5 LESSONS MODERN WRITERS CAN LEARN FROM CLASSIC LITERATURE
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- 5 Lessons that modern authors can learn from classic literature. If you are trying to write your own novel or just enjoy writing, there is a huge amount to be learned from Classic books. To often many modern writers dismiss classic literature as outdated and irrelevant. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.
The classic books from literature have survived all of the storms of changing attitudes and opinions and remain widely read to this day. How were writers able to write their stories in a way that would inspire readers for centuries? What was it that they imbued to their works that raised them above thousands of their contemporaries?
In this video on 5 lessons modern writers can learn from classic literature, we will look at more than writing technique. We explore the way the great classic writers thought about writing.
0:00 - Introduction
2:20 - Lesson 1
7:04 - Lesson 2
10:54 - Lesson 3
15:04 - Lesson 4
20:01 - Lesson 5
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Use metaphor, don't obsess about a thrill, dwell on the scene, distill to draw out meaning, embrace the perspective of each character.
I love how it takes using a great simile to explain a great metaphor
Something that struck me in my recent (and first!) reading of FRANKENSTEIN was the beauty of the language. And because some of the story is in the form of letters, I wondered if people in real life at that time wrote and spoke that way. If so, I wish we'd go back to that. It was so elegant and expressive. I noticed it even more when I was listening to an audiobook. You could just close your eyes and enjoy the beauty of the language, even when it was describing some tragic or even ugly things. I do transcription for a living. You have no idea how torturous it is to hear and then have to type, "you know", and, "like", and "um/uh", and all the rest over and over. Some days I just despair for the English language.
The irony of my clicking 'like' on this comment was not lost on me!
I wish more people would realize that pausing when inclined to use a word whisker is more powerful than filling that time with fluff
Oh dear Tristan, this is my birthday my 84th birthday and you are my birthday present to myself. I am so happy to find you. I have already tried to write a book while I should say I have already tried to start to write a book even worked with an editor. And I recognize that I have distilled my own experience in one slice of life, so that other people have really reacted excitedly when they heard it read by me. Because of listening to you, I want to both continue to work on my book and to read some of the books you mentioned. I’m alive.
This will be a good use of my time
Thank you so very much
Nancy Meinhardt
This video is exactly what I needed 🤎 I always study the writing style of classic authors and I read books from the perspective of a writer instead of a reader. I even take notes while reading. :)
I'd love to see more of these, Tristan!
I'm so pleased you liked it. Taking notes on the way great writers perform their acts of magic is so rewarding. I love that you grapple with the books you read, and listen to them, and ponder them. 😀❤️
I love the passion that overflows from you in your videos. The second lesson is something I’ve always felt but have had shot down by peers. I want something that may not be tantalizing on a surface level, but will touch something deep inside. Thank you for this.
Yes, most would argue that all fiction should be entertaining. However, I don't consider Flaubert's Madame Bovary, thrilling or highly entertaining. It has human interest, which I think all fiction should have, but it is not anywhere near a page-turner. Crime and punishment is the same. A very grim and gruelling affair. Anna Karenina, to be fair, is entertaining in places, but it is slow and drawn. Its language is beautiful, though. Its feeling so very deep and satisfying. In fact, Tolstoy himself believed fiction was not primarily to entertain. So if any friends tell you otherwise, ask them if they think Tolstoy is any good?😀
While I am not a writer I am intrigued about the setting as a character itself. It creates an ambiance for the entire story, and solidifies the story in my memory. A Moveable Feast by Hemingway did that for me. His descriptions of Paris made me want to visit and I have the entire city built up in my head based on this book (I have never been). My Antonia by Willa Cather evokes a similar feeling. I have a distinct vision of the Great Plains in my head due to that book, and that is what I think of before I actually think of the story and the characters.
Probably not a good idea to go visit Paris these days. It's no longer that place in the book and it will only and up breaking your heart to see it the way it is today. Re-read "A Moveable Feast", enjoy the movies playing in your mind (and maybe watch 'Midnight In Paris' if you need a light-hearted homage to 'La Belle Epoch' 🤷
Tristan, your videos are always insightful but this one is extraordinary! I've been writing for 30 years and this is the exact advice I've been waiting for! After watching this I immediately applied it to my WIP which I thought was already pretty good, and it has improved by leaps and bounds! All my years at uni I have never received such keen and astute advice! I can't thank you enough!
