The Art Of Fiction: Notes On Craft For Young Writers (1991) - Plot & Excerpts
"What moves us is not just that characters, images, and events get some form of recapitulations or recall: We are moved by the increasing connectedness of things, ultimately a connectedness of values."John Gardner was perhaps as well known (if not more so) for his instruction on writing as for his own fictional works, and his Art of Fiction: Notes on the Craft for Young Writers compiles the fullness of his teachings on what makes a great writer great. There is, on the whole, a lot to take away from Gardner’s book, but there’s also a lot to work through. The attitude of Gardner’s narrative often tends toward the stereotypical elitism of the highly-educated “serious writer” (to use his term, at other times referred to as a “true writer”), and as a result readers might be at risk of missing some of Gardner’s most crucial lessons under the weight of all his posturing. His musings on the significance of a writer’s formal education to his skill range from referencing the self-educated man as an “imbecile” (intended with its original meaning, though made no less harsh by the continuation of his thought that such a man may write a great novel if he’s lucky) to somewhat backhanded compliments like, “The best writers do not always (or even often) come from the well-educated upper middle class – art’s cauldron is only on rare occasions gold or silver.” (Another aside: though at times his narrative may strike some readers as sexist, he does admit – in one line which I forgot to note verbatim – that many of the greatest novels were penned by women. Huzzah!)Still, though some of his opinions may be dated, his advice certainly isn’t. Here Gardner digs profoundly deep into the foundation of writing; for obvious reasons his discussion focuses predominantly on the science of the art, but he does at times give leave to its inevitable changeability (as he says, “no laws are absolute in fiction”). The translation of Gardner’s generational perceptions can be perhaps a little rocky (there are no romance writers here, only “pornographers”), but the bones of his advice can be aptly applied to any genre, any generation, and certainly any style. Whether or not the bones are worth digging for is obviously each unique writer’s opinion.Here are some of my favorite takeaways from The Art of Fiction:On narrative...“Vividness urges that almost every occurrence of such phrases as ‘she noticed’ be suppressed in favor of direct presentation of the thing seen.”The writer...“It is the novelist’s reward for thinking carefully about reality, brooding on every image, every action, every word, both those things he planned from the beginning and those that crept in in the service of convincingness.”On style...“About style, the less said the better. Nothing leads to fraudulence more swiftly than the conscious pursuit of stylistic uniqueness. But on the other hand nothing is more natural to the young and ambitious writer than that he try to find a voice and territory of his own, proving himself different from all other writers.”The long and short of it...“The most useful hint is perhaps this: Read the story over and over, at least a hundred times – literally – watching for subtle meanings, connections, accidental repetitions, psychological significance. Leave nothing – no slightest detail – unexamined, and when you discover implications in some image or event, oonch those implications toward the surface. [...] As for the warnings, two are of most importance: On one hand, don’t overdo the denouement, so ferociously pushing meaning that the reader is distracted from the fictional dream, giving the narrative a too conscious, contrived, or ‘workshop’ effect; and don’t on the other hand, write so subtly or timidly – from fear of sentimentality or obviousness – that no one, not even the angels aflutter in the rafters, can hear the resonance.”There are a lot of interesting points in Gardner’s book, particularly following along with him as he crafts a story idea and explores the right and (potentially) wrong moves, how the story would change with different intents, and the myriad ways it could be done well. He also provides exercises at the back of the book – both group exercises intended for classes and writings groups, and individual exercises for the endeavoring writer to tackle alone. (I’ll possibly write about those in the future since I haven’t pursued them yet.) On the whole, for writers looking to better their craft through strongly academic, objective study, The Art of Fiction offers a very thorough perspective.(Originally published February 21, 2014 on LiteraryInklings.com)
This is one of very, very many books on how to write fiction. Gardner's book strives to offer more than the multitude of alternatives do, however, and, generally, I'd say he succeeds. The first half of the book is devoted to more theoretical discussions of the art of fiction, some of which is very useful and some of which is quite particular to Gardner's own literary tastes. And his tastes definitely color the advice he gives. It is mostly sound advice for those who wish to write fiction in the tradition of the "greats" (e.g., classical literature and such relatively modern writers as Tolstoy and Melville), but it is provided with a heaping side dish of condescension for everyone else. (Particularly troublesome for me is his repeated dismissal and unwarranted criticism of literature teachers.) Reading Gardner's book requires the ability to let condescension and elitism slide. He frequently comes off as a pompous jerk, but he's a pompous jerk who knows his stuff. Attitude problems aside, after all, Gardner does provide great advice and a clear theoretical approach to writing fiction.For practical purposes, the second half of the book, devoted to a discussion of common mistakes and how to avoid them, is particularly useful. In the first half of the book, Gardner develops the idea that fiction should be as an uninterrupted dream, that technique should bolster the experience of this dream and not interrupt it. So the common errors and techniques he discusses primarily address this issue of creating a fictional world and assisting the reader in the uninhibited and uninterrupted experience of it. He discusses such problems as inappropriate or inconsistent diction, problems within sentences (accidental rhyme, inappropriate rhythm, overloaded sentences), careless shifts in psychic distance, and "faults of soul" (by which he means sentimentality, frigidity, and mannerism--I'm not sure they have to do with the soul, really, but his criticisms of their presence in literature are well-presented). Most practically useful and least often found in other books on writing fiction that I have read are 1) the section on rhythm in writing prose, in which he provides sample sentences analyzed with metrical analysis and briefly discusses poetic terminology I'd forgotten (iambs, dactyls, anapests, etc.) in the interest of helping the writer make artistic decisions on a sentence by sentence level, and 2) a chapter on plotting, in which he discusses various approaches to plotting and how these various approaches may work well or less well with different forms (e.g., short story, novella, novel) or with different plot structures. This chapter is particularly helpful because of his extended examples. He models the way the process would work in much the same way a good teacher models practices and behavior in class. This is immensely helpful, even if I do not agree with all of his ideas about what kinds of stories are worth writing. His advice, in the end, is useful only for realist fiction. If you are interested in metafiction or more experimental techniques, you will need to go elsewhere.Even with my reservations about Gardner's attitude, and even with the limitations he imposes, I would consider using this text to teach, were I ever in a position to teach creative writing. It would certainly not be the only text I would use (I would want to have a less condescending counter to Gardner), but it would likely prove quite useful, if not in full, then at least in part. If nothing else, the long list of exercises at the end of the book is worth pillaging for use in my current freshman writing courses as applied to personal writing and developing a consistent and compelling style.
