Literary writing guide
Literary writing guides are primarily textbooks aimed at lay audiences who want to support their readers in writing literary texts. The aim is to promote the linguistic creativity of the reader and / or to familiarize him with the basic technical rules of novels, short stories or dramas. Literary writing guides differ from specialist literature due to their application-oriented design. In their basic attitude, they refer to the works of rhetoric and poetics , which standardized the production and design of texts from antiquity to the 18th century. In the contemporary writing guide market, a distinction can be made between the result-oriented, the process-oriented and the personality-oriented type of guide.
history
The popular literary counseling culture developed in the United States during the 20th century. This development was brought about by the academic spread of creative writing , which from 1900 onwards established itself as an independent subject at American universities. In contrast to the aesthetic of genius ('poetry cannot be learned'), creative writing assumes that basic literary writing techniques can be learned by a large number of people. In Germany, a differentiated writing guide market did not emerge until the 1990s in the course of the so-called professionalization of the literature business. While the domestic guidebook market was initially primarily an Anglo-American import market, since the 2000s there has been an increasing number of writing guides by well-known German-speaking authors.
Models
Well over 200 literary writing guides have been published on the German-speaking market since the 1990s. At the blurred boundaries to literary writing guides, there are therapeutic writing guides that aim to raise awareness and cope with one's own problems, as well as author's manuals that introduce the structures of the literary market. There are also specialized writing guides for a wide variety of areas: scripts, speeches, biographies, factual and practical texts and much more. The majority of literary writing guides teach how to write novels.
Results-oriented writing guide
The most widespread type of literary writing guide is the result-oriented. Here the guidebook author gives the reader specific instructions on how to get to the end product novel. The focus is mostly on the potential market suitability of the work. James N. Frey's guidebook "How to write a damn good novel" can be called a standard work, in which Frey offers normatively guided instructions for a successful novel. The tips of the result-oriented writing guide mainly relate to the conception phase of a novel, not to the actual writing act. In principle, the writer is advised to think along with future readers in the planning phase: If the respective normative of the writing guide are not adhered to at the time of writing, "the reader closes the book [later] and that would have been it." Understanding of the guidebook authors tends to be one that involves the reader emotionally and offers a high potential for identification. Central categories are therefore authentic characters with strong motives for action who act in a tense structure. Likewise, there is no story without a conflict. In order to guarantee optimal readability, the focus is on storytelling. The sometimes simplistic theses and instructions often go back to a summary of ancient writings and poetics, from which supposedly archetypal narrative patterns are filtered out. In addition to James N. Frey, other authors in the results-oriented category are Sol Stein, Lajos Egri and Ronald B. Tobias.
Process-oriented writing advisor
The process-oriented counselor opposes a rule-based, product-oriented orientation of literary writing. Accordingly, he tends to take an antagonistic position towards the result-oriented advisor. This can be seen in Bernays' / Painter's guide What if? Writing exercises for writers :
"This book does not give any theoretical instructions, but with the exercises it throws you right into the practice of writing."
Instead of acquiring narrative-theoretical knowledge, the reader should be instructed in a precise and conscious use of language on the basis of the learning-by-doing principle. The aim of process-oriented advisors is therefore to develop, promote and improve literary writing skills. In the understanding of the guidebook authors, this requires above all practical experience: The process-oriented model places the greatest attention on constant, daily practice. A distinction is made between exercises that address the act of writing and exercises in which certain writing methods are to be tested (portraying, associating, condensing, etc.). For example, Hanns-Josef Ortheil puts writing close to life in his guide . Noting and sketching writing methods from 19 different writers, which the reader should imitate or try out in various ways in the subsequent task. Further examples of process-oriented advice are: A. Barnays / P. Painter: What If? Writing Exercises for Writers , R. McClanahan: How to Write Like Painted. A workshop for the art of description .
Personality-oriented writing guide
The personality-oriented model is usually a question of subjective experience reports from authors who want to lead to a literary or creative life practice. Dorothea Brande 's American standard work Writers Become a writer, published in 1934, emphasizes that the writer must first recognize “what it means to be a writer and what defines the personality of an artist.” In particular, the mental and practical dimension of literary work processes is promoted . In addition, the activation of unconscious creative forces should promote authentic, unadulterated linguistic self-expression. In contrast to this, which is not always clear-cut, therapeutic advisors such as Gabriele Ricos Learn to Write Guaranteed or Lutz von Werders ... if you only hit the magic word, the focus is on self-healing through expressive writing. Examples of personality-oriented writing guides: Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird. Word by word. Guide to Writing and Living as a Writer , Natalie Goldberg: The Way of Writing. Finding yourself through writing.
literature
- Barnays, A./Painter, P .: What if? Writing exercises for writers. Berlin 2003.
- Egri, Lajos: Literary Writing. Berlin 2002.
- Frey, James N .: How to write a damn good novel. Cologne 1993.
- McClanahan, R .: Writing like a painting. A workshop for the art of description. Frankfurt / M. 2002.
- Klupp, Thomas: Literary writing guide. A typological-comparative study. Frankfurt / M. 2014.
- Ortheil, Hanns-Josef: Writing close to life. Noting and sketching. Mannheim 2012.
- Schütz, Erhard et al. (Ed.): The book market book. Reinbek near Hamburg 2005.
- Stein, Sol: About writing. Frankfurt / M. 1997.
- Tobias, Ronald B .: 20 master plots: What stories are made of. Frankfurt / M. 1999.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schütz, Erhard et al. (Ed.): Das BuchMarktBuch, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2005, p. 31.
- ↑ See Klupp, Thomas: literary writing advice. A typological-comparative study. Frankfurt / M. 2014, p. 5 f.
- ^ Glindemann, Barbara: Creative Writing in England, the USA and Germany. Frankfurt / M. 2001, p. 23.
- ^ Glindemann, Barbara: Creative Writing in England, the USA and Germany. Frankfurt / M. 2001, p. 37.
- ↑ Frey, James N .: How to Write a Damn Good Novel. Cologne 1993, p. 18.
- ↑ Stein, Sol: About writing. Frankfurt / M. 1997, p. 20.
- ↑ See, for example, Gesing, Fritz: Creative writing. Crafts and techniques of storytelling. Cologne 1994.
- ↑ Stein, Sol: About writing. Frankfurt / M. 1997.
- ↑ Egri, Lajos: Literary writing. Berlin 2002.
- ↑ Tobias, Ronald B .: 20 master plots: What stories are made of. Frankfurt / M. 1999.
- ↑ Barnays, A./Painter, P .: What if? Writing exercises for writers. Berlin 2003.
- ^ Brande, Dorothea: Become a writer. Berlin 2001, p. 9.