Synopses & Reviews
Nicolas Delbanco explores the stories and techniques of twelve stylists, from Ernest Hemingway to Jamaica Kincaid, and encourages students to imitate the craft of these master storytellers as they hone their own fiction writing skills.
About the Author
Nicholas Delbanco
Nick Delbanco is the Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, where he formerly directed the prestigious Hopwood Awards Program in creative writing and where the Delbanco Prize was established in his honor for students who need financial assistance to attend the Hopwood Program (only 25 students are admitted each year). He is also a co-founder (together with the late John Gardner) of the Bennington Writing Workshops
As the Delbanco Prize implies, Nick is a beloved teacher and through his teaching has been in the thick of the modern literary scene. His students have praised his enormous frame of literary reference, his eagerness to devour a new work, and his ability to home in on its weaknesses. Richard Tillinghast, a poet and colleague at Michigan, said of Nick, “When you have someone with an eye and ear like Nick's, you can really learn a lot about what talents you have and how to use them.”
Describing Nicks teaching style, the New York Times said, “Mr. Delbanco delights in horrifying his students by urging them to imitate rather than innovate. He tells them that imitation is the surest route to originality and warns against self-expression, self-discovery.” His students also talk of his sociability (he loves a good story, to tell it and to hear it), his honesty, and his devotion to his students. One student said, “He gave me confidence when I had no confidence. He's also very blunt and honest. He has no problem tossing your manuscript back at you and saying, 'This stinks.' He would dismantle me and then take me into his office and tell me I could be a writer.”
Nick has won several awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two Writers Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is the author of twenty-four books of fiction and non-fiction, a frequent contributor to Harpers, and often seen in the New York Times. Some have called him a “writers writer” --to which he replies “it's hard to see it as an insult at all. The worst you could say is that it's a kind way of saying nobody buys your books.” He has written a previous McGraw-Hill text, The Sincerest Form: Writing Fiction through Imitation. His most recent novel is The Count of Concord, a work of historical fiction that tells the tale of Count Rumford: inventor of the coffeepot, philosopher, and spy (among other things). The Chicago Sun says, “Novelist Nicholas Delbanco has done us a great service by rescuing Rumford from obscurity…In ‘The Count of Concord we see a veteran novelist working at the height of his powers.”
Table of Contents
How to Use This Book About the Writers Approaches The Stories Notes on Craft and Context Imitation Following Your Own Lead Applications, Connections, and Exercises The Approach: Variations on a Theme Teaching Imitation Advanced Exercises Practice Makes a Better Practitioner Acknowledgments Theory and Practice: An Introduction Part I: Reading and Imitating the Master Stylist Chapter 1: Plot and Structure. The Art of the Echo Andrea Barrett, "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds" Writers View “The Behavior of the Hawkweeds” Notes on Craft and Context On Point of View in Structure On Characterization in Structure On Theme in Structure On Theme in Plot On Timespan: The Structure of Plot On Plot and Structure: Putting it Together Writers View On History and Invention Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 2: A Primer for Narrative Styles. Self-reflexive Fiction and the World Within the World John Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse" Writers View “Lost in the Funhouse” Notes on Craft and Context On Form and Language in Style On Theme in Style Author as Character, Character as Author On Fiction about Fiction “Lost in the Funhouse” as a Primer for Narrative Styles On Self-reflexive Imitation Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Genevieve Kolasa, Exercise 4 Erin Hockenberry, Exercise 10 Chapter 3: Character and the Epiphanic Moment. Learning to Reveal the Hidden Charles Baxter, "Fenstads Mother" Writers View “Fenstads Mother” Notes on Craft and Context On Plot in Characterization Counterpointed Characterization: Protagonist and Antagonist The Epiphanic Moment Humor and Dialogue in Characterization Extras: Allusions in Characterization Life Off the Page: Development of Minor Characters On Real Characters Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 4: Dialogue. Minimalism and the