chapter 7: The tower and the net; story, form, plot and structure
Chapter 7, The Tower and the Net, begins with the sentence: “[w]hat makes you want to write?” Before writing it was likely, says Janet Burroway, that natural storytellers used their skills to distract friends from beleaguering or dangerous situations. If that is the case, then how those listeners were entranced by the story at hand enough to forget the dangers that may have been imminent was a powerful aspect of the stories. Burroway says that we write because we are sensitive observers and that, essentially, we write to be alive.
Burroway’s opening paragraphs reveal much of her pedagogical stance towards the creation of creative texts.
She wants her readers to intrinsically believe in their skills as writers and she wants them to have the confidence that the skills reside within them. Very similar to Peter Elbow's theory of voice within writing. What draws us to writing, according to Burroway, is the need to show that we have observed something worth speaking about. Elbow looks within his writing and believes that it is only good when we have achieved actively incorporating our voice.
Naturally there is more to the chapter beyond the introduction. A more strict attention to form becomes
the highlight of the section: Conflict,Crisis, and Resolution. Burroway refers to these three elements of story as the “necessary features of story form”. The implication is that while you can still have a good story without one of these
elements, you cannot have a great story. Burroway spends some time discussing these fundamental aspects by
engaging in examples and revealing how flat pieces would be without them. The strategy is most effective and
accurately achieves its goal. The text is also interspersed with relevant quotes from renowned authors and texts
as well. Much as in They Say/ I Say, Burroway begins to give a manner of framework for new writers. While she doesn't mean for the writer to follow these formats identically, she expresses the importance of including them.
The Arc of the Story begins with a quote by editor Mel McKee. “A story is a war” and his four imperatives: 1.) Get your fighters fighting. 2.) Have something worth fighting over. 3.) Have the fighting dive through a series of battles the last battle being the largest. 4.) Have a walking away from the fight. There is much more to this framework than given, but it allows for the new writer to apply the previous sections “fundamentals” appropriately and with ease.
The Patterns of Power, following the arc of the story, described as “a power struggle between equal forces” creates more boundaries for the previous section. The war must be fought by opposing factions, so to speak, and they, according to Writing Fiction, must be equal. While this will certainly create tension, Burroway’s main purpose is to simply maintain the writer’s attention to balance. As in much process pedagogy, Burroway is instilling a sense of importance for process in writing. She is giving students the opportunity to look within themselves and discover their own conflicts, but at the same time she is still implementing a regiment of how to do so.
Connection and Disconnection is a section that relies on crafting the emotional connections of characters
within the text so that there is an “underlying pattern of conflict and connection”. Burroway gives an
excerpt that describes a moment of romantic connection between a man and a woman that is disconnected through a slip of the tongue that leads to the reference of his dead wife. The sensitive nature of the emotional connection can only be understood if the connections are clear to the reader and realistic for the characters.
Story Form as an Inverted Check Mark is a highly formalist structured section. The inverted checkmark is essentially a set of requirements for the movement of a story. The story should contain a rising action, a climax, and a resolution. This writing stragey is highly reminiscent of They Say I Say. In this section there is a dominating exertion towards the adaptation of a framework. The ordering of a story, essentially, must follow this format at least for new writers.
Story and Plot is a section that acts as Burroway’s own resolution of the chapter that distinguishes the
difference between story and plot. Story, she says, is: “A series of events recorded in their chronological
order” and plot is: “a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance”. Stories make the reader wonder what will come next while plot should make the reader wonder, “why?”.
Burroway continues her preference of the writer looking within themselves to craft narrative that reaches the reader and expresses their story on a personal level creating connections with the reader. This is much like Covino in a manner of influencing your readers emotions and creating that author/reader relationship.
The Short Story and the Novel is a brief section that Burroway uses to describe the importance of
using every element mentioned in the chapter to craft short stories. While they are shorter that does not mean, says Burroway, that an element can or should be left out. The practice of “well knit” short stories is an essential practice of writers on the way to creating novels. Burroway seems to draw upon Tobin once again in this section in a manner of "assigning" the writers the task of creating short stories. The idea that writing should be accomplished in smaller projects before attempting large ones is a very process oriented structure.
As with every chapter, Burroway ends with a number of short stories and exercises for the reader of the chapter.
The focus of the exercises in this chapter remains dominantly on creating conflict and circumstances that are complicated. Toward the end of the exercises she demands an increase of tension by enhancing the created situations importance, forcing added tension.
Burroway’s opening paragraphs reveal much of her pedagogical stance towards the creation of creative texts.
She wants her readers to intrinsically believe in their skills as writers and she wants them to have the confidence that the skills reside within them. Very similar to Peter Elbow's theory of voice within writing. What draws us to writing, according to Burroway, is the need to show that we have observed something worth speaking about. Elbow looks within his writing and believes that it is only good when we have achieved actively incorporating our voice.
