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The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing, by Alice LaPlante
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A Los Angeles Times bestseller: wonderfully lucid and illuminating, Alice LaPlante’s guide to writing fiction “recalls Francine Prose’s bestseller, Reading Like a Writer” (Library Journal).
The Making of a Story is a fresh and inspiring guide to the basics of creative writing―both fiction and creative nonfiction. Its hands-on, completely accessible approach walks writers through each stage of the creative process, from the initial triggering idea to the revision of the final manuscript. It is unique in combing the three main aspects of creative writing instruction: process (finding inspiration, getting ideas on the page), craft (specific techniques like characterization), and anthology (learning by reading masters of the form). Succinct, clear definitions of basic terms of fiction are accompanied by examples, including excerpts from masterpieces of short fiction and essays as well as contemporary novels. A special highlight is Alice LaPlante's systematic debunking of many of the so-called rules of creative writing. This book is perfect for writers working alone as well as for creative writing classes, both introductory and advanced.
- Sales Rank: #18881 in Books
- Published on: 2010-01-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.20" h x 1.80" w x 6.20" l, 1.67 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 677 pages
From Booklist
A writer and seasoned creative-writing teacher, LaPlante has assembled a treasury of materials to back up her literary expertise. In her discussion of metaphor, for example, LaPlante quotes Byron, Denis Johnson, Flannery O'Connor, Shakespeare, and William Gass. In her extrapolation of the old adage, "write about what you know," she presents a poem by Sharon Olds, a page from the journals of Leonard Michaels, and Eudora Welty's indelible advice: "Write about what you don't know about what you know." Comprehensive in its coverage of inspiration, craft, aesthetics, veracity, and purpose, this one-stop guide to writing is casual in tone and rigorous in content, elucidating the nature of fiction and nonfiction and clarifying the qualities unique to each and common to both. Each chapter contains an explication of such subjects as point of view, creating characters, and narrative structure; writing exercises, and an illustrative story by the likes of Tim O'Brien, ZZ Packer, Lorrie Moore, John Cheever, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Expansive, clear, and sophisticated, LaPlante's richly resourced guide is destined to become a standard. Seaman, Donna
Review
“Comprehensive in its coverage of inspiration, craft, aesthetics, veracity, and purpose, this one-stop guide to writing is casual in tone and rigorous in content, elucidating the nature of diction and nonfiction and clarifying the qualities unique to each and common to both. Each chapter contains an explication of such subjects as point of view, characters, and narrative structure; writing exercises; and an illustrative story by the likes of Tim O’Brien, ZZ Packer, Lorrie Moore, John Cheever, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Expansive, clear, and sophisticated, LaPlante’s richly resourced guide is destined to become a standard.” (Booklist)
“This big, comprehensive book is almost a complete writing course.” (Book Passage)
About the Author
Alice LaPlante teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University and Stanford University, where she is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow. Her fiction has been published in the Southwest Review, Epoch, and Stanford Magazine, and her nonfiction has been published in Discover, BusinessWeek, and the San Jose Mercury News, among other publications. She lives in Palo Alto, California.
Most helpful customer reviews
68 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
"Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."
By E. Bukowsky
Alice LaPlante's "The Making of a Story" is textbook-length (well over six hundred pages), and should appeal not only to serious writing students, but also to teachers and readers who would like more insight into how writers create. Creative writing is not for the faint-hearted; that is clear from the outset. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when staring at a blank page or screen, trying to come with original ideas and fresh ways to express them. LaPlante gently and slowly guides her readers through the entire process from getting off the ground to putting the finishing touches on the final draft.
LaPlante's scope is encyclopedic. She includes such topics as: making the ordinary extraordinary, employing imagery effectively, writing a good opening, developing plot and characters, choosing a point of view, writing believable dialogue, generating suspense, and revising one's work. She also discusses the strengths and limitations of writing workshops. The author emphasizes that there are no hard and fast rules; rather, she is passing on "conventions" that have worked for many but not all writers.
