Authors: Dorothea Brande, John Gardner
ISBN-13: 9780874771640, ISBN-10: 0874771641
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Date Published: March 1981
Edition: (Non-applicable)
A reissue of a classic work originally published in 1934 on writing and the creative process, Becoming a Writer recaptures the excitement of Dorothea Brande's creative-writing classroom of the 1920s. Decades before brain research "discovered" the particular roles of the right and left sides of the brain in human endeavor, Brande was teaching students how to see again, how to hold their minds still, how to call forth the inner writer. She had novice writers note the effects of everything in their environment on their writing. She showed them how to harness the unconscious, how to fall into "artistic coma," then how to reemerge and be their own critics. Becoming a Writer is Brande's legacy to all those who have ever wanted to express their ideas in written form. A sound, practical, inspirational, and charming approach to writing, it fulfills on the expectation in her introduction: "This book, I believe, will be unique... I think there is such magic and that it is teachable. This book is all about the writer's magic."
Foreword | 11 | |
In Introduction | 19 | |
1. | The Four Difficulties | 25 |
The Difficulty of Writing at All | ||
The "One-Book Author" | ||
The Occasional Writer | ||
The Uneven Writer | ||
The Difficulties Not in Technical Equipment | ||
2. | What Writers are Like | 35 |
Cultivating a Writer's Temperament | ||
False and Real Artists | ||
The Two Sides of a Writer | ||
"Dissociation" Not Always Psychopathic | ||
Everyday Examples of Dual Personality | ||
The Slough of Despond | ||
3. | The Advantages of Duplicity | 45 |
The Process of Story Formation | ||
The "Born Writer" | ||
Unconscious and Conscious | ||
The Two Persons of the Writer | ||
The Transparent Barrier | ||
Keep Your Own Counsel | ||
Your "Best Friend and Severest Critic" | ||
The Right Recreation | ||
Friends and Books | ||
The Arrogant Intellect | ||
The Two Selves Not at War | ||
The First Exercise | ||
4. | Interlude: On Taking Advice | 61 |
Save Your Energy | ||
Imagination Versus Will in Changing Habits | ||
Displacing Old Habits | ||
A Demonstration | ||
The Right Frame of Mind | ||
5. | Harnessing the Unconscious | 69 |
Wordless Daydreams | ||
Toward Effortless Writing | ||
Double Your "Output" | ||
6. | Writing on Schedule | 75 |
Engaging to Write | ||
A Debt of Honor | ||
Extending the Exercise | ||
Succeed, or Stop Writing | ||
7. | The First Survey | 81 |
Reading Your Work Critically | ||
The Pitfalls of Imitation | ||
Discovering Your Strength | ||
A Footnote for Teachers | ||
8. | The Critic at Work on Himself | 89 |
A Critical Dialogue | ||
Be Specific in Suggestions | ||
Correction After Criticism | ||
The Conditions of Excellence | ||
Dictating a Daily Regime | ||
9. | Readings as a Writer | 99 |
Read Twice | ||
Summary Judgment and Detailed Analysis | ||
The Second Reading | ||
Points of Importance | ||
10. | On Imitation | 105 |
Imitating Technical Excellences | ||
How to Spend Words | ||
Counteracting Monotony | ||
Pick Up Fresh Words | ||
11. | Learning to See Again | 111 |
The Blinders of Habit | ||
Causes of Repetitiousness | ||
Recapturing Innocence of Eye | ||
A Stranger in the Streets | ||
The Rewards of Virtue | ||
12. | The Source of Originality | 119 |
The Elusive Quality | ||
Originality Not Imitation | ||
The "Surprise Ending" | ||
Honesty, the Source of Originality | ||
Trust Yourself | ||
"Your Anger and My Anger" | ||
One Story, Many Versions | ||
Your Inalienable Uniqueness | ||
A Questionnaire | ||
13. | The Writer's Recreation | 131 |
Busmen's Holidays | ||
Wordless Recreation | ||
Find Your Own Stimulus | ||
A Variety of Time-Fillers | ||
14. | The Practice Story | 137 |
A Recapitulation | ||
The Contagiousness of Style | ||
Find Your Own Style | ||
The Story in Embryo | ||
The Preparatory Period | ||
Writing Confidently | ||
A Finished Experiment | ||
Time for Detachment | ||
The Critical Reading | ||
15. | The Great Discovery | 147 |
The Five-Finger Exercises of Writing | ||
The Root of Genius | ||
Unconscious, Not Subconscious | ||
The Higher Imagination | ||
Come to Terms with the Unconscious | ||
The Artistic Coma and the Writer's Magic | ||
16. | The Third Person, Genius | 155 |
The Writer Not Dual But Triple | ||
The Mysterious Faculty | ||
Releasing Genius | ||
Rhythm, Monotony, Silence | ||
A Floor to Scrub | ||
17. | The Writer's Magic | 163 |
X Is to Mind as Mind to Body | ||
Hold Your Mind Still | ||
Practice in Control | ||
The Story Idea as the Object | ||
The Magic in Operation | ||
Inducing the "Artistic Coma" | ||
Valedictory | ||
In Conclusion: Some Prosaic Pointers | 171 | |
Typewriting | ||
Have Two Typewriters | ||
Stationery | ||
At the Typewriter: WRITE! | ||
For Coffee Addicts | ||
Coffee Versus Mate | ||
Reading | ||
Book and Magazine Buying | ||
Bibliography | 177 | |
Index | 181 |