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Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form

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With clarity, verve, and the sure instincts of a good teacher, Madison Smartt Bell offers a roll-up-your-sleeves approach to writing in this much-needed book.

Focusing on the big picture as well as the crucial details, Bell examines twelve stories by both established writers (including Peter Taylor, Mary Gaitskill, and Carolyn Chute) and his own former students. A story's use of time, plot, character, and other elements of fiction are analyzed, and readers are challenged to see each story's flaws and strengths. Careful endnotes bring attention to the ways in which various writers use language. Bell urges writers to develop the habit of thinking about form and finding the form that best suits their subject matter and style. His direct and practical advice allows writers to find their own voice and imagination.

ISBN-13: 9780393320213

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Norton - W. W. & Company - Inc.

Publication Date: 04-17-2000

Pages: 390

Product Dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

Madison Smartt Bell is the author of seventeen novels, his most recent being Behind the Moon. He teaches at Goucher College and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Table of Contents

Preface xi
I. Unconscious Mind 1
II. Linear Design 23
Depth Charge by Craig Bernardini 33
Analysis 45
Plot 45
Character 47
Tone 47
Time Management 48
Dialogue 48
Suspense 49
Point of View 49
Imagery 50
Design 50
Theme 51
Notes 52
A Wife of Nashville by Peter Taylor 61
Analysis 80
Plot 80
Character 81
Tone 84
Point of View 84
Time Management 86
Design 88
Notes 90
Daisy's Valentine by Mary Gaitskill 98
Analysis 114
Plot 114
Character 115
Tone 117
Point of View 118
Time Management 118
Dialogue 119
Suspense 120
Imagery and Description 120
Design 121
Notes 123
Hear That Long Train Moan by Percival Everett 132
Analysis 136
Plot 136
Character 137
Tone 138
Point of View 138
Dialogue 139
Symbolism 139
Design 141
Notes 143
Oh, Man Alive by Holden Brooks 147
Analysis 154
Plot 154
Character 155
Tone 156
Point of View 156
Dialogue 157
Imagery and Description 157
Design 159
Notes 160
The Sky Is Gray by Ernest J. Gaines 165
Analysis 188
Plot 188
Character 189
Tone 193
Point of View 194
Dialogue 194
Imagery and Description 195
Time Management 196
Design 197
Notes 200
III. Modular Design 211
Signs of Life by Miriam Kuznets 217
Analysis 221
Plot 221
Character 222
Tone 222
Point of View 223
Dialogue 223
Imagery 224
Design 224
Notes 227
Lizzie, Annie, and Rosie's Rescue of Me with Blue Cake by Carolyn Chute 232
Analysis 243
Plot 243
Character 244
Tone 245
Point of View 246
Dialogue 246
Imagery and Description 247
Design 248
Notes 251
The Child Downstairs by Marcia Golub 257
Analysis 263
Plot 263
Character 264
Tone 266
Point of View 267
Dialogue 267
Imagery and Description 268
Design 269
Notes 270
Red Hands by William T. Vollmann 276
Analysis 282
Plot 282
Character 283
Tone 284
Point of View 285
Time Management 287
Dialogue 288
Imagery and Description 288
Design 291
Notes 293
Comic Strip by George Garrett 300
Analysis 312
Plot 312
Character 314
Tone 316
Point of View 317
Dialogue 317
Time Management 318
Suspense 319
Imagery and Description 319
Design 323
Notes 326
Little Red by Gilmore Tamny 336
Analysis 346
Plot 346
Character 348
Tone 349
Dialogue 349
Imagery and Description 351
Design 352
Notes 356
IV. A Philosophy of Composition 363
Glossary of Terms 371
Contributors 375
Permissions Acknowledgments 377