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    Forms of the Plot
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    Forms of the Plot

    Literary theorist Norm Friedman offered incredible new ways to think about and categorize plots. His work can help writers better...
    Literary Theory and Your Novel
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    Literary Theory and Your Novel

    The principles of literary theory help us tell and understand great stories. Here is a discussion of key concepts in literary theory and...
    Aristotle and Hurston
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    Aristotle and Hurston

    Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is a perfect example of Aristotle's dramatic structure. Here are notes on how...
    Character in Crisis
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    Character in Crisis

    Using the famous "5 Stages of Grief" as his model, Editor Shawn Coyne develops a theory of character that helps the writer deliver...
    The Old Man and the Novel
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    The Old Man and the Novel

    Hemingway on writing and the writing life. Here he is in his own immortal words.
    The Poetic Arts
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    The Poetic Arts

    Horace writes a book on craft disguised as a poem. His poem, Ars Poetica, is a classic of literary criticism and became the key text for...
    Glendavid Glen Mamet
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    Glendavid Glen Mamet

    David Mamet discusses the fundamentals of story and gets right down to the most essential, most profound elements of writing forceful...
    Her Room of Masterpieces
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    Her Room of Masterpieces

    In Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One's Own she analyzes classic books written by women and discusses what it means to be a female...
    On the Sublime
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    On the Sublime

    This ancient text on story lays out what aesthetics are and why the writer must rely on them. Here are notes on Longinus's brilliant...
    Metaphor
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    Metaphor

    The great theorist Cleanth Brooks says writers can only step into the universal by going through the narrow door of the particular. Here...
    At the Desk
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    At the Desk

    Francine Prose's wonderful advice on craft. Here are notes from her book, Reading Like a Writer.
    On Writing
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    On Writing

    Stephen King says talent is cheaper than table salt: it's hard work that makes the writer. Here are notes on his classic book, On Writing.
    What Use Poetry
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    What Use Poetry

    Philip Sidney defends poetry from attacks on its value. Sidney says poetry tamed our wild wits and was the first light-giver to...
    Modern Form
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    Modern Form

    In 1668, John Dryden published his work, Essay of Dramatic Poesy, wherein he criticized classical notions of form and put forth a...
    Against Interpretation
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    Against Interpretation

    Why must art mean something; can't it simply be experienced? In this great, iconoclastic essay, Susan Sontag says interpretation kills...
    The Fictive Dream
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    The Fictive Dream

    Writer John Gardner says a story must create a vivid and continuous dream in the reader's mind. Here are notes on his famous book on...
    Aspects of the Novel
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    Aspects of the Novel

    E. M. Forster wrote a terrific book exploring the elements of fiction. Here are notes on his classic book on writing, Aspects of the Novel.
    Damn Good Writing, Part 2
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    Damn Good Writing, Part 2

    How to Write a Damn Good Novel, Part 2 is a great follow-up book on the craft of writing. Here are notes on this excellent book.
    Damn Good Writing
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    Damn Good Writing

    How to Write A Damn Good Novel is a great book on craft. Here are notes on this classic guide to writing.
    How We Read
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    How We Read

    Literary critic Wolfgang Iser spent his career trying to understand how we read and interpret what we read. Here are notes on his...
    Poetics
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    Poetics

    All literary theory begins here. Aristotle's Poetics is perhaps the earliest work on theory and gives one of the best explanations of...
    De Stijl
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    De Stijl

    "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no...
    Las Meninas
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    Las Meninas

    Understanding any art form can give the writer insight into craft and aesthetics. Here are notes on Michel Foucault's analysis of...
    Borges on Writing
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    Borges on Writing

    Jorge Louis Borges is one of the giants. Here are notes on a collection of his essays on craft.
    Art as Technique
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    Art as Technique

    This essay by the Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky introduces one of the most important concepts in literary theory: Defamiliarization....
    The Hero in Your Novel
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    The Hero in Your Novel

    Many novels follow a protagonist along the Hero's Journey. Here are notes on Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, a book...