Book Review - Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Category Book Reviews
This book sounded like a natural fit for me... Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose. I read prolifically, I write... Perfect, right? Nope. Guess I'll never be a writer based on this book...
Contents: Close Reading; Words; Sentences; Paragraphs; Narration; Character; Dialogue; Details; Gesture; Learning from Chekhov; Reading for Courage; Books to Be Read Immediately; Acknowledgements
I had to think a bit to figure out why this book didn't do much for me. Prose talks about how slow reading and deconstructing of the masters can lead one to become a better writer. By noting what works and what doesn't in terms of words, sentences, dialog and such, you can tap into the collected wisdom of the ages when it comes to putting words to paper. That's all true, and I know that I *do* read much too fast to savor the way the construction of a story occurs. Where I lost it however, was with the lofty ramblings about how one word was used instead of another, how a particular sentence said far more than the words contained, and how the mind of the writer was dissected along with each word. I'm sure the greats probably did agonize over each page and paragraph. But if I read a book in her style, I'd spend hours getting through each chapter, and the joy of reading would disappear entirely.
I think the other part of my disconnect was that my writing tends to be nonfiction. Nearly all her examples deal with fiction and stories, and I know that's a completely different beast when it comes to writing. I've often said that if I wrote a novel, it'd end up being about 50 pages long as I don't do color well. As stories are all about color (stated or implied), I don't relate to her commentary when it comes to my own work. Yes, I *do* need to spend more time thinking about how writers construct their words. I just can't fathom doing it at the level she presents.
If you're seriously into writing fiction and have a more introspective nature than I do, you will probably get a whole lot more value from the time you spend with Prose. I guess for me, I'll just have to stick to my doomed efforts to communicate with a reader...
This book sounded like a natural fit for me... Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose. I read prolifically, I write... Perfect, right? Nope. Guess I'll never be a writer based on this book...
Contents: Close Reading; Words; Sentences; Paragraphs; Narration; Character; Dialogue; Details; Gesture; Learning from Chekhov; Reading for Courage; Books to Be Read Immediately; Acknowledgements
I had to think a bit to figure out why this book didn't do much for me. Prose talks about how slow reading and deconstructing of the masters can lead one to become a better writer. By noting what works and what doesn't in terms of words, sentences, dialog and such, you can tap into the collected wisdom of the ages when it comes to putting words to paper. That's all true, and I know that I *do* read much too fast to savor the way the construction of a story occurs. Where I lost it however, was with the lofty ramblings about how one word was used instead of another, how a particular sentence said far more than the words contained, and how the mind of the writer was dissected along with each word. I'm sure the greats probably did agonize over each page and paragraph. But if I read a book in her style, I'd spend hours getting through each chapter, and the joy of reading would disappear entirely.
I think the other part of my disconnect was that my writing tends to be nonfiction. Nearly all her examples deal with fiction and stories, and I know that's a completely different beast when it comes to writing. I've often said that if I wrote a novel, it'd end up being about 50 pages long as I don't do color well. As stories are all about color (stated or implied), I don't relate to her commentary when it comes to my own work. Yes, I *do* need to spend more time thinking about how writers construct their words. I just can't fathom doing it at the level she presents.
If you're seriously into writing fiction and have a more introspective nature than I do, you will probably get a whole lot more value from the time you spend with Prose. I guess for me, I'll just have to stick to my doomed efforts to communicate with a reader...
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