Thank you so much, Kit. This means a great deal to me, to know that my content has value for others. Please feel free to share a link to any writers groups you may know. Thank you once again.😀❤️
This is a wonderful guide on writing literary fiction; there is a lot of advice out there on writing genre fiction, and I haven't found anywhere how to write what I am trying to write. Until now....The thing I want to incorporate most is distilling a truth, and this is taking some time. Truly you have helped immensely, and I thank you.
A simile is like a metaphor is like a simile. They're quite similar; they share similitudes.
Yes please Tristan.....woud love a video on metaphor and simile, and the difference between them. Thanks and best wishes.
OK, I've jotted it down on my idea pad. 😀👍
Thanks. @@tristanandtheclassics6538
I never thought about the concept of authors not writing fiction books for entertainment alone. I assumed they all did. It does explain Levin’s character in Anna Karenina. Tolstoy is not writing for the reader’s entertainment, but, through Levin, he takes the reader along on his own journey of exploring the shifting sand of society and the working class. This is such a helpful lens through which to look at reading. Once again, you’ve helped me become a better reader.
It is an idea that you do not hear spoken of that much. I'm pleased that you saw its relevance, Angela. Good choice of Levin to epitomize it.
That was a magnificent lecture, Sir :-) I wouldn't call myself a writer, but distilling some frequently overlooked points to the essence, as you did here, is always a great help in everyone's journey, being both writer or reader. Thank you so much!
Tristan, have you read or heard of William Gass? He was a literary critic and fiction writer who was obsessed with metaphor. His book On Being Blue is 100 pages about the world in a word--blue. The one I recommend most is Middle C, a great starting point into his fiction. He spent decades crafting the three novels he wrote in his long life. I love your advice and videos, keep up the good work!
Thank you so so much for this recommendation. I will look it up. 😀❤️
Loved this video. Really interesting. Point three (treating the setting as a character) reminded me of when I was studying for A Level English over 40 years ago, and we were studying Thomas Hardy's 'Return of the Native - the 'character' of the heath was definitely 'a thing' that Hardy made a lot of!
That's a perfect example.
This video is so helpful to me, not just for writing but also as a reader. I will recommend this video to my bookish friends.
I was thinking...as you were mentioning sugary characters...the classics offer Umami or that wonderful, rich, almost indescribable savory sense.
I must thank you for our Victober read, The Mill on the Floss. 40 years after I'd first read it, so you can imagine what a truly extraordinary reading experience this time around. So much that I am revisiting all of George Eliot again. It would be interesting if anyone else has had that kind of lifetime span between readings. Im a bit concerned, for example, about our reading of Wuthering Heights as I loved that novel...er...45 years ago??? Now what will I think? 😂😂😂
You're right. Great writing, which includes a good deal of modern too, has a fine, blended characteristic.
As for Wuthering Heights , I suspect that you will enjoy it even more.😀👍😊
I love that you’ve used the word umami in this context, because it’s the exact word that’s sprung to my mind when a book has that extra “oomph,” that richness you can almost taste, and it’s something you can feel is lacking in a bunch of books on today’s shelves
This is solid advice I plan to implement into my own stories. I’m really enjoying this writing advice ❤ Hopefully the publishing world will have a classics revival someday; I haven’t read a masterpiece of modern fiction in a long time. 😂
Who needs Oxford when you have Tristan ?
Whule listening to thus video, fruits of many flavours fell at my feet, to be consumed later, like little treasures...
How delicious 😀
I liked Middlemarch. But then, I'd seen the miniseries in the '90s. I especially liked Mr. Brooke of Tipton. I want to be him when I grow up.
I’m so glad I found this channel! Outstanding video, earned a new subscriber ^^
I'm so glad to meet you too. 😀❤️👍
Great video...love your stuff.
Also neat that you used a simile to describe a metaphor at around 5:45 ; )
Talk about perfect timing! I just started writing my first short novel today, took my first break, and this video popped up. Thank you, my good sir!
I'm not a writer, merely a reader. Two of the points you raised here really resonated with me after I decided to re-read 'Wuthering Heights ' (having detested I the first time around because I hated the characters so much!) I think my initial read was after a bit of a binge on crime genre-fiction and my mind wasn't in the right headspace to appreciate it. This second time I re-read 'Jane Eyre ' (a life-long favourite) to get me into the right frame of mind first.
And it worked. Charlotte and Emily might have written very different books, but that Brontë-land vibe is deeply enshrined in each tale. This time I was able to slow down, smell the roses and truly understand why all the characters in WH were the way they were. I was sympathetic to most everyone both at the Heights and the Grange. It was like a while different book the second time around!
