Ayn Rand's Art of Fiction is an appalling book... it shows how NOT to write fiction - her militant adherance to a sort of Aristotelian aesthetics is precisely why her own fiction comes across as wooden and obvious. In discussing the complexity of voices in the works of writers like Dostoevsky and Dickens, Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term "heteroglossia," describing the rich polyphony in the novel. Ayn Rand's novels, by contrast are monoglossal and tiresomely pedantic.
"Mr. Cropper, which college and undergraduation you took?"
I dropped out after 4 years of full-time college, but I majored in History and Philosophy, changing to Early Childhood Education my last year. Was that the question?...
On the character with green tennis shoes: For one thing, a quirky detail aids memory. But also, creating a character in this manner might be a way for a writer, who doesn't know what abstractions he wants to write about, to build up to them using some concretes of his own. It is by no means a polished character ready to plop into a novel, but it gets you from absolutely nothing, to a couple of concretes, which should lead to a decent abstraction that you can kick around in your writing.
NOT Faulkner or Fitzgerald (or Hemingway). They're all pithle.
Try Victor Hugo, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche's "Zarathustra" and Rand's writings, as well as the plays of Henrik Ibsen... and some others I'll think of later.
Thanks. I have read Atlas Shrugged. I think I will read that again as well as the others you have mentioned. I enjoy your vids, heep up the good work.
It seems like the only reason it is not the standard textbook of writing classes is that it makes mincemeat of academias new lazy and anti-conceptual methodology.
Great Video, in movies I hate it when they tell you something about a character in an explicit manner, it just tells me that they dont lnow how to write!
Ayn Rand's Art of Fiction is an appalling book... it shows how NOT to write fiction - her militant adherance to a sort of Aristotelian aesthetics is precisely why her own fiction comes across as wooden and obvious. In discussing the complexity of voices in the works of writers like Dostoevsky and Dickens, Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term "heteroglossia," describing the rich polyphony in the novel. Ayn Rand's novels, by contrast are monoglossal and tiresomely pedantic.
JohnGargo 1 year ago
Very educational! What's the song playing in the background?
GamblerJustice 2 years ago
" What's the song playing in the background?"
Mozart something or other.
MrCropper 2 years ago
Mr. Cropper, which college and undergraduation you took?
alonelychild 2 years ago
"Mr. Cropper, which college and undergraduation you took?"
I dropped out after 4 years of full-time college, but I majored in History and Philosophy, changing to Early Childhood Education my last year. Was that the question?...
MrCropper 2 years ago
On the character with green tennis shoes: For one thing, a quirky detail aids memory. But also, creating a character in this manner might be a way for a writer, who doesn't know what abstractions he wants to write about, to build up to them using some concretes of his own. It is by no means a polished character ready to plop into a novel, but it gets you from absolutely nothing, to a couple of concretes, which should lead to a decent abstraction that you can kick around in your writing.
Joshbuckler 2 years ago
Just a great damn video. I don't think this is still one I paid for, but I hope so.
apluce21 2 years ago
Just a great damn video
apluce21 2 years ago
What are some examples of good fiction?
StuartGalore 2 years ago
Ayn Rand's fiction lol
Thus Spake Zarathustra-Nietzsche
Les Miserables- Victor Hugo
not that I agree with his work but if someone is light on philosophy (not judging you at all)
Ishmael-Daniel Quinn
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Faulkner's fiction books
444DeanMachine 2 years ago
"What are some examples of good fiction?"
NOT Faulkner or Fitzgerald (or Hemingway). They're all pithle.
Try Victor Hugo, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche's "Zarathustra" and Rand's writings, as well as the plays of Henrik Ibsen... and some others I'll think of later.
MrCropper 2 years ago
Thanks. I have read Atlas Shrugged. I think I will read that again as well as the others you have mentioned. I enjoy your vids, heep up the good work.
StuartGalore 2 years ago
Don't forget Mickey Spillane, Terry Goodkind, or Vince Flynn for some more modern authors.
khord77 2 years ago
What a fantastic book.
It seems like the only reason it is not the standard textbook of writing classes is that it makes mincemeat of academias new lazy and anti-conceptual methodology.
tito2502 2 years ago
Great Video, in movies I hate it when they tell you something about a character in an explicit manner, it just tells me that they dont lnow how to write!
WarVideo 2 years ago