Thinking of reading The Art of Fiction, “Young Writer?” Listen to this podcast first. Despite dying in a motorcycle crash in 1982, John Gardner achieved immortality (at least in the writing community) with the posthumous publication of the Art of Fiction
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Wow! We’ve gotten to the final chapter of John Gardner’s book, The Art of Fiction and it’s all about plotting your short story, or novella, or novel (there are, apparently differences). We also learn some fancy plot vocabulary. Oh, and the stripper? Her name is Fanny, and her story is the example that Gardner uses to explain how to devise a plot. Our guess is that most readers don’t make it to Fanny, but trust us, she’s totally worth it.
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Gardner promises to show us the proper way for the young writer to achieve artistic mastery. Doesn’t that sound marvelous? We take him to task on his analysis and advice on the techniques of Imitation, Vocabulary, The Sentence, Point of View, Delay and Style from chapter 6 of The Art of Fiction.
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Enough with the theoretical, in this episode we get some practical advice out of Gardner’s book, The Art of Fiction. Specifically, he tells us what we’re doing wrong. We discuss a few of what Gardner call’s clumsy errors before moving onto Faults of the Soul – Sentimentality, Frigidity, and Mannerisms.
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After last episode’s mother of all chapters, we get a reprieve – a much shorter and lighthearted chapter devoted to those weird genres of metafiction, deconstruction, and jazzing around (that last one we’re pretty sure Gardner made up.) While we do discuss Gardner’s take, we mostly just have fun geeking out over our favorite examples of the genres.
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Moving along to Chapter 3 in The Art of Fiction. We go to war over the various dichotomies that (what Gardner claims) make good fiction, his weird beef against experimental fiction–or what he calls “intellectual toys,” and why he chose a weird moment in Helen of Troy to serve as his example to illustrate the novel.
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Onto Chapter 2 of John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. We begin with Gardner’s opinions about grammar, and our opinions about those opinions. Then we move on to his definition of genres and the great importance of “verisimilitude.”
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We’re starting our first book – John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. Let’s find out why writing instructors and bloggers keep recommending it to aspiring writers. We’ll try to figure out what Gardner means by aesthetic law and if the literary cannon is worth a read, and we’ll address the (male) elephant in the room, er book.
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Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 1: The BasicsBasic Concepts About Scenes There’s something about a new craft book and all its promise. Renee is so happy that she’s worried...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book Introduction(and good riddance Julia Cameron) We’re saying goodbye to The Artist’s Way — and honestly, good riddance. We’re recapping our favorite quotes, the insights...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith We finally finished The Artist’s Way—Julia Cameron’s self-help bible for unlocking your creative potential. Spoiler: our potential remains...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy If you listen to this podcast, you probably dream of becoming a successful writer. But what happens when...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 10: Recovering a Sense of Self Protection Week 10 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way finally tackles the elephant in every writer’s room: creative...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion What causes writer’s block? According to Julia Cameron, it’s not laziness—it’s fear. This week’s chapter of The Artist’s...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength Making art can hurt — even when you’re fully bought into The Artist’s Way. This week Cameron tackles...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 2: Event and MeaningHow Actions Add Up in Scenes After countless episodes complaining that...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 1: The BasicsBasic Concepts About Scenes There’s something about a new craft book and...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book Introduction(and good riddance Julia Cameron) We’re saying goodbye to The Artist’s Way — and...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith We finally finished The Artist’s Way—Julia Cameron’s self-help...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy If you listen to this podcast, you probably...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 10: Recovering a Sense of Self Protection Week 10 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion What causes writer’s block? According to Julia Cameron,...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength Making art can hurt — even when you’re...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection A funny thing happened while we were reading...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Six: Recovering a Sense of Abundance The starving artist isn’t a cliché for nothing...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Five: Recovering A Sense of Possibility What gives? We hate this book but love...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Four: Recovering A Sense of Integrity Do Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages work? Specifically, do...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Three: Recovering a Sense of Power Should you use anger to fuel your writing?...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Two: Recovering a Sense of Identity We’re on Week 2 of Julia Cameron’s The...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek One: Recovering a Sense of Safety What if the real barrier to making art...
Actions Speak Louder Than Dialogue: Building Meaningful Scenes
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 2: Event and MeaningHow Actions Add Up in Scenes After countless episodes complaining that writing advice books skimp on examples, we may have finally...