What do You think about The Art Of Fiction: Notes On Craft For Young Writers (1991)?
John Gardner's The Art of Fiction is pretentious and not one of my favorite writing books at all. I've heard about this book for sometime and figured I would give it a try. So I picked it up from the library, hoping to learn something new and enjoy the book. I usually don't bash books on the blog, but I cannot recommend this one outright.Gardner's style of writing in the book bored me to tears; it reminded me of those professors that put the class to sleep in college. I was an eager college student who wanted to learn in every class, but there were those teachers that don't have the knack to keep students' attention. John Gardner, I fear, is one of those people...or at least that is how he came across in this book.What I can say that is good about it is that it helped me discern the type of story I have been working on and how to frame it better. I discovered this information in the section where he discusses tales vs. epic vs. yarn. I'm glad that I read that section of the book because it was helpful, though that was near the beginning.Much of this book is written in a way that puts down the reader who is less familiar with Gardner's "favorites" who are mentioned often, like Thackeray. I almost felt like I had learned nothing in my undergrad English major, though I know the contrary to be true.In the copy of this book I got from the library, I found a small pen-written "Amen" in one section that highlighted what many students feel about literature classes in high school. Often students find classes overly focused on the classic writers, like Coleridge, when "Howard the Duck" is more entertaining. Gardner uses this discussion to draw a line between popular fiction and what he calls "art." I wonder if he meant to be condescending in this passage. I got the impression that popular fiction is the crap on his heel as he walks down a pristine garden path.However, there are some great nuggets of information in this book. He recommends that authors/writers allow their characters to have free will and not impose their own desires or direction upon characters. This same advice is reiterated throughout the book in regard to style. Gardner also points out some common mistakes made by amateur writers. I won't list those here, but they were helpful in many ways. Sometimes, I slip as well.
—Serena
On the outside, John Gardner's "The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers" promises to be an intense and informative read on creating solid and effective fiction geared for new or fairly new writers. Instead, "The Art of Fiction" is half literary theory and assumptions that all readers of this book are college educated people and the other half is equally as pompous diatribe on the fundamentals of writing: rhythm, style, plot and point of view. I am college educated. My degree is in Writing and I studied rhetoric and literary theory. I found Gardner's critiques of various authors' styles and works to be engaging and thought provoking. I could follow his academic style of writing. However, the whole time I read, I couldn't help but think of how this book, touted as "notes on craft for young writers" would turn off and completely discourage young writers who did not attend college. In the back of my mind, I wondered if this was his intention. Maybe Gardner wanted to keep the, in his mind, uneducated from writing by discouraging them with this book. Another thing to consider while reading this text is that it is 26 years old. The creative writing class has drastically changed in two and a half decades. The college writing class experiences he mentions throughout the first half of the book were definitely not the experiences I had as while pursuing my degree. Over all, I did glean some interesting insights about the writing process and it was good to have a refresher on plot and point of view. For that, I will consider the time spent reading this text to be well worth it and incredibly successful. I doubt I would recommend this book to anyone, unless they were willing to work through some thick material and an even thicker tone.
—Grace
Of the very slim shelf of books on writing that are worth a damn, "The Art of Fiction" is by far the best. Passionate, evangelical, profound, deeply moving and extremely useful, it's meant for advanced writing students. But everyone interested in writing can benefit from reading it -- beginner, advanced and professional. Even book lovers who have no interest in becoming writers will become better readers for having come in contact with Gardner's wisdom.How powerful is this book? After I gave my father a copy to read, he called me up in tears, saying he felt that he had wasted his life by not becoming a writer!PS: Astoundingly, many younger, college-age reviewers on Amazon.com criticize this book for its tone, which they find pedantic, high-handed, superior, and generally overbearing -- like, you know, he was a college professor or something (he was; he was also Raymond Carver's writing teacher). And they chafe at Gardner's promotion of a thorough grounding in the classics. (Homer? Chaucer? Gimme a break! Not edgy enough!) These, apparently, are the same students who believe they should be given at least a B, simply for showing up and doing the work.
—David Wise
