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Samuel R. Delany

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About Writing: 7 Essays, 4 Letters, 5 Interviews Kindle Edition

by Samuel R. Delany (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 67 ratings

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From the four-time Nebula Award–winning novelist and literary critic, essential reading for the creative writer.

Award-winning novelist Samuel R. Delany has written a book for creative writers to place alongside E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Lajos Egri’s Art of Dramatic Writing. Taking up specifics (When do flashbacks work, and when should you avoid them? How do you make characters both vivid and sympathetic?) and generalities (How are novels structured? How do writers establish serious literary reputations today?), Delany also examines the condition of the contemporary creative writer and how it differs from that of the writer in the years of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the high Modernists. Like a private writing tutorial, About Writing treats each topic with clarity and insight. Here is an indispensable companion for serious writers everywhere.

“Delany has certainly spent more time thinking about the process of generating narratives—and subsequently getting the fruits of his lucubrations down on paper?than any other writer in the genre. . . . Delany’s latest volume in this vein (About Writing) might be his best yet... Truly, as the jacket copy boasts, this book is the next best thing to taking one of Delany’s courses. . . . [R]eaders will find many answers here to the mysteries of getting words down on a page.” —Paul DiFilippo, Asimov’s Science Fiction

“Useful and thoughtful advice for aspiring (and practicing apprentice) authors. About Writing is autobiography, criticism, and a guidebook to good writing all in one.” —Robert Elliot Fox, Professor of English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

“Should go on the short list of required reading for every would-be writer.” —New York Times Book Review (on Of Doubts and Dreams in About Writing)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

During his tenure as professor of English and creative writing at Temple University, Delany has become almost as well known for his criticism as for his award-winning science fiction. His latest nonfiction book is a compilation of finely nuanced essays, letters, and interviews devoted to the craft of writing. After a long, autobiographical introduction comes a pair of essays, "Teaching/Writing" and "Thickening the Plot," that grew out of Delany's experience with the renowned Clarion Workshops. In the remaining essays, as well as in five interviews for assorted periodicals and four letters to fellow authors, Delany expounds on the many elements of good writing. An extended appendix of "nits, nips, tucks and tips" probes such topics as dialogue and dramatic structure for the benefit of novice authors. Although Delany's strong associations with sf may limit the audience for this masterfully written volume, it deserves a reading by aspiring wordsmiths in every genre. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"... should go on the short list of required reading for every would-be writer."―New York Times Book Review (on Of Doubts and Dreams in About Writing)

"If you are, like me, a writer―or if you are, also like me involved in the teaching of writing―you regularly find yourself reading books about writing because you are intent upon finding the perfect writer's instructional resource. Well, About Writing may, in fact, be that resource. Seven Essays focus on the different aspects of what Delany calls "the mechanics of fiction"; correspondence and interviews contain "advice on the art of fiction as well as [Delany's] views on the state of contemporary fictionThe result is a revelation on the art of fiction: how it is created, how the writer's image influences the perception of art, and how that art fits into today's world." Finally, About Writing contains 13 appendixes' each is an exquisite "mini-workshop," with topics such as "Grammar and Parts of Speech," "Dramatic Structure," "Point of View," and more. To some readers, Delany the novelist is linked to science fiction (he has won Hugo and Nebula awards), and to other readers, he is recognized as an innovative artist whose work has earned him the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature. However, as many students from Temple University and hundreds of writers' workshops already know. Delany is an inspiration and meticulous teacher who has taught creative writing for over 35 years. Now, because of this highly recommended collection, all writers―and teachers of writing―can enjoy and learn from Delany's indispensable guidance."―Multicultural Review

"Delany has certainly spent more time thinking about the process of generating narratives―and subsequently getting the fruits of his lucubrations down on paper―than any other writer in the genre. ...Delany's latest volume in this vein (About Writing) might be his best yet... Truly, as the jacket copy boasts, this book is the next best thing to taking one of Delany's courses... (R)eaders will find many answers here to the mysteries of getting words down on a page."―Paul DiFilippo, Asimov's Science Fiction

"... should go on the short list of required reading for every would-be writer."―New York Times Book Review (on "Of Doubts and Dreams" in About Writing)

"Enlightening and useful. I would place this book with Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury."―Gavin Grant, co-editor, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

"Useful and thoughtful advice for aspiring (and practicing apprentice) authors. About Writing is autobiography, criticism, and a guidebook to good writing all in one."―Robert Elliot Fox, Professor of English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

"Useful and thoughtful advice for aspiring (and practicing apprentice) authors. About Writing is autobiography, criticism, and a guidebook to good writing all in one."―Robert Elliot Fox, Professor of English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09QX4FNNH
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wesleyan University Press (September 15, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 15, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2344 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 424 pages

Customer Reviews:
4.5 67 ratings

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Samuel R. Delany

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Samuel R. Delany’s science fiction and fantasy tales are available in Aye and Gomorrah and Other Stories. His collection Atlantis: Three Tales and Phallos are experimental fiction. His novels include science fiction such as the Nebula-Award winning Babel-17 and The Einstein Intersection, as well as Nova (now in a Library of America anthology) and Dhalgren. His four-volume series Return to Nevèrÿon is sword-and-sorcery. Most recently, he has written the SF novel Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. His 2007 novel Dark Reflections won the Stonewall Book Award. Other novels include Equinox, Hogg, and The Mad Man. Delany was the subject of a 2007 documentary, The Polymath, by Fred Barney Taylor, and he has written a popular creative writing textbook, About Writing. He is the author of the widely taught Times Square Red / Times Square Blue, and his book-length autobiographical essay, The Motion of Light in Water, won a Hugo Award in 1989. All are available as both e-books and paperback editions. His website is: www.samueldelany.com.

