11473cam a2200649 a 4500 ocm85833282 OCoLC 20220404220014.0 070223s2007 nyu bf 001 0 eng 2007008030 DLC eng DLC YDX BAKER BTCTA NPL JED YDXCP VP@ OMB OCLCG NOR SMP CQU LF8 VOV OCLCQ BDX OCLCF OCLCA OCLCQ OCLCO OCL SFR OCLCQ RB0 OCL OCLCO QQ3 CPO OCLCO 1022712073 9780393061642 (hardcover) 0393061647 (hardcover) 9780393337082 (pbk.) 0393337081 (pbk.) (OCoLC)85833282 (OCoLC)1022712073 PE1408 .L31887 2007 808/.042 22 LaPlante, Alice, 1958- The making of a story : a Norton guide to creative writing / Alice LaPlante. 1st ed. New York : W.W. Norton, ©2007. 677 pages ; 25 cm text txt rdacontent unmediated n rdamedia volume nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 647-655) and index. Acknowledgments -- ch.1. What is this thing called creative writing? -- pt. 1. The basics -- Getting started -- Reconciling the method with the madness -- Some basic definitions -- Creative nonfiction : a working definition -- Writing that is surprising yet convincing -- Resisting paraphrase -- Creative nonfiction : capturing what has eluded capture -- On sentiment and sentimentality -- Our first job as writers : to notice -- Avoiding the "writerly" voice -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : "I don't know why I remember ..." -- Exercise 2 : I am a camera -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "On keeping a notebook" / Joan Didion --- "Emergency" / Denis Johnson -- ch. 2. The splendid gift of not knowing -- pt. 1. Writing as discovery -- Getting started -- What do you know? -- Creative nonfiction : making the ordinary extraordinary -- Writing down what you don't know (about what you know) -- On rendering, not solving, the mysteries that surround us -- Moving from "triggering" to real subject -- Surprise yourself, interest others -- Obsession as a creative virtue -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Things I was taught/things I was not taught -- Exercise 2 : I want to know why -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Where are you going, where have you been?" / Joyce Carol Oates -- "Welcome to cancerland" / Barbara Ehrenreich. ch. 3. Details, details -- pt. 1. Concrete details as the basic building blocks of good creative writing -- Getting started -- On thinking small -- Defining "images" within a literary context -- Imagery that works on two levels -- On seeing the general in the particular -- On crowding the reader out of his own space -- Don't lose any of your senses -- Use of concrete details in creative nonfiction -- Use and abuse of metaphor -- When should you use metaphor? -- Avoiding the "S" word : banishing conscious symbols from your writing -- Imagery as creative source -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Harper's Index on a personal level -- Exercise 2 : Render a tree, capture the forest -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "The things they carried" / Tim O'Brien -- "Nebraska" / Ron Hansen. ch. 4. The shapely story -- pt. 1. Defining the short story -- Getting started -- Some basic definitions -- The conflict-crisis-resolution model -- Linear vs. modular stories -- To epiphany or not to epiphany? -- Is change necessary? (the debate continues) -- On not becoming slaves to theory -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : False epiphanies I have had -- Exercise 2 : Opportunities not taken -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "What makes a short story?" / Francine Prose -- "Helping" / Robert Stone -- ch. 5. Why you need to show and tell -- pt. 1. The importance of narration -- Getting started -- Some basic definitions -- Why "show not tell" is such common advice -- The show-and-tell balancing act -- Traditional uses of narration (telling) -- Why narration is such an important creative tool -- How showing and telling complement each other -- Good intentions, bad advice -- The showing-telling continuum -- Showing and telling in creative nonfiction -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Tell me a story -- Exercise 2 : What everyone knows/What I know -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Brownies" / ZZ Packer -- "Winner take nothing" / Bernard Cooper. ch. 6. Who's telling this story, anyway? -- pt. 1. Introduction to point of view -- Getting started -- Some basic definitions -- First person -- Whose story is it? -- Second person -- Third person -- A word about attitude -- Distance and point of view -- Shifts in narrative distance -- Choosing a point of view for your creative work -- Point of view and creative nonfiction -- Common point of view problems -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Change point of view and dance -- Exercise 2 : Using point of view as a way "in" to difficult material -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "The lady with the little dog" / Anton Chekhov -- "Moonrise" / Penny Wolfson -- ch. 7. How reliable is this narrator? -- pt. 1. How point of view affects our understanding of a story -- Getting started -- How we judge the integrity of the stories we hear and read -- First person point of view and reliability -- Third person point of view and reliability -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : He said, she said -- Exercise 2 : See what I see, hear what I hear -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "The swimmer" / John Cheever -- ch. 