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Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction, by John McNally
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Taking off from The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide, John McNally’srelentlessly blunt, bracingly cheerful, and immensely helpful map to being a writer, Vivid and Continuousis an equally blunt, cheerful, and helpful map to learning to be a writer. While acknowledging that many fine books cover such essentials of fiction writing as point of view, characterization, and setting, McNally sets out in this new book—intended as a supplement to beginning fiction-writing classes or as the sole text for upper-level or graduate courses—to solve the tricky second-tier problems that those books cover only in footnotes.
Vivid and Continuous takes its inspiration from John Gardner, whose essential truths in On Becoming a Novelist clarified McNally’s goal of communicating a “vivid and continuous dream” with his own writing. In fifteen concise, energizing chapters, he dispenses advice gained from almost thirty years of studying, writing, and teaching. How do you avoid the pitfalls inherent in the most common subjects for stories? How do you create memorable minor characters? What about managing references to pop culture without distracting your readers, revising a story to bring its subtext into focus, or exploring the twenty most common craft-related quirks that lessen immediacy for your readers? How do you keep from overdosing on similes and metaphors or relying on too many flashbacks to provide necessary backstory? How do you learn to listen when your story tries to talk to you? Finally, how can you resist “John McNally’s Sure-Fire Formula for Becoming Funnier in 30 Days”?
McNally cites many novels and short stories as examples that best illustrate the lessons he wants to impart, the writer’s life, or the writer’s craft, as well as his own favorite authors’ novels and short story collections. Exercises at the end of each chapter reinforce its point and serve as practical catalysts for new writings and directions.
Just blunt enough to get your attention but not blunt enough to crush you, challenging but not discouraging, personal but not ego-ridden, snarky but not mean, John McNally will prompt you to think more deeply about a variety of issues that will push you toward writing more meaningful, more accomplished work.
- Sales Rank: #741598 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-03-15
- Released on: 2013-03-15
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
“Vivid and Continuous is smart, extremely helpful, and—unlike most books about how to write—very funny. I guffawed and nodded my head in agreement as I read the chapter on subject matter to avoid. John McNally’s engaging voice beguiled me in every essay, offering up wisdom gleaned from years of experience as a dedicated teacher and successful writer. This book is one of a kind. I can’t wait to assign it to my fiction-writing students.”—Elizabeth Stuckey-French, author, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady and coauthor, Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
A great book for writers, on multiple levels
By Dana King
The problem with many writing books--and writing teachers--is they tell you How it's Done, sometimes in stentorian tones of great implied import. The end effect is too often to overwhelm the reader/writer, especially those still looking for their own way. There's too much to remember, and it's too hard. Some are deterred. Others decide rules are made to be broken, so I might as well start now.
John McNally's Vivid and Continuous is an excellent entry point for a startup writer. It combines brevity (147 pages, not counting index and reading list) with a conversational tone to move the reader through key considerations in any type of fiction. Though the professed thrust is for those interested in literary ficiton, the lessons and examples will be useful to anyone.
The book breaks into fifteen chapters, each with its own topic. Ranging from The Ideal Reader, Beginnings, Titles, through Minor Characters, Humor (his "Sure-Fire Formula for Becoming Funnier in Thirty Days" alone is worth the price of the book) and wrapping up with Gestation and Humility. Each chapter describes a little of why it's important, cites examples, but never becomes pedantic. If ever a writing book read like you were talking to a guy at a bar, this is it.
The examples are deftly used and should incline the reader to want to further explore many of them. The chapter on minor characters details how, in The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger uses a large number of characters who appear for too short a time to require--or even deserve--detailing to characterize Holden Caulfield through his descriptions and reactions to them. Salinger's gift for putting the character's image into the reader's head with a single sentence. (Faith Cavendish, who "wasn't exactly a whore or anything but that didn't mind doing it once in a while." Or Sally Hayes's mother, who'd do charity work only if "everybody kissed her ass for her when they made a contribution.") We may not have Holden's background, but we all know these people.
