I am giving a craft talk next week & I know appallingly little about how writers do things (least of all myself). What should I talk about?
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Replying to @elizmccracken
Student writers want practical help with two things above all: how to make a good plot, and how to use language to move people. The general principle I recommend is: examples first, and the simpler, the better. For plots: Aesop. For moving language: Blake first, then Shakespeare.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @elizmccracken
The most important message is that one can learn to do these things better by practicing them intelligently. Plots can always be stolen. Moving language can be broken down into its rhetorical and poetical elements, which are relatively easy to understand. Useful patterns exist.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @elizmccracken
For a friendly introduction to rhetorical devices, Mark Forsyth is a useful guide: http://bit.ly/2OM922E For a sense of the scope and use of the poetical repertoire of English, start with Dr Seuss, and move on to A E Housman: http://bit.ly/2CMxriW
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @elizmccracken
And when it comes to stealing plots, one should point explicitly to simple, concrete examples. Aesop's fable of the half-starved fox eventually engendered FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, and the Pardoner's Tale (among others.) Great stories get recycled.
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Student writers should be reminded that although good writing will always remain something of a mystery, it's not as mysterious as it appears at first glance. Ultimately, all art is mimetic; everyone imitates and recycles. Just do it artfully, in your own way, and you'll be fine.
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