Customer Reviews

Great Writers on the Art of Fiction: From Mark Twain to Joyce Carol Oates

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Because someone can write well doesn't mean they understand why they write well, or, if they do, doesn't mean they can articulate it, and if they can, that someone else can "get" it. Edgar Allan Poe thinks it was his careful working out of the sounds and rhythms of his phrases and words that led to his successful works, and doesn't realize it had absolutely nothing at all to do with any of his analyses, or pre-analyses. A good writing style doesn't come from figuring things out. It's the problem of knowing how to do something well not necessarily implying that you know why or how you do it well, or that you can convey it to someone else. So although this book's heart may be in the right place, I feel it doesn't succeed in bring its reader any closer to knowing how to write well.