The two final chapters stick out. In Gestation, McNally discusses the idea of each story needing its own time to be told. Some may flow, while others may need years to come together, left fallow for extended period until the writer's experience or cultural events reach a point where the story opens itself to the author. The catch with fictional gestation periods is, no one knows how long they are, and they're different for each story.
The final chapter is titled Humility. Cautioning young writers against hubris, McNally cites giants such as Thomas Pynchon looking back with dismay at some older stories, and John Steinbeck's despair over how he had failed with The Grapes of Wrath. ("It's just a run-of-the-mill book. And the awful thing is that it is the absolute best I can do.") A caution to all fledgling iconoclasts who would break new ground because the world has never seen a talent such as yours: get over yourselves. If Pynchon and Steinbeck harbor doubts about their results, you should at least consider yours could be flawed.
McNally is not above using his own writing for example. This is often a turn-off. Here, it's done with a difference. Instead of using his work to show How It's Done, he uses what led to a piece of his to describe how it got there, warts and all. The lessons is not, "Listen to me, for I am great," but, "You don't to make some of the same mistakes I did. Take this for what it's worth." The engaging writing style and regular dollops of humor make everything do down with a smile.
Vivid and Continuous is an excellent book for fledgling writers, as well as those more experienced who need an occasional reminder of things to be aware of. It would be perfect for an adult education class that included student of various levels of ability, as its lessons apply on multiple levels. I learned a lot, was reminded of more, and had a great time reading it. My only disappointment came when I realized I had come to the end, a feeling that can be easily remedied with another read, if only to cherry pick the bits that most appealed to me.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Great read, very informative, from someone who doesn't particularly care for books about the writing process
By Tony
Like the author says, this is not a book for everyone. It is not a soup to nuts instruction guide, how-to type of book, but an addendum or supplement. McNally is an experienced teacher of creative writing at the college level and himself a published author who mixes both experience as instructor and in-the-trenches author to provide guidance and explanation.
The book is thorough in its explanation as to why certain aspects of writing and the creative process matter instead of simply saying "this is how writing must be done". For me this is important. I was hooked from the beginning and felt like a ripe audience for this particular book. He is concise in his prose and quite enjoyable to read.
McNally presents exercises with each chapter that he uses to reinforce the topic and provide a path for experimentation for the reader/writer. This enacts a workbook mentality that works well with the "lesson" he has provided. In addition to explaining and clarifying the nuts and bolts of what creates a story, McNally delves into the behind the scenes aspect of how things are created providing anecdotes of writers and their habits and how it is important regardless of what level of writer one is, or who the audience may be, that any writer works from a place and within environments that works for them.
Very enjoyable, and more importantly, exceptionally informative. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Right on! Read on!
By Julie Stevenson
As an English professor, I write as well as teach, and have taught Creative Writing courses through the years but haven't done so in quite a while. I saw the author and his book in an article in a magazine, so I bought the book wanting to see what another English prof/Creative Writing instructor had to say on the subject - very happy I did!
This is the best book on Creative Writing I've seen since Stephen King's On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft. McNally is spot on with his insights and advice, clearly a master of the craft. The writing was very well done, making this an easy read as opposed to another didactic book put out by someone trying to sound brilliant; McNally clearly is brilliant and so much so he keeps it easy to read with a great pace and flow to his writing while others create dry-toast books on the topic.
As I was reading this book, I was thinking "every writer I know could benefit by reading this ... " especially one in particular who kept coming to mind - not very good but believes he is (oh, if only I could anonymously send him a copy and know he'd read it). I will say writers who have had some education in Creative Writing will be a little better off reading this than those who haven't, only because there are just a few esoteric terms scattered here and there, such as "limited omniscient narrator." For those of us who are educated writers, we're in the know, but those with little formal education or instruction in Creative Writing may have to do a bit of web searching to find what these terms mean. Then again, what the heck - it's good for them.
Highly recommend this book! Read on!
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