Naturally there is more to the chapter beyond the introduction. A more strict attention to form becomes
the highlight of the section: Conflict,Crisis, and Resolution. Burroway refers to these three elements of story as the “necessary features of story form”. The implication is that while you can still have a good story without one of these
elements, you cannot have a great story. Burroway spends some time discussing these fundamental aspects by
engaging in examples and revealing how flat pieces would be without them. The strategy is most effective and
accurately achieves its goal. The text is also interspersed with relevant quotes from renowned authors and texts
as well. Much as in They Say/ I Say, Burroway begins to give a manner of framework for new writers. While she doesn't mean for the writer to follow these formats identically, she expresses the importance of including them.
The Arc of the Story begins with a quote by editor Mel McKee. “A story is a war” and his four imperatives: 1.) Get your fighters fighting. 2.) Have something worth fighting over. 3.) Have the fighting dive through a series of battles the last battle being the largest. 4.) Have a walking away from the fight. There is much more to this framework than given, but it allows for the new writer to apply the previous sections “fundamentals” appropriately and with ease.
The Patterns of Power, following the arc of the story, described as “a power struggle between equal forces” creates more boundaries for the previous section. The war must be fought by opposing factions, so to speak, and they, according to Writing Fiction, must be equal. While this will certainly create tension, Burroway’s main purpose is to simply maintain the writer’s attention to balance. As in much process pedagogy, Burroway is instilling a sense of importance for process in writing. She is giving students the opportunity to look within themselves and discover their own conflicts, but at the same time she is still implementing a regiment of how to do so.
Connection and Disconnection is a section that relies on crafting the emotional connections of characters
within the text so that there is an “underlying pattern of conflict and connection”. Burroway gives an
excerpt that describes a moment of romantic connection between a man and a woman that is disconnected through a slip of the tongue that leads to the reference of his dead wife. The sensitive nature of the emotional connection can only be understood if the connections are clear to the reader and realistic for the characters.
Story Form as an Inverted Check Mark is a highly formalist structured section. The inverted checkmark is essentially a set of requirements for the movement of a story. The story should contain a rising action, a climax, and a resolution. This writing stragey is highly reminiscent of They Say I Say. In this section there is a dominating exertion towards the adaptation of a framework. The ordering of a story, essentially, must follow this format at least for new writers.
Story and Plot is a section that acts as Burroway’s own resolution of the chapter that distinguishes the
difference between story and plot. Story, she says, is: “A series of events recorded in their chronological
order” and plot is: “a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance”. Stories make the reader wonder what will come next while plot should make the reader wonder, “why?”.
Burroway continues her preference of the writer looking within themselves to craft narrative that reaches the reader and expresses their story on a personal level creating connections with the reader. This is much like Covino in a manner of influencing your readers emotions and creating that author/reader relationship.
The Short Story and the Novel is a brief section that Burroway uses to describe the importance of
using every element mentioned in the chapter to craft short stories. While they are shorter that does not mean, says Burroway, that an element can or should be left out. The practice of “well knit” short stories is an essential practice of writers on the way to creating novels. Burroway seems to draw upon Tobin once again in this section in a manner of "assigning" the writers the task of creating short stories. The idea that writing should be accomplished in smaller projects before attempting large ones is a very process oriented structure.
As with every chapter, Burroway ends with a number of short stories and exercises for the reader of the chapter.
The focus of the exercises in this chapter remains dominantly on creating conflict and circumstances that are complicated. Toward the end of the exercises she demands an increase of tension by enhancing the created situations importance, forcing added tension.
chapter 8: call me ishmael; Point of view
Chapter 8, Call Me Ishmael, the point of view chapter, begins with an explanation that it is the most
complex element of fiction.
WhoSpeaks begins with one of the first decisions the author must make when creating a piece of
fiction. It is the section that describes the point of view for the story. The three possibilities
are: third person, second person, and first person.
Burroway continues the section by describing the various forms of these points of views mostly through
uses of examples and what each format can accomplish. Burroway introduces a variety of terms such as omniscience and narrator with brief descriptions followed by more example texts and deliberates on which is most common and successful. In a very expressivist manner, Burroway deliberates that the discovery of the best point of view for the writer to create will simply arise when you start writing. Much like Elbow allowing his students to create their own topics, Burroway suggests that students simply begin writing to decide how the narration will sound the best.
To Whom, is a section that focuses on audience. Burroway states that the reader is, typically, “. . . an open and amenable Everyman, and that the telling needs no justification”. The remainder of this section is devoted to internal storytelling towards other fictional characters. Little rhetorical insight is given in how a reader should be treated, the aim remains firmly on the story. Unfortunately Burroway shies away from the implications of authorial influence and prefers to keep the author shrouded from the reader if at all possible.
