Dwight Swainisms from The Cottage of Blog
I'm re-reading chapter one from Dwight Swain's "Techniques of the Selling Writer."
QUOTES:
"You need to know only four things in order to write a solid story:
how to group words into motivation-reaction units;
how to group motivation-reaction units into scenes and sequels;
how to group scenes and sequels into story pattern;
how to creat the kind of characters that give a story life.
"ONLY" HE SAYS.
Look to the reality of the writing situation. You can write stories. You can learn to write well enough to sell an occasional piece. Can you write well enough to sell consistently or reach the brass ring of publishing? that's another story. "Beyond that, the going gets rough." "At the top, it's very rough indeed. If you get there . . . you know it's because you have talent in quantity; and innate ability that sets you apart from the competition."
"Salable . . . presupposes that you know how to write, how to plot, how to characterize, how to intrigue readers; how to make skilled use of a hundred tools."
Forget the hunt for magic secrets. There aren't any-or very few. Forget them, because they will waste your valuable time. Face your reality. "What is reality? Reality is the acknowledging the complexity of fiction." In other words, learn your craft and pay your dues. Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them. Then go out and make some more.
"Emotion and the Writer"
". . . Each of us experiences and presponds to life differently, in a manner uniquely and individually his own. Now all this is ever so important to a writer. Why? Because feeling is the place very story starts. Where do you find feeling? It springs from the human heart."
"As a writer, your task is to bring this heart-bound feeling to the surface in your reader: to make it well and swell and surge and turn."
And here, for me has been my dilemma in many of my past stories:
"The trouble with rules"
"No writer in his right mind writes by a set of rules. At least not by somebody else's rules. Why not? BECAUSE RULES START FROM THE WRONG END: WITH RESTRICTION; WITH FORM; WITH MECHANICS; WITH EXHORTATION ABOUT THINGS YOU SHOULD AND SHOULDN'T DO."
Where does Mr. Swain think you should start? "With feeling. YOUR OWN feeling."
"You start with an urge to write" What goes wrong? "The fear of being wrong."
"Formula for failure: Try to please everybody."
Valuable to a writer: "Spontaneity. Freedom. The opportunity for unstudied, impulsive roving through the backlands of his mind." (beautiful Mr. Swain.)
Detrimental to a writer: "Inhibition. Self-censorship. Restraint.
"Feeling dominates . . . encourages spontaneity and takes advantage of it in the initial excitement of storytelling."
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT (up to page 19)
"ONLY IF YOU STAND READY TO MAKE MISTAKES TODAY CAN YOU HOPE TO MOVE AHEAD TOMORROW."
So, why am I writing this? Because, I needed to reinforce all those points that I seem to be moving away from. Self doubt, restraint and inhabitions are circling me like sharks. The spontaneity and freedom get me back into the safe quarters of my boat--the life raft, the shark cage. I hope by writing this, it will help me remember these points.
Mistakes: The singular most important porthole to success. (or at least one of them)
My lecture for today through the pen of Mr. Dwight Swain. On to page 20.
So, today I will write a chapter one and will allow myself to make mistakes riddled with emotional and physical conflicts.
Pat
QUOTES:
"You need to know only four things in order to write a solid story:
how to group words into motivation-reaction units;
how to group motivation-reaction units into scenes and sequels;
how to group scenes and sequels into story pattern;
how to creat the kind of characters that give a story life.
"ONLY" HE SAYS.
Look to the reality of the writing situation. You can write stories. You can learn to write well enough to sell an occasional piece. Can you write well enough to sell consistently or reach the brass ring of publishing? that's another story. "Beyond that, the going gets rough." "At the top, it's very rough indeed. If you get there . . . you know it's because you have talent in quantity; and innate ability that sets you apart from the competition."
"Salable . . . presupposes that you know how to write, how to plot, how to characterize, how to intrigue readers; how to make skilled use of a hundred tools."
Forget the hunt for magic secrets. There aren't any-or very few. Forget them, because they will waste your valuable time. Face your reality. "What is reality? Reality is the acknowledging the complexity of fiction." In other words, learn your craft and pay your dues. Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them. Then go out and make some more.
"Emotion and the Writer"
". . . Each of us experiences and presponds to life differently, in a manner uniquely and individually his own. Now all this is ever so important to a writer. Why? Because feeling is the place very story starts. Where do you find feeling? It springs from the human heart."
"As a writer, your task is to bring this heart-bound feeling to the surface in your reader: to make it well and swell and surge and turn."
And here, for me has been my dilemma in many of my past stories:
"The trouble with rules"
"No writer in his right mind writes by a set of rules. At least not by somebody else's rules. Why not? BECAUSE RULES START FROM THE WRONG END: WITH RESTRICTION; WITH FORM; WITH MECHANICS; WITH EXHORTATION ABOUT THINGS YOU SHOULD AND SHOULDN'T DO."
Where does Mr. Swain think you should start? "With feeling. YOUR OWN feeling."
"You start with an urge to write" What goes wrong? "The fear of being wrong."
"Formula for failure: Try to please everybody."
Valuable to a writer: "Spontaneity. Freedom. The opportunity for unstudied, impulsive roving through the backlands of his mind." (beautiful Mr. Swain.)
Detrimental to a writer: "Inhibition. Self-censorship. Restraint.
"Feeling dominates . . . encourages spontaneity and takes advantage of it in the initial excitement of storytelling."
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT (up to page 19)
"ONLY IF YOU STAND READY TO MAKE MISTAKES TODAY CAN YOU HOPE TO MOVE AHEAD TOMORROW."
So, why am I writing this? Because, I needed to reinforce all those points that I seem to be moving away from. Self doubt, restraint and inhabitions are circling me like sharks. The spontaneity and freedom get me back into the safe quarters of my boat--the life raft, the shark cage. I hope by writing this, it will help me remember these points.
Mistakes: The singular most important porthole to success. (or at least one of them)
My lecture for today through the pen of Mr. Dwight Swain. On to page 20.
So, today I will write a chapter one and will allow myself to make mistakes riddled with emotional and physical conflicts.
Pat
posted by Unknown at 10:13 AM
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