How to Be A Splendid Writer
2005 August 12
A very nice article just posted by J. Mark Bertrand that gives five excellent steps every serious writer should consider to improve their craft. My favorite:
Start reading books the way an architect looks at buildings
Read full article: The Master’s Artist
I believe this quote about reading books in the way an architect studies buildings comes from John Gardner, whose books “The Art of Fiction” and “On Becoming a Novelist” are two of the very best works in the field. As I recall, Gardner’s other analogy is reading books the way a med student observes surgery. His book, “On Moral Fiction,” is important for people of faith, too (although Flannery O’Conner is really the person to know, especially her collection of essays on the art of writing, “Mystery and Manners”).