the primary importance of form--characterized by linear and modular models--as the backdrop against which all other elements of a story--plot, character, imagery, suspense, point of view, and time management--must work. Through numerous examples, Bell's analysis urges upon writers the habit of thinking first about form and finding the form that best suits their subject matter and writing style. Bell's direct and practical advice is an apprenticeship in writing stories that reveal--as workshop stories often fail to do--the writer's own voice and imagination.

Author Biography

Madison Smartt Bell has taught writing at the University of Iowa Writing Program, the Bennington Writing Workshop, Johns Hopkins, and Vassar and currently teaches at Goucher College in Baltimore. The author of eight novels and two short story collections, he was selected as one of the Best Young American Novelists by Granta magazine in 1996. Bell's novel All Souls' Rising was a National Book Award and Pen-Faulkner Award finalist. His most recent novel, Ten Indians, was published in the fall of 1996. Bell has also won a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lillian Smith Award, and the undergraduate writing award at Princeton. He has a Master's in writing from the celebrated writing program at Hollins College.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Unconscious Mind	p. 1
Linear Design	p. 23
Depth Charge	p. 33
Analysis	p. 45
Plot	p. 45
Character	p. 47
Tone	p. 47
Time Management	p. 48
Dialogue	p. 48
Suspense	p. 49
Point of View	p. 49
Imagery	p. 50
Design	p. 50
Theme	p. 51
Notes	p. 52
A Wife of Nashville	p. 61
Analysis	p. 80
Plot	p. 80
Character	p. 81
Tone	p. 84
Point of View	p. 84
Time Management	p. 86
Design	p. 88
Notes	p. 90
Daisy's Valentine	p. 98
Analysis	p. 114
Plot	p. 114
Character	p. 115
Tone	p. 117
Point of View	p. 118
Time Management	p. 118
Dialogue	p. 119
Suspense	p. 120
Imagery and Description	p. 120
Design	p. 121
Notes	p. 123
Hear That Long Train Moan	p. 132
Analysis	p. 136
Plot	p. 136
Character	p. 137
Tone	p. 138
Point of View	p. 138
Dialogue	p. 139
Symbolism	p. 139
Design	p. 141
Notes	p. 143
Oh, Man Alive	p. 147
Analysis	p. 154
Plot	p. 154
Character	p. 155
Tone	p. 156
Point of View	p. 156
Dialogue	p. 157
Imagery and Description	p. 157
Design	p. 159
Notes	p. 160
The Sky Is Gray	p. 165
Analysis	p. 188
Plot	p. 188
Character	p. 189
Tone	p. 193
Point of View	p. 194
Dialogue	p. 194
Imagery and Description	p. 195
Time Management	p. 196
Design	p. 197
Notes	p. 200
Modular Design	p. 211
Signs of Life	p. 217
Analysis	p. 221
Plot	p. 221
Character	p. 222
Tone	p. 222
Point of View	p. 223
Dialogue	p. 223
Imagery	p. 224
Design	p. 224
Notes	p. 227
Lizzie, Annie, and Rosie's Rescue of Me with Blue Cake	p. 232
Analysis	p. 243
Plot	p. 243
Character	p. 244
Tone	p. 245
Point of View	p. 246
Dialogue	p. 246
Imagery and Description	p. 247
Design	p. 248
Notes	p. 251
The Child Downstairs	p. 257
Analysis	p. 263
Plot	p. 263
Character	p. 264
Tone	p. 266
Point of View	p. 267
Dialogue	p. 267
Imagery and Description	p. 268
Design	p. 269
Notes	p. 270
Red Hands	p. 276
Analysis	p. 282
Plot	p. 282
Character	p. 283
Tone	p. 284
Point of View	p. 285
Time Management	p. 287
Dialogue	p. 288
Imagery and Description	p. 288
Design	p. 291
Notes	p. 293
Comic Strip	p. 300
Analysis	p. 312
Plot	p. 312
Character	p. 314
Tone	p. 316
Point of View	p. 317
Dialogue	p. 317
Time Management	p. 318
Suspense	p. 319
Imagery and Description	p. 319
Design	p. 323
Notes	p. 326
Little Red	p. 336
Analysis	p. 346
Plot	p. 346
Character	p. 348
Tone	p. 349
Dialogue	p. 349
Imagery and Description	p. 351
Design	p. 352
Notes	p. 356
A Philosophy of Composition	p. 363
Glossary of Terms	p. 371
Contributors	p. 375
Permissions Acknowledgments	p. 377
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.