Tying this to what you said here, it was the making the set a character in itself that should have been the greatest takeaway; but I think it was understanding the sympathetic side to all characters, and the distillation of a truth revealed in a story, that resonate the most. Taking those points and applying them to WH now makes me think about the Philip Larkin poem 'This Be The Verse'. I have no idea if Larkin wrote that with WH in mind, but boy does it feel like a distillation of both the underlying and overarching storylines in that book!
I know I'm waffling, but even as a reader not a writer, I think this list/video is a great guide for anyone trying to find an "in" to previously impenetrable or seemingly inaccessible literature. (I was also going to try and get into how metaphor + distilled message = allegory? But I'm too tired to start "wool-gathering" my thoughts about that right now. Although if you have any input on that I'd love to hear them?
Anyway, thank you for another awesome video!
Great inspiration, thank you!
Great advice, love your videos😊
You’re a great teacher. Great voice great ideas, great SCOTT!
Patty- Tristan, this wonderful. I already incorporate #5 in my writing. I am going to practice these tips and hope I can up my game. I will share these with my brother, who also writes. Thank you.
Great Video!
Thank you. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed it ☺️
Disclaimer, I haven't watched this video yet, but I definitely will! I just wanted to request if possible, a video about Wuthering Heights? I recently re-read it and I can't stop thinking about it. I would love one of your deep dives on it!
I like your lecture very much, and you are absolutely right.
Thank you so much for your positive encouragement ☺️ ❤️
I have to admit I really enjoyed your video. I thought it was incredibly intelligent and well thought out. I agree that metaphors are very powerful literary devices and more effective than similes. One of the best metaphorical writers that comes to mind is Charles Dickens. He used metaphors as a way to convey social issues that he witnessed during his lifetime. Like you said he was very effective at making his settings feel like actual characters. Metaphors are incredibly useful in strengthening descriptive writing. Character emotions, traits and descriptions as well as settings all benefit from metaphorical writing.
Settings I completely agree need to be handled like any other character within a story. Most readers remember characters more than themes and plots. When a setting is treated like a character within a story it makes it much more impactful in a reader's mind.
Great memorable stories navigate some sort of truth that the author has observed or experienced themselves. I would say that it is one of the most crucial elements in fictional storytelling.
I do agree that stories don't have to be thrilling or entertaining but should be exploring some sort of life element. Exploring life elements can create interesting internal conflict and sometimes external conflict for characters even if they are not the protagonist. If you are only writing a story that explores life without putting an entertaining or thrilling narrative in place, you are essentially limiting your potential audience even further than it already is. Most of today's readers and watchers (depending on the medium you are writing in) I find, need an entertaining and or thrilling narrative to stay engaged with a fictional story.
Whether you are writing to explore life or writing for entertainment your stories need to engage your audience and for some navigating a life element is more than enough but for others, it's not.
Sympathetic antagonists when they are done right are some of the most memorable characters you can create. Some of my favourite antagonists in fiction are sympathetic. However, depending on the genre you are writing in, as well as the type of story you are writing, a sympathetic antagonist might not be enough or be necessary to drive a plot. Sometimes a sympathetic antagonist needs an amoral character that has a completed fallen arc or no arc, to bring enough internal conflict where that character needs to rethink or complete their own fallen arc. Amoral characters have their place in fiction, although you don't want to rely on them to drive a narrative for the same reason as mentor characters. They have no character arcs. No arc or completed arc characters have to be regulated to side characters to a minimum presence within the narrative structure since they are integral to the other character arcs. If a story takes too much time on characters like these, they will become boring to your audience.
Sympathetic antagonists should be your first go-to when writing a story but sometimes they might not be enough for the narrative alone.
At the end of the day, it will come down to the author and how they use those tools. For me anyway, one of the biggest reasons why you should dive into classical literature (especially if you are an aspiring author) is you will be learning from masters of the craft and your own writing will massively improve the more you read to understand them.
Keep up the good work Tristan.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Thank you for such a thoughtful response.
Hey Tristan. Great video as always. What’s the word you use at 21:33? Right before “you know, black and white”.
I believe he said "chiaroscuro." It's an art term referring to the use of light and shade.
Tristan- Can you world build in non-fiction?
Number 3.
But allways check your spelling before publication...😂
😂
You're blocked because I am not a writer. I'm an educator.