Photo by Alex Lozupone (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Peter G. Pollak

amuel R. Delany is one of the most important ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014

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amuel R. Delany is one of the most important science fiction writers of the second half of the 20th century. His first novel was published (in 1962) when he was 20. His novels have won HUGOS (the highest award of the World Science Fiction Society), Nebulas (Science Fiction Society of America) as well as other awards. I discovered Delany forty years ago and have read and re-read him ever since.

I am not going to "review" About Writing other than to say that it is a must read for anyone who writes science fiction, fantasy or speculative fiction. It is full of insights profound and prosaic (including how to use apostrophes).

In addition to being a prolific writer, Delany has been teaching writing for four decades. That combination makes his insights particularly relevant to those refining their skills today.

A final thought: About Writing is not necesarily something one reads from cover to cover. It can be digested in small doses over time.

13 people found this helpful

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Trina

For both the writer and the avid reader

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2011

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An impressive book by one of my favorite authors, this provides abundant food for thought. Delany's writing is truly intelligent, at a level well beyond what's found in most books on the subject of writing. Delany is primarily a writer of science fiction, but my opinion is that his work falls into the category of 'literature' due to its quality. The book covers science fiction, but also far more.

3 people found this helpful

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Albert Bowes

Top 5 book on writing-only if you're serious!

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017

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Bought this book on the advice of Cat Rambo. Excellent book on craft, has heavy emphasis on classics and lib arts, but still well worthwhile read. Highly recommended for writers who are serious about improving their craft!

6 people found this helpful

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Jubei K.

A great reference tool for the serious writer

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2008

For writers, About Writing is a drop-everything-and-read-right-now kind of book that can be used while you're going over your outline, while you're writing a scene or a chapter, and while you're revising that scene or chapter. This is not the kind of book you'll want to wait until the end of writing to read, rather you should consider using About Writing as a reference during the process. For teachers, his Introduction, essays, and appendix could be useful tools in an intermediate to advanced fiction writing course--although not as hand outs but as points of discussion.

Do not skip the Preface or the Introduction, as both are packed with ideas on good writing versus talented writing, which will make you study each paragraph of your writing for clarity and language. Of his essays, "Some Notes for the Intermediate and Advanced Creative Writing Student" is the most inspired and inspiring. This essay is on narrative structure, but more than that, it is about breaking away from the formulaic narrative structures that can hold a novel to mediocre writing. He advocates knowing the old structure in order to revise or subvert it. He makes a point of differentiating plot and structure: "Plot exists as a synopsis that often has no correspondence to text.... Structure exists, however, only in terms of a particular text, so that to talk about it in any specificity or detail you must constantly be pointing to one part of a page or another, at these words or at those: structure is specifically the organization of various and varied textual units." (p. 144)

Of his letters, read Letter to Q--. It is a criticism of Toni Morrison's Bluest Eye, from the intention of the writer to the failure of the historical milieu to the biased discussion on intra-racial discrimination. It's a brilliant rant: "I begrudge no one his or her enjoyment of Morrison's novel. Still, I feel obliged to say: If a reader thinks this story gives an accurate or even a meaningful portrait either of the subjective lives of dark-skinned black or of light-skinned blacks, that reader knows none of us. And that goes for black readers as well as white." (p. 176)

His interviews were included because he sees them as a form of written work, because he received the questions in writing and answered them in writing. This section could have been strengthened with the interview, "Black to the Future," which discusses William Gibson's critically acclaimed and popular Cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer.

About Writing ends with an appendix on various topics, from POV to punctuation to a discussion of the axiom: write what you know. If you only read the appendix, you'd still be better off now that where you were as a writer before.

The primary strength of About Writing is the many ways Delany discusses writing from the point of view of writer, reader, a teacher, and a critic.

The primary weakness is that the package deal of Delany's experience, success, and knowledge comes with a tone that can be off-putting, a tone supported by his edict in the Preface that only serious writers should read About Writing.

11 people found this helpful

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Kathy

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Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2018

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Excellent discussion for first time writer like myself

3 people found this helpful

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Sherryl Clark

Writers fodder

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2013

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I bought this because I read quotes from it in a blog post at Brain Pickings. The introductory essay was great - I read it slowly and went back over some parts several times. There are plenty of things in there for writers to consider, to ponder over. Why do we write? What do we expect from it? What depths should we plumb?
The other essays in the collection weren't as valuable to me. Some were quite specifically about SF and fantasy so were interesting but not as much about the craft.

5 people found this helpful

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KeithMinnion

"On Writing" An Essential Resource

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2013

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Delany provides both practical advice and philosophical opinions about writing. Much of what I read was new to me, which made "On Writing" an essential resource.

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