How does this work differ from others of its type? "The Making of a Story" covers more territory than most writing handbooks. Part of the book's length results from the inclusion of quite a few full-length classic stories, such as Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," John Cheever's "The Swimmer," James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," and a non-fiction piece, Barbara Ehrenreich's "Welcome to Cancerland." Each work is followed by thought questions such as "How do the opening paragraphs set the tone for the story?" and "Can you point to some sections of narration that are convincing because of their specificity?" There are also dozens of exercises sprinkled throughout the book. For example, the student should pretend that she is a camera and record everything that she sees in a place rich with visual stimulation.
"Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose is another excellent work of this type; in fact, LaPlante quotes Prose and even uses the phrase "Reading as a Writer" repeatedly. "The Making of a Story" is well organized into fourteen carefully constructed chapters. There is a useful table of contents, a glossary of literary terms, a bibliography, a list of stories, and a thorough index. This guide cannot be absorbed in one sitting. It should be savored slowly and kept as a ready reference book. Used judiciously, it can serve as a source of inspiration to help writers bring out the best in themselves.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
This is the one
By Cyberbelle
I've been trying to get a handle on stories for years. Eight years. In that time I've read lots of writing guides: guides on fiction-writing, novel-writing, screenwriting, and myth structure. In my opinion, Alice LaPlante's "The Making of a Story" is the BEST BEST BEST. I'll be keeping it on the bookshelf near my desk, and it will be the first place I go to for guidance, reminders, examples, and encouragement.
Before I get into the unique strengths of the book, here's a brief, incomplete description of its contents. It offers thorough discussions of the foundational elements of written stories: point of view, dialogue, characterization, scene vs. narrative, specificity, etc. You'll also find fantastic sections on the aspects of storytelling that are harder to define and exemplify. For example, the chapter titled "What's This Creative Work Really About?" discusses the idea of "truth" in fiction. The chapter entitled "The Shapely Story" provides the best answer I've ever seen to the question, "What is a story?" The book also contains excellent writing exercises. I find that some other books suggest rather prescriptive writing exercises, about a specific situation or set of characters. I love LaPlante's exercises because although they set you to the task of focusing on a specific point of craft, in terms of subject matter they are generally quite open-ended, so that the exercise is not just an exercise, but also potentially a journey into your own particular subject matter du jour. Finally, the book contains the entire text of many well-known stories and essays which give the reader/writer an idea of what's possible, what's been done, and what to shoot for.
As you can see, this book provides all the basic information and tools an aspiring writer would like to find in a guide to writing stories. But LaPlante goes above and beyond. She doesn't ever settle for the easy answer, choosing instead to take the time to explore many answers to one question. You can get a sense of this from one of her chapter titles alone: "Why You Need to Show *and* Tell". It's a fabulous, fabulous chapter. In the chapter entitled "The Shapely Story," LaPlante takes on the question, "What is a story?", refusing to settle for a simple rule or set of rules. Instead, she offers a number of different ways to express what a story is. (If you've ever workshopped a story you're proud of, only to have everyone say, "but this isn't really a story yet," you'll really appreciate this chapter.) One of my other fave chapters is "Learning to Fail Better," about first drafts and revision.
Alice LaPlante is such a thoughtful, experienced, wise writer...and generous, too. Her book is full of quotes from other writers. Some of these quotes are examples from fiction and nonfiction that exemplify the techniques or qualities being discussed. Some of the quotes are from other writers who have written brilliantly on writing. The voices of E.M. Forster, Charles Baxter, John Gardner, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and many others are heard here.
LaPlante is to-the-point whenever she can be, philosophical when necessary, down-to-earth at all times. Her friendly voice paired with her careful, intense scrutiny of the craft of storytelling make for an outstanding book. If you're a serious student of the art and craft of telling stories, you will find a wonderful teacher in "The Making of a Story."
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
This is the one book you MUST buy on writing fiction/nonfiction!
By Henry Klauke
Buy this book!! I have always wanted to write fiction, but didn't know where to start. A professor at a local University raved about this book so I purchased it immediately. It has literally changed the way I look at writing and has provided me with the structure and knowledge I needed to write. The most amazing part is it teaches you in a way that is easily understood and applicable, something that other similar books I have read have not been able to accomplish. This is a book that you will buy and keep near to you because you will reference it constantly. I am going to purchase a dozen more and give them to my daughters in college, as well as the sons and daughters of my friends and family. Great job Ms. La Plante!!!
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