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beckysrlyacat's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Elitist and kind of boring, but had a few good tips.
sydneythebookpal's review against another edition
a book about the self importance of dead white guys by a self important dead white guy
davenash's review against another edition
4.0
Other books on writing are geared to early beginners or spend a lot of time on style (word choice , sentences, pargraphs). The art of fiction speaks to a more advanced amateur. Gardner makes unique observations about writing and give wise advice.
Some main takeaways - fiction is like a dream, you have to keep it going by adding in real details. Fiction is composed in structural units, its not one big breath, its more like a series of excercise. Most of the characters, dialogue and action is obligatory based on other events in the novel. Professional writers always play for keeps - nothing is an exercise unless it doesn't work. Keep mining. You can get away with almost anything with character and action.
Some main takeaways - fiction is like a dream, you have to keep it going by adding in real details. Fiction is composed in structural units, its not one big breath, its more like a series of excercise. Most of the characters, dialogue and action is obligatory based on other events in the novel. Professional writers always play for keeps - nothing is an exercise unless it doesn't work. Keep mining. You can get away with almost anything with character and action.
tacomandandysavage's review against another edition
3.0
John Gardner's posthumous "Art of Fiction" contains insights on important subjects for aspiring fiction writers to think about. Vital, even. I've never been more vigilant about the efficacy of verb forms, or the rhythm of prose, then after reading his thoughts on those topics.
And yet.
The book comes in at 206 pages, and maybe 20 of those contained useful information. The remainder felt like a never-ending, disorganized stream of asides, biases and humble-brags. Reading this was not unlike the experience of seeking out, say, the password for the office computer system from a coworker and finding oneself stuck in an unwelcome monologue about their morning jog, the eggs they had for breakfast, the quality of their commute, and their opinion on the City Council's latest ordinance on road maintenance. They know you need the information, therefore they know you'll put up with the inconvenience.
Read it. Internalize it. Don't take every word as law. This is a man who spent most of the time he could have spent writing either drinking, or trading in his wives for newer models.
His worst sin, in my opinion, was his belief that it's emotionally manipulative to take full advantage of paragraph breaks. Because it's cheating to use a basic composition tool in a way he didn't prefer. Obviously.
And yet.
The book comes in at 206 pages, and maybe 20 of those contained useful information. The remainder felt like a never-ending, disorganized stream of asides, biases and humble-brags. Reading this was not unlike the experience of seeking out, say, the password for the office computer system from a coworker and finding oneself stuck in an unwelcome monologue about their morning jog, the eggs they had for breakfast, the quality of their commute, and their opinion on the City Council's latest ordinance on road maintenance. They know you need the information, therefore they know you'll put up with the inconvenience.
Read it. Internalize it. Don't take every word as law. This is a man who spent most of the time he could have spent writing either drinking, or trading in his wives for newer models.
His worst sin, in my opinion, was his belief that it's emotionally manipulative to take full advantage of paragraph breaks. Because it's cheating to use a basic composition tool in a way he didn't prefer. Obviously.
longjensilver's review against another edition
3.0
There are some genuinely helpful and well explained strategies buried underneath the frustratingly pointless tangents. Some specific random diatribes seemed scientifically engineered to piss me off.
serenaac's review against another edition
1.0
John Gardner's The Art of Fiction is pretentious and not one of my favorite writing books at all. I've heard about this book for sometime and figured I would give it a try. So I picked it up from the library, hoping to learn something new and enjoy the book. I usually don't bash books on the blog, but I cannot recommend this one outright.
Gardner's style of writing in the book bored me to tears; it reminded me of those professors that put the class to sleep in college. I was an eager college student who wanted to learn in every class, but there were those teachers that don't have the knack to keep students' attention. John Gardner, I fear, is one of those people...or at least that is how he came across in this book.
What I can say that is good about it is that it helped me discern the type of story I have been working on and how to frame it better. I discovered this information in the section where he discusses tales vs. epic vs. yarn. I'm glad that I read that section of the book because it was helpful, though that was near the beginning.
Much of this book is written in a way that puts down the reader who is less familiar with Gardner's "favorites" who are mentioned often, like Thackeray. I almost felt like I had learned nothing in my undergrad English major, though I know the contrary to be true.
In the copy of this book I got from the library, I found a small pen-written "Amen" in one section that highlighted what many students feel about literature classes in high school. Often students find classes overly focused on the classic writers, like Coleridge, when "Howard the Duck" is more entertaining. Gardner uses this discussion to draw a line between popular fiction and what he calls "art." I wonder if he meant to be condescending in this passage. I got the impression that popular fiction is the crap on his heel as he walks down a pristine garden path.
However, there are some great nuggets of information in this book. He recommends that authors/writers allow their characters to have free will and not impose their own desires or direction upon characters. This same advice is reiterated throughout the book in regard to style. Gardner also points out some common mistakes made by amateur writers. I won't list those here, but they were helpful in many ways. Sometimes, I slip as well.
Gardner's style of writing in the book bored me to tears; it reminded me of those professors that put the class to sleep in college. I was an eager college student who wanted to learn in every class, but there were those teachers that don't have the knack to keep students' attention. John Gardner, I fear, is one of those people...or at least that is how he came across in this book.
What I can say that is good about it is that it helped me discern the type of story I have been working on and how to frame it better. I discovered this information in the section where he discusses tales vs. epic vs. yarn. I'm glad that I read that section of the book because it was helpful, though that was near the beginning.
Much of this book is written in a way that puts down the reader who is less familiar with Gardner's "favorites" who are mentioned often, like Thackeray. I almost felt like I had learned nothing in my undergrad English major, though I know the contrary to be true.
In the copy of this book I got from the library, I found a small pen-written "Amen" in one section that highlighted what many students feel about literature classes in high school. Often students find classes overly focused on the classic writers, like Coleridge, when "Howard the Duck" is more entertaining. Gardner uses this discussion to draw a line between popular fiction and what he calls "art." I wonder if he meant to be condescending in this passage. I got the impression that popular fiction is the crap on his heel as he walks down a pristine garden path.
However, there are some great nuggets of information in this book. He recommends that authors/writers allow their characters to have free will and not impose their own desires or direction upon characters. This same advice is reiterated throughout the book in regard to style. Gardner also points out some common mistakes made by amateur writers. I won't list those here, but they were helpful in many ways. Sometimes, I slip as well.
crissytrap's review against another edition
5.0
This is a great book on craft. I'll go back to it for sure.
jayshay's review against another edition
2.0
Remember being really turned off by the tone of this book, should re-check that at some point. My vague memory is a cranky dude trying to discourage new writers if they couldn't do his exercises. But this is an old, vague memory.
drewjameson's review against another edition
5.0
There are many reasons why everyone's writing teacher tells them to read this amazing, concrete, in-depth guidebook. Gardner lays out the process of writing, and learning to be a writer, in a practical manner, but always emphasizes the ethical obligation to write something new, something relevant, something bold. As all books by writers on writing seem to do, he indulges a few vague and unsupported flights of fancy and waxes pompous from time to time, but this is by far the most concrete, structural and useful book on writing I've ever read.