Description
Book SynopsisAn essential guide for writers on how to record and use rich detail to enliven their work. The goal of the writer is to live with the keenness of the foreigner. To experience, wide-eyed, the sensations aroused and the events offered up by peculiar surrounds and then to evoke them so brightly on the page that the reader, too, experiences the foreigner's frisson. A time-honored way this is accomplished is through the keeping of a field notebookthrough the faithful recording of the this-and-that of life; the atmospheres and incidents; the bells, the beer, the bread. Based on what accomplished nonfiction writer Sara Mansfield Taber learned in her many years of field notebook keeping, Chance Particulars is a unique and handy primer for writers who want to use their experiences to tell a lively, satisfying story. Often, writers try to turn their notes into a memoir, essay, travel piece, or story, only to find that they haven't recorded enough of the concrete, sensory details necessary to create evocative description. To help writers overcome this problem, Taber has composed a true field notebook for field notebook keepers. Enhanced by beautiful illustrations, this charming and comprehensive guide is a practical manual for anyone who wishes to learn or hone the crafts of writing, ethnography, or journalism. Writers of all levels, genres, and ages, as well as teachers of writing, will appreciate this useful tool for learning how to record the details that build vibrant prose. With this book in hand, you will be able to recreate times and places, conjure up intricate character portraits, and paint pictures of particular landscapes, cultures, and locales.
Trade ReviewThe book also looks at the art of good journaling and how one can mine its information to enrich all other kinds of writing.
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Y.S. StephenWhat is especially lovely about this book, aside from its accessibility and art work, is the range of texts that are used. There are classic works of literature, travel writing, memoir; the advice provided is always exemplified.
—Matthew Tett,
Writing in EducationTable of ContentsIntroduction
1. Elements of Fine Writing
2. Purpose of the Notebook
Goal, Quest, Story
3. Chance Particulars
Use of the Senses
Specificity, Precision, and Concrete Detail
4. Place
Landscape and Nature
Towns, Streets, and Buildings
5. People
Portraits and Interviews
Encounters, Observations, and Activities
6. Facts, History, and Culture
Basic Facts, History, and Cultural Observations
7. Technical and Other Pertinent Information
Informational Notes
8. Chronicle
Record of Daily Activities and Travels
9. Personal Responses
Feelings and Contemplations
10. Commonplace Notes
Quotations and Thoughts from Experts, Scholars, and Literary Forebears-and Other Miscellanea
11. Associations and Figurative Language
Metaphor and Simile
12. Reflections
Thoughts and Musings
13. Writing Notes
Acknowledgments
