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Becoming a Writer »

Book cover image of Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

Authors: Dorothea Brande, John Gardner
ISBN-13: 9780874771640, ISBN-10: 0874771641
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Date Published: March 1981
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: Dorothea Brande

Book Synopsis

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."

Table of Contents

Foreword11
In Introduction19
1.The Four Difficulties25
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 Like35
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 Duplicity45
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 Advice61
Save Your Energy
Imagination Versus Will in Changing Habits
Displacing Old Habits
A Demonstration
The Right Frame of Mind
5.Harnessing the Unconscious69
Wordless Daydreams
Toward Effortless Writing
Double Your "Output"
6.Writing on Schedule75
Engaging to Write
A Debt of Honor
Extending the Exercise
Succeed, or Stop Writing
7.The First Survey81
Reading Your Work Critically
The Pitfalls of Imitation
Discovering Your Strength
A Footnote for Teachers
8.The Critic at Work on Himself89
A Critical Dialogue
Be Specific in Suggestions
Correction After Criticism
The Conditions of Excellence
Dictating a Daily Regime
9.Readings as a Writer99
Read Twice
Summary Judgment and Detailed Analysis
The Second Reading
Points of Importance
10.On Imitation105
Imitating Technical Excellences
How to Spend Words
Counteracting Monotony
Pick Up Fresh Words
11.Learning to See Again111
The Blinders of Habit
Causes of Repetitiousness
Recapturing Innocence of Eye
A Stranger in the Streets
The Rewards of Virtue
12.The Source of Originality119
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 Recreation131
Busmen's Holidays
Wordless Recreation
Find Your Own Stimulus
A Variety of Time-Fillers
14.The Practice Story137
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 Discovery147
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, Genius155
The Writer Not Dual But Triple
The Mysterious Faculty
Releasing Genius
Rhythm, Monotony, Silence
A Floor to Scrub
17.The Writer's Magic163
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 Pointers171
Typewriting
Have Two Typewriters
Stationery
At the Typewriter: WRITE!
For Coffee Addicts
Coffee Versus Mate
Reading
Book and Magazine Buying
Bibliography177
Index181

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