In What Form is a brief section that focuses simply on the maintenance of a form and how that would affect the dialogue. Burroway gives a short list that includes: “. . . interior monologue, stream of consciousness . . . journal or
diary”.
At What Distance, also referred to as “authorial distance”, is what Burroway describes as a sense of distance used to either detach a reader from a character or increase attachment. This section is highly rhetorical in actually wanting to influence your reader to achieve “closeness and sympathy”. Burroway also claims that this element should develop organically, rather than being deliberately chosen. To continue helping the reader, Burroway includes a table of how each point of view situation reads. Burroway continues her favoritism of expresivism in this section with the idea of an "organic" development of distance. However, this also promotes a fair deal of rhetoric because she wants her writers to attempt different distances to accomplish an emotional reaction in their reader. To formulate an attachment or disengage a reader it will require some rhetorical finesse, or at least Covino would surely think so.
Consistency: A Final Caution, is the final section in this chapter and a most necessary one for beginning writers, says Burroway, because the change can sometimes be tempting and disruptive for readers.
Burroway finishes the chapter with a series of short stories and another set of exercises for the
reader to accomplish. Each exercise contains a restriction of either point of view or narrative omniscience
in order to familiarize the writers with various styles.
chapter 9: play it again, sam; revision
Chapter 9, Play it Again, Sam. Revision. The final chapter of Writing Fiction is, as
Burroway describes it, more dreaded than dreadful”. This chapter, however, is focused on revising fiction “element by element”.
Re-Vision, the first sub-section of this chapter, begins with the statement: “Revising is a process”. Burroway states that you will need your “conscious critic, your creative instinct, and readers you trust”. She continues by describing revision as a “re-envisioning” of your work and a risk taking process. Burroway has blended Tobin in a way of adapting a process to revising. She later describes specific tasks that must be undertaken in order to accomplish a satisfactory revision.
Worry It and Walk Away. As the sub-section heading implies, it is the imperative action. Burroway understands this moment to be one of the most difficult; the first revision is the point in which the writer must draw out their flaws and focus their attentions to “tinkering” and making it all work. During this process Burroway says that the writer may tire of their story and that they should walk away in order to come back to the story with fresh eyes.
Criticism and the Story Workshop. Burroway’s first sentence describes her requirements for preparation of workshopping a piece of writing. She states, “[o]nce you have thought your story through, drafted it, and worked on it to the best of your ability, someone else’s eyes can help you refresh the vision of your own”. She asks the writer to be hard on themselves and take criticisms from their trusted readers seriously. Burroway wants the reader to understand that the process of interpreting critiques can be arduous and take time, but that it is well worth its reward.
Asking the Big Question: What Have I Written? Is a section devoted to the writer understanding that their fiction is not meant to tell directly what the piece of literature is about, but what they are trying to say. Burroway focuses on abstraction as a method of describing a theme in a way that does not simply tell the reader what they are reading, but elaborates a purpose for the fiction. In an incredibly expressivist manner Burroway asks the writer if what they have written has meaning. What did their piece of literature have to say that they wanted to produce. Elbow would certainly be pleased with such freedom in writing.
How Fictional Elements Contribute to Theme. Burroway uses this section to remind the reader that their themes need to remain consistent and unified and that revision is the prime time to accomplish this task.
Revision Questions and Further Suggestions or Revision, the final two sections of the chapter, include suggested thoughts on trimming the fat of your narrative. Then they offer several methods of revising. Retyping pages,
multiple revisions, and focusing on elements that writers like to “evade” purposefully. Burroway borrows heavily from Nancy Sommers as I believe most revision strategies must. When going back to analyze one's writing there needs to be a heavy influence on how it is done. Burroway doesn't want the writer to simply rework phrases, but she wants the writer to actively work towards more effectively conveying meaning in a text.
Burroway finishes the chapter with a short story, but she adds something to this section that is incredibly helpful. She includes a full copy of the short story with editors marks pre-revision so that the writer can get a taste of a published work before and after. And then Burroway completes the final chapter with another set of exercises that focus on general revision using techniques from the chapter.
Burroway describes it, more dreaded than dreadful”. This chapter, however, is focused on revising fiction “element by element”.
Re-Vision, the first sub-section of this chapter, begins with the statement: “Revising is a process”. Burroway states that you will need your “conscious critic, your creative instinct, and readers you trust”. She continues by describing revision as a “re-envisioning” of your work and a risk taking process. Burroway has blended Tobin in a way of adapting a process to revising. She later describes specific tasks that must be undertaken in order to accomplish a satisfactory revision.
