Paperback, 272 pages
English language
Published April 2, 2019 by Catapult.
"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers
As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one we’re actually told to follow―and that’s the dramatic arc: a situation arises, grows tense, reaches a peak, subsides . . . But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculosexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw …
"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers
As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one we’re actually told to follow―and that’s the dramatic arc: a situation arises, grows tense, reaches a peak, subsides . . . But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculosexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?"
W. G. Sebald’s Emigrants was the first novel to show Alison how forward momentum can be created by way of pattern, rather than the traditional arc--or, in nature, wave. Other writers of nonlinear prose considered in her “museum of specimens” include Nicholson Baker, Anne Carson, Marguerite Duras, Gabriel García Márquez, Jamaica Kincaid, Clarice Lispector, Susan Minot, David Mitchell, Caryl Phillips, and Mary Robison.
Meander, Spiral, Explode is a singular and brilliant elucidation of literary strategies that also brings high spirits and wit to its original conclusions. It is a liberating manifesto that says, Let’s leave the outdated modes behind and, in thinking of new modes, bring feeling back to experimentation. It will appeal to serious readers and writers alike.
boring. cant remember who suggested it to me, but i hate them now.
i won't read a "how to write" book for a long while.
also, the author acts all like girlboss-i-eat-men-for-brekkie and then every single example is from a white cis het dude. lol.
This book was recommended by a poet friend, though she recommended it to all her writer friends, not directly to me.
The book seems to me a review of many books that tell a story non-linearly and categorizes them into their non-linear style. A bunch of reviews wrapped into 200 pages and sold.
It's supposed to be a book about writing, and as such, I would expect some discussion of how to go about this non-linear story-telling in a successful way rather than just a discussion of books that have done non-linear story-telling in a successful way. Perhaps I am simply not comprehending what I'm supposed to get out of this book.
It is interesting to read. I haven't read a single story in it though I have some of them sitting on my TBR pile.
Overall, if you are looking for a meandering, spiraling book about story-telling, this will …
This book was recommended by a poet friend, though she recommended it to all her writer friends, not directly to me.
The book seems to me a review of many books that tell a story non-linearly and categorizes them into their non-linear style. A bunch of reviews wrapped into 200 pages and sold.
It's supposed to be a book about writing, and as such, I would expect some discussion of how to go about this non-linear story-telling in a successful way rather than just a discussion of books that have done non-linear story-telling in a successful way. Perhaps I am simply not comprehending what I'm supposed to get out of this book.
It is interesting to read. I haven't read a single story in it though I have some of them sitting on my TBR pile.
Overall, if you are looking for a meandering, spiraling book about story-telling, this will be an interesting read. If you are looking for a good story or something more akin to instructional than this won't be for you.
