픽션 소설쓰기에서 허구 소설작가들.The Book of Fiction Writers on Fiction Writing, by Various

픽션 소설쓰기에서 허구 소설작가들.The Book of Fiction Writers on Fiction Writing, by Various
QUESTIONNAIRE

ANSWERS TO WHICH CONSTITUTE THE BODY OF THIS BOOK

Contents

I. What is the genesis of a story with you―does it grow from an incident, a
character, a trait of character, a situation, setting, a title, or what? That is, what
do you mean by an idea for a story?
II. Do you map it out in advance, or do you start with, say, a character or
situation, and let the story tell itself as you write? Do you write it in pieces to be
joined together, or straightaway as a whole? Is the ending clearly in mind when
you begin? To what extent do you revise?
III. When you read a story to what extent does your imagination reproduce
the story- world of the author―do you actually see in your imagination all the
characters, action and setting just as if you were looking at an actual scene? Do
you actually hear all sounds described, mentioned and inferred, just as if they
were real sounds? Do you taste the flavors in a story, so really that your mouth
literally waters to a pleasant one? How real does your imagination make the smells
in a story you read? Does your imagination reproduce the sense of touch―of
rough or smooth contact, hard or gentle impact or pressure, etc.? Does your
imagination make you feel actual physical pain corresponding, though in a
slighter degree, to pain presented in a story? Of course you get an intelligent
idea from any such mention, but in which of the above cases does your
imagination produce the same results on your senses as do the actual stimuli
themselves?
If you can really "see things with your eyes shut," what limitations? Are the
pictures you see colored or more in black and white? Are details distinct or blurred?
[ pg 8] If you studied geometry, did it give you more trouble than other
mathematics?
Is your response limited to the exact degree to which the author describes
and makes vivid, or will the mere concept set you to reproducing just as vividly?
Do you have stock pictures for, say, a village church or a cowboy, or does
each case produce its individual vision?
Is there any difference in behavior of your imagination when you are reading
stories and when writing them?
Have you ever considered these matters as "tools of your trade"? If so, to
what extent and how do you use them?
IV. When you write do you center your mind on the story itself or do you
constantly have your readers in mind? In revising?
V. Have you had a class- room or correspondence course on writing fiction?
Books on it? To what extent did this help in the elementary stages? Beyond the
elementary stages?
VI. How much of your craft have you learned from reading current authors?
The classics?
VII. What is your general feeling on the value of technique?
VIII. What is most interesting and important to you in your writing―plot,
structure, style, material, setting, character, color, etc.?
IX. What are two or three of the most valuable suggestions you could give to
a beginner? To a practised writer?
X. What is the elemental hold of fiction on the human mind?
XI. Do you prefer writing in the first person or the third? Why?
XII. Do you lose ideas because your imagination travels faster than your
means of recording? Which affords least check―pencil, typewriter or
stenographer?