So You Want To Write
So You Want To Write by Marge Piercy, published by Leapfrog Press in August 2001, is a comprehensive guide that draws on over ten years of teaching master classes in writing fiction and memoirs. This first edition, comprising 200 pages, addresses the needs of aspiring writers who seek to enhance their craft beyond basic journaling and therapeutic writing. Piercy and co-author Ira Wood provide insights into engaging readers, developing complex characters, and mastering the intricacies of plotting, all while offering practical advice on the publishing process.
In this book, readers will find a wealth of exercises and examples designed to foster creativity and skill in writing. Topics include the importance of dialogue, crafting emotionally resonant descriptions, and navigating the challenges of submitting work to agents. The authors also tackle common concerns such as overcoming shame when writing about personal experiences and the realities of what writers can expect in terms of earnings. So You Want To Write serves as a valuable resource for those looking to refine their writing abilities and pursue publication with confidence.
Official synopsis Publisher
For over ten years, Marge Piercy and Ira Wood have been teaching two popular master classes in the art of writing fiction and memoirs. They attract students nationwide who have failed to improve their work in courses concentrating on process’ rather than craft, and want to go beyond :journaling” and “writing as therapy” to break through and publish their work.
Drawing on talks, exercises and examples proven in the classroom, So You Want to Write addresses:
How to begin a piece by seducing your reader,
How to create characters that embody the infinite contradictions of human behavior,
How to master the elements of plotting fiction,
How to create a strategy for telling the story of your life,
How to learn to read critically, like a professional writer,
How to realistically approach publishing.
Combining over seventy years of writing experience, other chapters include:
The overlooked powers of dialogue,
Creating descriptions that move readers emotionally,
FAQ’s about agents, rejections, submitting work effectively, what writers really earn,
Overcoming shame and the difficulties of writing about loved ones.
Marge Piercy is the author of 35 books of fiction and poetry. She has lectured or performed at over 300 universities, and sold over 3,000,000 books worldwide. Ira Wood is the author of three novels, a publisher, and a popular writing teacher, whose classes address writers’ feelings of hopelessness and despair. They live on Cape Cod.
Two: BEGINNINGS
Fiction is as old a habit of our species as poetry. It goes back to telling a tale, the first perceptions of pattern, and narrative is still about pattern in human life. At core, it answers the question, what then? And then and then and then. And memoir is equally old: it’s telling about your life, perhaps originally to children or a prospective mate or a new acquaintance.
Poetry is an art of time, as music is. Rhythms are measured against time: they are measures of time. A poem goes forward a beat at a time as a dance does, step by step, phrase by phrase. Narrative, whether fiction or memoir, is about time. First this, then that.
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