Writing Great Fiction

trying to write a story or a book with an unconventional technique can

make you a more observant, subtle, and engaged writer, even if you then

go back and apply what you’ve learned to a more conventional narrative.

z 7KHW\SHRI¿FWLRQNQRZQDVSRVWPRGHUQLVP is even more adventurous
than the modernist works we’ve explored in this lecture. In general,
a postmodern novel is one that calls attention to itself as a novel, plays
games with language and with narrative conventions of plot and character,
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z (YHQLI\RXKDYHQRLQWHUHVWLQZULWLQJWKLVNLQGRI¿FWLRQ\RXUVHOILW¶V
worth looking into some of the stories and books of postmodernism,
including David Foster Wallace’s ,Q¿QLWH-HVW, Roger Boylan’s .LOOR\OH,
Jennifer Egan’s $9LVLWIURPWKH*RRQ6TXDG, and Kate Atkinson’s /LIH
DIWHU/LIH.

Chekhov, “The Kiss.”

Joyce, “The Dead.”

Woolf, 0UV'DOORZD.

1. Choose a single character and write about an hour in that person’s life,
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   VLJQL¿FDQWKDSSHQHGWRWKHFKDUDFWHU²ZKHQKHRUVKHFRPPLWWHGD
   murder or fell in love, for example. Instead, pick one of the countless
   hours in a person’s life where nothing particularly important is going on.
   But try to put in as much detail about that person as you can, including
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   as a smell or an overheard comment. By limiting the time period and
   the number of pages, you provide yourself with a structure that doesn’t
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   surprised at how much you can get across about the character.

Suggested Reading

Writing Exercise