Worry It and Walk Away. As the sub-section heading implies, it is the imperative action. Burroway understands this moment to be one of the most difficult; the first revision is the point in which the writer must draw out their flaws and focus their attentions to “tinkering” and making it all work. During this process Burroway says that the writer may tire of their story and that they should walk away in order to come back to the story with fresh eyes.
Criticism and the Story Workshop. Burroway’s first sentence describes her requirements for preparation of workshopping a piece of writing. She states, “[o]nce you have thought your story through, drafted it, and worked on it to the best of your ability, someone else’s eyes can help you refresh the vision of your own”. She asks the writer to be hard on themselves and take criticisms from their trusted readers seriously. Burroway wants the reader to understand that the process of interpreting critiques can be arduous and take time, but that it is well worth its reward.
Asking the Big Question: What Have I Written? Is a section devoted to the writer understanding that their fiction is not meant to tell directly what the piece of literature is about, but what they are trying to say. Burroway focuses on abstraction as a method of describing a theme in a way that does not simply tell the reader what they are reading, but elaborates a purpose for the fiction. In an incredibly expressivist manner Burroway asks the writer if what they have written has meaning. What did their piece of literature have to say that they wanted to produce. Elbow would certainly be pleased with such freedom in writing.
How Fictional Elements Contribute to Theme. Burroway uses this section to remind the reader that their themes need to remain consistent and unified and that revision is the prime time to accomplish this task.
Revision Questions and Further Suggestions or Revision, the final two sections of the chapter, include suggested thoughts on trimming the fat of your narrative. Then they offer several methods of revising. Retyping pages,
multiple revisions, and focusing on elements that writers like to “evade” purposefully. Burroway borrows heavily from Nancy Sommers as I believe most revision strategies must. When going back to analyze one's writing there needs to be a heavy influence on how it is done. Burroway doesn't want the writer to simply rework phrases, but she wants the writer to actively work towards more effectively conveying meaning in a text.
Burroway finishes the chapter with a short story, but she adds something to this section that is incredibly helpful. She includes a full copy of the short story with editors marks pre-revision so that the writer can get a taste of a published work before and after. And then Burroway completes the final chapter with another set of exercises that focus on general revision using techniques from the chapter.
scholars referenced:
Lad Tobin, “Process Pedagogy” is a relevant source to much of what Burroway has to say about writing fiction pedagogy. Much of her strategies for teaching writing rely heavily on having a process to writing and accomplishing various projects in a process.
Nancy Sommers, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Writers”. It is clearly evident that Burroway had some influence from Nancy Sommers especially in her chapter on revision. While she didn't involve much strategy on recursive revision, she emphasized a fair amount of importance to including alterations to work that would convey meaning more accurately to avoid disruptions with readers.
Peter Elbow, “A Method for Teaching Writing”, is very possibly one of the most important texts in relation to Writing Fiction. In many cases Burroway integrates a method of utilizing free choice in almost every aspect of the chapter. Especially in the questions at the end of every chapter an aspect of writer choice is clearly evident as the most valuable element to writer growth.
They Say I Say is an important text because of the structured formats that Burroway includes in the crafting of her pedagogy. While it is a relatively small portion of inclusion, it remains important because of Burroways insistence of following a specific structure for writing.
William Covino, “Rhetorical Pedagogy”. It may be something that Burroway would prefer to avoid deliberating, but there is certainly some aspect of reader/author relationship. Even if the author is to remain an unseen force, he or she is still being asked to influence the emotional connection of the reader to the text. If rhetoric was completely omitted there would be little connectivity of the characters to the reader.
Nancy Sommers, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Writers”. It is clearly evident that Burroway had some influence from Nancy Sommers especially in her chapter on revision. While she didn't involve much strategy on recursive revision, she emphasized a fair amount of importance to including alterations to work that would convey meaning more accurately to avoid disruptions with readers.
Peter Elbow, “A Method for Teaching Writing”, is very possibly one of the most important texts in relation to Writing Fiction. In many cases Burroway integrates a method of utilizing free choice in almost every aspect of the chapter. Especially in the questions at the end of every chapter an aspect of writer choice is clearly evident as the most valuable element to writer growth.
They Say I Say is an important text because of the structured formats that Burroway includes in the crafting of her pedagogy. While it is a relatively small portion of inclusion, it remains important because of Burroways insistence of following a specific structure for writing.
William Covino, “Rhetorical Pedagogy”. It may be something that Burroway would prefer to avoid deliberating, but there is certainly some aspect of reader/author relationship. Even if the author is to remain an unseen force, he or she is still being asked to influence the emotional connection of the reader to the text. If rhetoric was completely omitted there would be little connectivity of the characters to the reader.