“Most of the student writers I meet fall into two classes: those who have something to say but don’t know how, and those who know how, to some degree, but have nothing to say. Members of this second group are oftener men than women…. Looked at as a technical construct, a story is a shell built to contain something.”
– Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction
#shortfiction
On the non-fiction side, especially technical material, I have things to say and some skill in saying them; but I have a lot to learn about writing concisely and knowing what to leave out. And although I seem to have fair instincts about aiming material at the level of a particular individual, I do not know how to craft to particular levels, with not a lot of conscious realization about what makes something understandable to one level but not another. I have a pretty bad habit of falling back on certain constructs, which is fine for short material but would be grating for longer works. 🙁 In short, something to say but I would need improvement on saying it well if I were writing something like a book.
But on the fiction side, everything fails me except grammar. Dialog, action, themes, message, character, emotion, “voices”, rhythm… I don’t know how to do any of those. I seem really short on the “creative imagination” when it comes to fiction. But it would probably come out with proper verb tenses and punctuation if I did manage to have any ideas. If I were to take a fiction writing course it would probably be in hopes that I would discover that spark.
On the non-fiction side, especially technical material, I have things to say and some skill in saying them; but I have a lot to learn about writing concisely and knowing what to leave out. And although I seem to have fair instincts about aiming material at the level of a particular individual, I do not know how to craft to particular levels, with not a lot of conscious realization about what makes something understandable to one level but not another. I have a pretty bad habit of falling back on certain constructs, which is fine for short material but would be grating for longer works. 🙁 In short, something to say but I would need improvement on saying it well if I were writing something like a book.
But on the fiction side, everything fails me except grammar. Dialog, action, themes, message, character, emotion, “voices”, rhythm… I don’t know how to do any of those. I seem really short on the “creative imagination” when it comes to fiction. But it would probably come out with proper verb tenses and punctuation if I did manage to have any ideas. If I were to take a fiction writing course it would probably be in hopes that I would discover that spark.
They’re very different skills. I was, and in some ways still am, a technical writer of some ability, but that doesn’t automatically translate into fiction writing. It’s like the difference between architecture and sculpture. In both cases you need to understand materials and space, but they have very different specifics.
There are some good books to get you started, if you want to pursue that side. This one that I’m reading and quoting from is shaping up to be one of them.
They’re very different skills. I was, and in some ways still am, a technical writer of some ability, but that doesn’t automatically translate into fiction writing. It’s like the difference between architecture and sculpture. In both cases you need to understand materials and space, but they have very different specifics.
There are some good books to get you started, if you want to pursue that side. This one that I’m reading and quoting from is shaping up to be one of them.
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