8. You talking to me? -- pt. 1. Crafting effective dialogue -- Getting started -- What dialogue is good for -- What dialogue is not -- A word about attribution -- Five important tips on dialogue -- On subtext -- A word about dialect -- Using placeholders -- Dialogue in creative nonfiction -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Nonverbal communication -- Exercise 2 : Them's fighting words -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Hills like white elephants" / Ernest Hemingway -- "Inside the bunker" / John Sack. ch. 9. The plot thickens -- pt. 1. Figuring out what happens next -- Getting started -- Story vs. plot : some basic definitions -- A word about causality -- Render how -- don't try to answer why -- On metafiction -- Character-based plotting -- On conflict -- Analyzing plot points -- Avoiding Scènes à Faire : recognizing clichéd plot twists -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : What's behind the door of room 101? -- Exercise 2 : "By the time you read this ..." -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Sonny's blues" / James Baldwin -- ch. 10. Recognizable people -- pt. 1. Creating surprising-yet-convincing characters -- Getting started -- Flat vs. round characters -- Eschewing the general in favor of the particular -- Consistency as the hobgoblin of characters -- Ways of defining character -- Character and plot -- Wants and needs -- Characters in relationships -- Character in creative nonfiction -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Emptying pockets -- Exercise 2 : Sins of commissions/Sins of omission -- Exercise 3 : Seven or eight things I know about him/her -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Surrounded by sleep" / Akhil Sharma -- "No name woman" / Maxine Hong Kingston. ch. 11. Raising the curtain -- pt. 1. Beginning your story, novel, or nonfiction piece -- Getting started -- Your contract with the reader -- Characteristics of a good opening -- Unbalancing acts -- Starting in the middle -- Beginning with action -- On the nature of suspense -- Beginning your creative nonfiction piece -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Give it your best shot -- Exercise 2 : Start in the middle -- Exercise 3 : Make them squirm -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "People like that are the only people here : canonical babbling in Peed Onk" / Lorrie Moore -- ch. 12. What's this creative work really about? -- pt. 1. The art of transferring true emotions onto sensory events -- Getting started -- Many different answers to the same question -- Writing about what matters -- Transference : borrowing from Freud -- We are made of dust -- The road to universality -- But it's the truth! and other common pleas for clemency -- Creative nonfiction : on being true as well as factual -- Making things carry more emotional weight than they logically should -- Transference and creative nonfiction -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Exercise 1 : Getting an image to spill its secrets -- Exercise 2 : What I lost -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Ralph the duck" / Frederick Busch -- "The knife" / Richard Selzer. ch. 13. Learning to fail better -- pt. 1. On revision -- Getting started -- Advice for writers from writers -- Perfection is our enemy -- The workshop method -- Undue influence : a cautionary tale -- The developmental stages of a creative work -- "Hot spots" and other noteworthy aspects of an early draft -- An exercise-based approach to deep revision -- A word about constraints -- pt. 2. Exercises -- Analytical/mechanical exercises -- Creative exercises -- Research-based exercises -- Chance-based exercises -- Revision example : "The company of men" / Jan Ellison -- pt. 3. Reading as a writer -- "Shitty first drafts" / Anne Lamott -- "The Carver chronicles" / D.T. Max -- "The bath" / Raymond Carver -- "A small, good thing" / Raymond Carver -- ch. 14. Getting beyond facts to truth -- pt. 1. Some final thoughts on creative nonfiction -- Getting started -- Just the facts, ma'am -- Recollections and re-creations -- Ethical considerations -- Subjectivity vs. objectivity -- A trip of self-discovery -- To be in or out of the story? -- pt. 2. Reading as a writer -- "Learning to drive" / Katha Pollitt -- Glossary-- Bibliography -- List of stories -- Permissions -- Index. A guide to creative writing that introduces readers to each stage of the creative writing process and helps them build their writing skills through exercises and real-life examples. English language Rhetoric Handbooks, manuals, etc. English language Style Handbooks, manuals, etc. Creative writing Handbooks, manuals, etc. Report writing Handbooks, manuals, etc. Creative writing. fast (OCoLC)fst00882489 English language Rhetoric. fast (OCoLC)fst00911581 English language Style. fast (OCoLC)fst00911825 Report writing. fast (OCoLC)fst01094836 Literature. fast (OCoLC)fst01921716 Handbooks and manuals. fast (OCoLC)fst01423877 Literature. lcgft Nonfiction. Table of contents http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0712/2007008030.html Baker & Taylor BKTY 29.95 22.46 0393061647 0006803609 active Brodart BROD 05504767 $29.95 Baker and Taylor BTCP 2007008030 YBP Library Services YANK 2437768 AU@ 000041340629 NZ1 11283897 Z0 P4A NO HOLDINGS IN P4A - 977 OTHER HOLDINGS