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Any writing books you're looking at?

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durden7 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 13 Dec 2006 at 5:38am
There are always a ton of new Writing books on the market every year. I find myself looking at a whole variety of stuff.
 
Has anyone read anything good lately?
 
I am going to start Aristotle's "Poetics".... it's widely referenced in other texts... so I figured I should give it a whirl.


Edited by durden7 - 13 Dec 2006 at 5:38am
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Chris Messineo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 2006 at 5:51am
Originally posted by durden7 durden7 wrote:

I am going to start Aristotle's "Poetics".... it's widely referenced in other texts... so I figured I should give it a whirl.
There are a lot of great ideas in "Poetics" and it's definitely worth reading, but it's not exactly a fun read.

Chris
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote durden7 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 2006 at 10:42am
No,
I suppose it does not look like much fun at all. After all is is written by Aristotle, right?
 
He just doesn't seem to be the modern linguist type.
 
Ha!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BarbaraFL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2006 at 1:40am

Ha, for more fun pick up one of the "Best Short Stories In America" collections. When you read a lot of them you see how much sublety matters in short stories because you may be telling a story that happens over one day.  In fact I will highlight Chris' short film entry for this year as the perfect situation for a short story! A small moment ended right where it should have ended.

I can't do the competition this year because one of my stories just got me into the Writers In Paradise conference here in FL and into Dennis Lehane's class, am VERY psyched to be studying with him in an intensive workshop (and they paid 1/2 my fee, yay!).
 
Another great and very very weird short story collection:  "Things You Should Know," A.M. Homes.  And in fact anyone here would be interested in "Coronado" by Dennis Lehane because it contains the play he wrote  that was based on some of his short stories (all of which are in this book) (and the play is one hell of a thrill ride)
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2006 at 4:25am
Originally posted by BarbaraFL BarbaraFL wrote:

I can't do the competition this year because one of my stories just got me into the Writers In Paradise conference here in FL and into Dennis Lehane's class, am VERY psyched to be studying with him in an intensive workshop (and they paid 1/2 my fee, yay!).
Barbara,
 
That's awesome, congratulations!
 
Chris
 
p.s.  Thanks for the kind words about my film.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote durden7 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2006 at 6:18am
That does sound awesome. Congrats!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BarbaraFL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2006 at 12:40pm
Originally posted by Chris Messineo Chris Messineo wrote:

Originally posted by BarbaraFL BarbaraFL wrote:

I can't do the competition this year because one of my stories just got me into the Writers In Paradise conference here in FL and into Dennis Lehane's class, am VERY psyched to be studying with him in an intensive workshop (and they paid 1/2 my fee, yay!).
Barbara,
 
That's awesome, congratulations!
 
Chris
 
p.s.  Thanks for the kind words about my film.
 
You're welcome and I totally mean it, plus I want to thank you again for your critique of last year's short because it was very honest and was immensely helpful - and in fact was one of the reasons I decided to apply to this conference! You pinpointed the issue I am having with writing in all forms. So I am greatly looking forward to the indepth critique from my classmates and Dennis Lehane (I've read everything he's written and Mystic River is pure literature to me). :)


Edited by BarbaraFL - 15 Dec 2006 at 12:41pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2006 at 1:25pm
Barbara,

The conference sounds wonderful. Please let us know how it goes.

Chris
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote johnnyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2006 at 3:19am
"Wired" just did a piece last month where they asked well-known writers to write a short story in only six words. My favorite (I can't for the life of me remember who wrote it, I don't have the issue handy) was:
 
"Machine. I have invented a time"
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote durden7 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Dec 2006 at 6:10am
6 words?
 
That is a short story. I like the rising action right near the climax of the tale. The resolution worked for me as well.
 
Overall I'd say this was a good piece.
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