Monologue Raymond Carver, "A Small Good Thing" Writers View “A Small Good Thing” Notes on Craft and Context On Economy in Language and Dialogue On Expansion as Revision Fleshing Out a Story On Character: Names and Distance On Point of View and Distance On the Selection of Details On Dialogue and Monologue Writers View On Evoking Emotional Intensity Through Restraint Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Dena Zamore: Exercise 3 Ray Howell: Exercise 4 Chapter 5: Theme and the Selection of Details. Writing in Retrospect Richard Ford, "Communist" Writers View “Communist” Notes on Craft and Context Details: On Timespan Writing Up Close Writing at a Distance Summary vs. Dialogue Details: On Whats Left Unsaid The Selection of Details On Details in Theme On Setting in Theme Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 6: Compression. Prose as Architecture Ernest Hemingway, "Chapter VII," " "In Another Country" Writers View “Chapter VII” Notes on Craft and Context On Compression and Style On Point of View in Style On Word Choice and Syntax “In Another Country” Notes on Craft and Context On Tense and Point of View On Dialogue and Language On Prose as Architecture Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Jess Row Leah Stewart Chapter 7: Setting. Perception, Place, and Displacement Bharati Mukherjee, "The Management of Grief" Writers View “The Management of Grief” Notes on Craft and Context On Setting: Empathy and the Unfamiliar The Facts: Setting the Scene On Collective Catastrophes and Shared Grief On Place and Displacement On Fate On Displaced Characters On the Unreliable Narrator On Perception and Displacement On Displacement as Bond and Conflict On Time and Place in Displacement Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 8: Point of View and Comic Timing. You and I Lorrie Moore, "How to Become a Writer" Writers View “How to Become a Writer” Notes on Craft and Context On Second Person Point of View You as You and I On Parody On Nontraditional Plot Not One Climax, But Many: Episodic Plot Humor: Rhythm and Diction Point of View: Sharing the Joke and the Darkness Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Stephanie Anderson, “How to Become a Beatnik” Zachary Bernstein, “How to Become a Bowler” Chapter 9: Dramatic Encounter. Mixing the Accidental and the Foreordained Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Writers View “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Notes on Craft and Context On the Plot On the Foreordained On Humor and Horror Plot: Escalating Danger On Character Driving Plot On Hints from Minor Characters On Free Will and Predestination On Pace and the Dramatic Encounter: Sustaining Hope On Character and Grace On Symbolic and Thematic Implications After the Dramatic Encounter Writers View Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 10: Language and Form. The Power of Data and Lists Tim OBrien, "The Things They Carried" Writers View “The Things They Carried” Notes on Craft and Context The Challenges of “True” Narrative On Form: The List Story On the Tonality and Weight of Lists On Style and Rhythm On Dialogue and Specific Language On the Individual and Universal Character “Good Form” On Invention as Truth-seeking and Narrative Posturing Writers View Drawing Connections: Hemingway and Barth From Imitation to Original Creation Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Benjamin Zick, Exercise 6 Emily Neenan, Exercise 6 Chapter 11: The Process of Revision. Inflected English Bernard Malamud, "The Magic Barrell" Writers View “The Magic Barrel” Notes on Craft and Context Writers View Revision as Creation On the Process of Revision On Creating and Revising Characters On Magical Realism On Style and Dialogue On Style and Description On Plot and Point of View Getting the Ending Right On Theme Without Reduction Applications and Connections Exercises Chapter 12: Autobiography versus Invention. Blending Fantasy and Reality Jamaica Kincaid, "My Mother" Writers View “My Mother” Notes on Craft and Context Reading Genre: Fantasy or Reality? On Autobiography in Fiction On Culture: Reinventing Narrative Writers View On Autobiography and Symbol Representative Character and Conflict Episodic Plot: Transformation and Flux Concrete Detail in Invention On Imitation and Autobiography On Interchangeable Identity and Language The Concrete in the Abstract Applications and Connections Exercises Examples of Student Work Michael K. Hung: My Mother: A Series of Poems “Transformation” and “One to Look Up To” Ray Howell: (screenplay) Part II: An Anthology: John Cheever, "Reunion" Exercises Peter Ho Davies, "Relief" Exercises Junot Diaz, "How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie"