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On Writing
Eudora Welty was one of the twentieth century's greatest literary figures. For as long as students have been studying her fiction as literature, writers have been looking to her to answer the profound questions of what makes a story good, a novel successful, a writer an artist. On Writing presents the answers in seven concise chapters discussing the subjects most important to the narrative craft, and which every fiction writer should know, such as place, voice, memory, and language. But even more important is what Welty calls “the mystery” of fiction writing—how the writer assembles language and ideas to create a work of art.
Originally part of her larger work The Eye of the Story but never before published in a stand-alone volume, On Writing is a handbook every fiction writer, whether novice or master, should keep within arm's reach. Like The Elements of Style, On Writing is concise and fundamental, authoritative and timeless—as was Eudora Welty herself.
Originally part of her larger work The Eye of the Story but never before published in a stand-alone volume, On Writing is a handbook every fiction writer, whether novice or master, should keep within arm's reach. Like The Elements of Style, On Writing is concise and fundamental, authoritative and timeless—as was Eudora Welty herself.
106 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2002
About the author
Eudora Welty
213 books935 followersEudora Alice Welty was an award-winning American author who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Her book The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.
Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo team, Welty was a regular at Romany Marie's café in 1930.
During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her all over the state of Mississippi photographing people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place and Photographs.
Welty's true love was literature, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to her and wrote the foreword to Welty's first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the legendary and oft-anthologized stories "Why I Live at the P.O.," "Petrified Man," and "A Worn Path." Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.
In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story, and was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. In her later life, she lived near Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, where, despite her fame, she was still a common sight among the people of her hometown.
Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 92, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.
Excerpted and adopted from Wikipedia.
Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo team, Welty was a regular at Romany Marie's café in 1930.
During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her all over the state of Mississippi photographing people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place and Photographs.
Welty's true love was literature, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to her and wrote the foreword to Welty's first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the legendary and oft-anthologized stories "Why I Live at the P.O.," "Petrified Man," and "A Worn Path." Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.
In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story, and was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. In her later life, she lived near Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, where, despite her fame, she was still a common sight among the people of her hometown.
Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 92, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.
Excerpted and adopted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
August 21, 2019
'Human life is fiction's only theme.'
July 27, 2020
Besides some excellent craft talk about writing this book was adamant about the reading aspect, as a writer and, the alchemic at times, relationship to the reader. Read her quotes here in gr's, they're great.
The times show through too, the South, her ubiquitous use of male pronoun when making sweeping generalities of humanity and/or the writer 'himself.'
The times show through too, the South, her ubiquitous use of male pronoun when making sweeping generalities of humanity and/or the writer 'himself.'
April 2, 2016
Writing fiction is mysterious. Some talented people are able to create it intuitively, but some of us benefit greatly from the words of others who have figured out a piece of the mystery and are willing to share. This is not light reading, but it is a goldmine for anyone trying to crack the mysteries of the fiction-writing craft.
“The plot goes forward at the pace of its own necessity, its own heartbeat. Its way ahead, its line of meaning, is kept clear and unsnarled, stretched tight as a tuned string.”
What a beautiful sentence in itself, but also packed with wisdom for the writer, and this little book is full of such gems.
Some writing books are academic, some are full of arguments and theories, and some are quite entertaining and funny. This writing book is, well, writerly, as if Eudora Welty crafted it with the same care she put into her fiction. What a gift.
“The plot goes forward at the pace of its own necessity, its own heartbeat. Its way ahead, its line of meaning, is kept clear and unsnarled, stretched tight as a tuned string.”
What a beautiful sentence in itself, but also packed with wisdom for the writer, and this little book is full of such gems.
Some writing books are academic, some are full of arguments and theories, and some are quite entertaining and funny. This writing book is, well, writerly, as if Eudora Welty crafted it with the same care she put into her fiction. What a gift.
March 29, 2022
“The challenge to writers today, I think, is not to disown any part of our heritage. Whatever our theme in writing, it is old and tried. Whatever our place, it has been visited by the stranger, it will never be new again. It is only the vision that can be new; but that is enough.”
“Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.”
“It was my first-year Latin teacher in high school who made me who made me discover I'd fallen in love with it (grammar). It took Latin to thrust me into bona fide alliance with words in their true meaning. Learning Latin fed my love for words upon words in continuation and modification, and the beautiful, sober, accretion of a sentence. I could see the achieved sentence finally standing there, as real, intact, and built to stay as the Mississippi State Capitol at the top of my street.”
“Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.”
“It was my first-year Latin teacher in high school who made me who made me discover I'd fallen in love with it (grammar). It took Latin to thrust me into bona fide alliance with words in their true meaning. Learning Latin fed my love for words upon words in continuation and modification, and the beautiful, sober, accretion of a sentence. I could see the achieved sentence finally standing there, as real, intact, and built to stay as the Mississippi State Capitol at the top of my street.”
Read
November 25, 2016Lovely, tiny collection of essays about aspects of writing, from Welty's thoughtful and wise mind, told with the egalitarian voice (she begins the first essay: "Looking at short stories as readers and writers together should be a companionable thing") that makes her fiction, her fiction. She references The Sound and the Fury, Katherine Anne Porter's short stories, and other works in the course of the book.
August 4, 2018
This was the longest little book I've ever read.
1. It should be called "On Literary Criticism".
2. Ms. Welty may be a wonderful writer of fiction, but this was so dry I couldn't get through 10 pages without refilling my water glass.
3. If you haven't read all the works of every great author of the early 20th century, then you won't get her examples - I didn't.
Bought on a whim, it will be with the next pile of books I donate to the local library.
1. It should be called "On Literary Criticism".
2. Ms. Welty may be a wonderful writer of fiction, but this was so dry I couldn't get through 10 pages without refilling my water glass.
3. If you haven't read all the works of every great author of the early 20th century, then you won't get her examples - I didn't.
Bought on a whim, it will be with the next pile of books I donate to the local library.
January 19, 2019
What a remarkable little book!
Eudora Welty packed so much into this little volume. Her observations on the relationship between place and the writer were especially profound to me. She draws from a wealth of classic lit, and really tries to get our heads around digging deep, both in our reading and writing. Should be on every writer's shelf, but serious readers would do well by this as well.
Eudora Welty packed so much into this little volume. Her observations on the relationship between place and the writer were especially profound to me. She draws from a wealth of classic lit, and really tries to get our heads around digging deep, both in our reading and writing. Should be on every writer's shelf, but serious readers would do well by this as well.
April 13, 2019
This slim little volume contains a collection of seven essays on writing penned by Eudora Welty between 1949 and 1973. Some of the subjects include place, short stories, voice, language, and time in fiction.
In the essay 'Words into Fiction' Welty states that the mystery of fiction lies in the use of language to express human life.
"In writing, do we try to solve this mystery? No, I think we take hold of the other end of the stick. In very practical ways, we rediscover the mystery. We even, I might say, take advantage of it."
There is much wisdom to be had here for the critical reader and committed writer.
In the essay 'Words into Fiction' Welty states that the mystery of fiction lies in the use of language to express human life.
"In writing, do we try to solve this mystery? No, I think we take hold of the other end of the stick. In very practical ways, we rediscover the mystery. We even, I might say, take advantage of it."
There is much wisdom to be had here for the critical reader and committed writer.
Read
March 31, 2015Books:
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker: A lecture on poetry cloaked in the story of how doubt effects creativity and creative block effects relationships. There are times where as a reader you may want to take Paul Chowder by the shoulders and give a good hard wake-up-shake, and yet if you've done any writing at all, you know that's not the way it works. These are the kind of holes we have to dig ourselves out of. This is the story of a poet's struggle to write the introduction to an anthology of rhyming poetry, but it is much more than that. It's an exploration of creativity that resonated with me.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern:
Surprisingly enchanting love story! Selection of detail and use of figurative language create a cleanly embellished world that you kind of want to live in. Morgenstern's vision of love captured this sap.
The Tenth of December by George Saunders
Every word carefully selected to tickle you, the. hit you hard with the matter. And he doesn't shy away from any matter of moral complexity.
The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus: If this was a film, I would have nightmares for days. Terribly depressing. Carefully written. Pokes a little too close to truth at times to bear. I collected many sentences for their stand alone greatness.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The sentences of direct narration anchor a story so watery and internal that it almost doesn't seem real. Except that it does. Very real in terms of emotion and character. A story that set up my expectations, but surprised me in the end, that explored themes of noncomformity and convention with insight that had me nodding yes and in a style so particular that I had believe it was from the heart. A slow read in the beginning that encouraged this reader to stop and smell each sentence rose, but that built momentum and meaning in the end.
Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Excellent mise-en-scene! A work of crime fiction in the style of an old detective film or a pulp novel. Though the mystery could have been more tightly concealed, I loved the main character Strike and his assistant and how the novel unfolded visually. I will read #2!
Quiet by Susan Cain
I wish I had come across this book sooner, as a young person or a young mother because there was so much in this book that affirmed my experience as an introvert and the parent of an introvert. What I like most about the book is that at its heart it seems to be mostly interested in illuminating the difficulties in human relationships because of personality differences and a step toward self-acceptance and understanding of others. As an educator I feel emboldened to continue my own efforts toward personality inclusiveness in my classroom because I agree with Cain's assessment: "The purpose of school should be to prepare kids for the rest of their lives, but too often what kids need to be prepared for is surviving the school day itself."
On Writing by Eudora Welty
Probably due to the reader, not the writer, there were times when I struggled with this short book on the writing of fiction, times when I just didn't get it and times when the texts used to illustrate the point were unfamiliar to me. Yet, there were these moments of connection that kept me bobbing along the surface of this heady exploration of the art of fiction and the role of the writer. Some quotes that emerged as meaningful to me:
"No two stories ever go the same way, although in different hands one story might possibly go any one of a thousand ways; and though the woods may look the same from outside, it is a new and different labyrinth every time. What tells the author his way? Nothing at all but what he knows inside himself: the same thing that hints to him afterward how far he has missed it, how near he may have come to the heart of it. In a working sense, the novel and its place have become one: work has made them, for the time being, the same thing, like the explorer's tentative map of the known world'" (45, Place in Fiction)
"Place, to the writer at work, is seen in a frame. Not an empty frame, a brimming one. Point of view is a sort of burning-glass, a product of personal experience and time; it is burnished with feelings and sensibilities, charged from moment to memnet with the sun-points of imagination" (49, Place in Fiction)
"Making reality is art's responsibility" (53, Place In Fiction).
"And if life ever became not worth writing fiction about, that, I believe, would be the first sign that it wasn't worth living" (80, Must the Novelist Crusade?).
"Fictional time may be more congenial to us than clock time, precisely for human reasons. An awareness of time goes with us all our lives. Watch or no watch, we carry the awareness with us. It lies so deep, in the very grain of our characters, that who knows if it isn't as singular to each of us as our thumbprints. In the sense of our transience may lie the irreducible urgency telling us to do, to understand, to love" (Some Notes on Time in Fiction, 100).
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker: A lecture on poetry cloaked in the story of how doubt effects creativity and creative block effects relationships. There are times where as a reader you may want to take Paul Chowder by the shoulders and give a good hard wake-up-shake, and yet if you've done any writing at all, you know that's not the way it works. These are the kind of holes we have to dig ourselves out of. This is the story of a poet's struggle to write the introduction to an anthology of rhyming poetry, but it is much more than that. It's an exploration of creativity that resonated with me.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern:
Surprisingly enchanting love story! Selection of detail and use of figurative language create a cleanly embellished world that you kind of want to live in. Morgenstern's vision of love captured this sap.
The Tenth of December by George Saunders
Every word carefully selected to tickle you, the. hit you hard with the matter. And he doesn't shy away from any matter of moral complexity.
The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus: If this was a film, I would have nightmares for days. Terribly depressing. Carefully written. Pokes a little too close to truth at times to bear. I collected many sentences for their stand alone greatness.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The sentences of direct narration anchor a story so watery and internal that it almost doesn't seem real. Except that it does. Very real in terms of emotion and character. A story that set up my expectations, but surprised me in the end, that explored themes of noncomformity and convention with insight that had me nodding yes and in a style so particular that I had believe it was from the heart. A slow read in the beginning that encouraged this reader to stop and smell each sentence rose, but that built momentum and meaning in the end.
Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Excellent mise-en-scene! A work of crime fiction in the style of an old detective film or a pulp novel. Though the mystery could have been more tightly concealed, I loved the main character Strike and his assistant and how the novel unfolded visually. I will read #2!
Quiet by Susan Cain
I wish I had come across this book sooner, as a young person or a young mother because there was so much in this book that affirmed my experience as an introvert and the parent of an introvert. What I like most about the book is that at its heart it seems to be mostly interested in illuminating the difficulties in human relationships because of personality differences and a step toward self-acceptance and understanding of others. As an educator I feel emboldened to continue my own efforts toward personality inclusiveness in my classroom because I agree with Cain's assessment: "The purpose of school should be to prepare kids for the rest of their lives, but too often what kids need to be prepared for is surviving the school day itself."
On Writing by Eudora Welty
Probably due to the reader, not the writer, there were times when I struggled with this short book on the writing of fiction, times when I just didn't get it and times when the texts used to illustrate the point were unfamiliar to me. Yet, there were these moments of connection that kept me bobbing along the surface of this heady exploration of the art of fiction and the role of the writer. Some quotes that emerged as meaningful to me:
"No two stories ever go the same way, although in different hands one story might possibly go any one of a thousand ways; and though the woods may look the same from outside, it is a new and different labyrinth every time. What tells the author his way? Nothing at all but what he knows inside himself: the same thing that hints to him afterward how far he has missed it, how near he may have come to the heart of it. In a working sense, the novel and its place have become one: work has made them, for the time being, the same thing, like the explorer's tentative map of the known world'" (45, Place in Fiction)
"Place, to the writer at work, is seen in a frame. Not an empty frame, a brimming one. Point of view is a sort of burning-glass, a product of personal experience and time; it is burnished with feelings and sensibilities, charged from moment to memnet with the sun-points of imagination" (49, Place in Fiction)
"Making reality is art's responsibility" (53, Place In Fiction).
"And if life ever became not worth writing fiction about, that, I believe, would be the first sign that it wasn't worth living" (80, Must the Novelist Crusade?).
"Fictional time may be more congenial to us than clock time, precisely for human reasons. An awareness of time goes with us all our lives. Watch or no watch, we carry the awareness with us. It lies so deep, in the very grain of our characters, that who knows if it isn't as singular to each of us as our thumbprints. In the sense of our transience may lie the irreducible urgency telling us to do, to understand, to love" (Some Notes on Time in Fiction, 100).
December 28, 2012
On first being drawn into an expansive world of a new author I generally have for a portal that author's best known, best loved and/or first book. In some cases, and owing to particular circumstances, I might start off on a minor work, willfully transport myself for lack of adequate device, and one-by-one build up my traveling by dimensions; however, by rule of habit a book of literary criticism by an author of fiction is a late point of encampment on a typical excursion. As much as I own to such a convention, I would also make a point to convene on bucking conventions based off of an inner or a social duty.
So, with Eudora Welty I took a different path by first beginning her On Writing and part way through it diverging into her little abode of symbolism, A Worn Path. Having diverged, the trip ahead is planned. I have an idea of what to expect, so many landmarks will not come as surprising as they would or might to an unadvised traveler, but as much must come with this prior expectation the happy fortune to have them exceeded.
Prior to On Writing, I knew of Eudora Welty as a prize-winning author, whose Southern embodiment and human landscape is visible in the rural work of Alice Munro, but it was a nice discovery that found Welty also preceding Munro in temperament and attention as well as she does in subject and the importance of place.
A writer has perhaps picked this up cursorily for practical tips on writing, but an education at that level is not to be located here. That said, there are lessons to be taken carefully and particularly that, I think, are more important - lessons for which Welty is ideal as a teacher. Her writing contains every kind of vibrancy and colour, so that a traveler who takes her up as their guidebook must inevitably and swiftly become seasoned.
So, with Eudora Welty I took a different path by first beginning her On Writing and part way through it diverging into her little abode of symbolism, A Worn Path. Having diverged, the trip ahead is planned. I have an idea of what to expect, so many landmarks will not come as surprising as they would or might to an unadvised traveler, but as much must come with this prior expectation the happy fortune to have them exceeded.
Prior to On Writing, I knew of Eudora Welty as a prize-winning author, whose Southern embodiment and human landscape is visible in the rural work of Alice Munro, but it was a nice discovery that found Welty also preceding Munro in temperament and attention as well as she does in subject and the importance of place.
A writer has perhaps picked this up cursorily for practical tips on writing, but an education at that level is not to be located here. That said, there are lessons to be taken carefully and particularly that, I think, are more important - lessons for which Welty is ideal as a teacher. Her writing contains every kind of vibrancy and colour, so that a traveler who takes her up as their guidebook must inevitably and swiftly become seasoned.
October 18, 2020
The only reason I finished this book so quickly is because it's due at the library today, hence the pell-mell dash to the end. I'd be lying if I claimed that perhaps a longer time to read would improve my score.
I'm sure this book was great for a lot of people. I'm sure they thought it was interesting and deep and wise. I'm sure they genuinely enjoyed it.
The book is a series of seven essays that say very little over its 106 pages. There are pearls of wisdom here and there (time in fiction should not be "then and then" but rather "therefore" or "nevertheless"), but finding them is as rare and frustrating as searching for genuine pearls in the entirety of the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, I'm being harsh, but I'm being harsh for a reason: the essays are "deep" but meaningless. It is filled with abstract philosophy that's not useful, enlightening, or even simply interesting to me, a young writer. Things that could be said concisely stretch over pages and pages of needless explanation. Not coincidentally, the best essay in this story is also the shortest one: "Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?"
This book just did not do it for me. I've never read Welty's work before. Her style does not suit my reading habits.
2/5 stars
I'm sure this book was great for a lot of people. I'm sure they thought it was interesting and deep and wise. I'm sure they genuinely enjoyed it.
The book is a series of seven essays that say very little over its 106 pages. There are pearls of wisdom here and there (time in fiction should not be "then and then" but rather "therefore" or "nevertheless"), but finding them is as rare and frustrating as searching for genuine pearls in the entirety of the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, I'm being harsh, but I'm being harsh for a reason: the essays are "deep" but meaningless. It is filled with abstract philosophy that's not useful, enlightening, or even simply interesting to me, a young writer. Things that could be said concisely stretch over pages and pages of needless explanation. Not coincidentally, the best essay in this story is also the shortest one: "Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?"
This book just did not do it for me. I've never read Welty's work before. Her style does not suit my reading habits.
2/5 stars
October 27, 2016
“Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, indeed, but truth. And the art that speaks it most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction; in particular, the novel.”
Sensitive, approachable advice from one of America's best fiction writers. We should listen, particularly, when Welty tells us here how to write about place and time. She is (was) full of wisdom and kindness.
“Naturally, it is the very breath of life, whether one writes a word of fiction or not, to go out and see what is to be seen of the world. For the artist to be unwilling to move, mentally or spiritually or physically, out of the familiar is a sign that spiritual timidity or poverty or decay has come upon him; for what is familiar will then have turned into all that is tyrannical.”
Sensitive, approachable advice from one of America's best fiction writers. We should listen, particularly, when Welty tells us here how to write about place and time. She is (was) full of wisdom and kindness.
“Naturally, it is the very breath of life, whether one writes a word of fiction or not, to go out and see what is to be seen of the world. For the artist to be unwilling to move, mentally or spiritually or physically, out of the familiar is a sign that spiritual timidity or poverty or decay has come upon him; for what is familiar will then have turned into all that is tyrannical.”
August 25, 2008
I didn't find this book extremely helpful as far as tips on writing go. A couple of the essays talk about the place of criticism and morality in fiction, blah, blah. When Welty does talk about the "how to," she spends most of her timg talking about how fiction comes from the personal world and vision of the writer and is therefore difficult to teach. But her language in describing that, and the mystery involved in the act of writing, is delightful to read in itself. And she occasionally has some real gems, like when she talks about time in fiction: "[Time]is not only the story's 'then--and then,' it may also be a 'but' or a 'nevertheless'; and it is always a 'thus' and a 'therefore.'"
August 31, 2008
A thin book but packed with great information. I picked this up after too many years as prep for teaching at Johns Hopkins again this fall.
One of my favorite Welty stories is "No Place for You, My Love." Alan Cheuse pointed me toward it when I was a grad student, but I never really understood how it worked.
But in "On Writing," Welty details how this story failed at first. Then her vision for it changed during a trip to the back country south of New Orleans. How the countryside got into her mind and allowed her to really open up the story. In a way, the land "south from South" became the third character in the piece about the star-crossed lovers.
One of my favorite Welty stories is "No Place for You, My Love." Alan Cheuse pointed me toward it when I was a grad student, but I never really understood how it worked.
But in "On Writing," Welty details how this story failed at first. Then her vision for it changed during a trip to the back country south of New Orleans. How the countryside got into her mind and allowed her to really open up the story. In a way, the land "south from South" became the third character in the piece about the star-crossed lovers.
March 13, 2013
One of the better craft books I've read. It'd be five stars if she did not spend so much time sounding heady and esoteric, leaving concrete help behind. A touch more clarity and this would have been a five-star craft book.
May 14, 2011
Considered one of the greatest short story writers of the 20th century, Eudora Welty offers a magnificent guide that reveals just as much about the author as it does the craft of writing.
June 14, 2017
Eudora Welty continues to promote candid, insightful assessments of literature and the writing process for today's writers and readers in On Writing.
This compilation of seven essays written by Welty between 1949 and 1974 explores various aspects of fiction in both short stories and novels. Among other nuggets of wisdom, she examines the relationship between writers and critics and readers and writers as well as the importance of words, place and time to a story.
My two favorite essays in this little book are "Place in Fiction" and "Words in Fiction." While I read, I always jot down favorite lines from the book I'm reading. The problem I found with these two essays was I wanted to jot down every single line!
I will share a few favorite words below, but I would also encourage writers as well as fans of literature and/or Eudora Welty to read this little book.
"The only way a writer can satisfy his own curiosity is to write it." (4)
"Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, indeed, but truth. And the art that speaks it most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction; in particular, the novel." (40)
"Making reality real is art's responsibility." (53)
"Writing is an expression of the writer's own peculiar personality, could not help being so. Yet in reading great works one feels that the finished piece transcends the personal. All writers great and small must sometimes have felt that they have become part of what they wrote even more than it still remains a part of them." (58)
"Fiction finished has to bear the responsibility of its own meaning, it is is own memory. It is now a thing apart from the writer; like a letter mailed, it is nearer by now to its reader." (62)
"The novel is something that never was before and will not be again. For the mind of one person, its writer, is in it too. What distinguishes it above all from the raw material, and what distinguishes it from journalism, is that inherent in the novel is the possibility of a share act of the imagination between its writer and its reader." (75-76)
"The ordinary novelist, who can never make a perfect thing, can with every novel try again." (80)
"The real dramatic force of a story depends on the strength of the emotion that has set it going. The emotional value is the measure of the reach of the story." (92)
This compilation of seven essays written by Welty between 1949 and 1974 explores various aspects of fiction in both short stories and novels. Among other nuggets of wisdom, she examines the relationship between writers and critics and readers and writers as well as the importance of words, place and time to a story.
My two favorite essays in this little book are "Place in Fiction" and "Words in Fiction." While I read, I always jot down favorite lines from the book I'm reading. The problem I found with these two essays was I wanted to jot down every single line!
I will share a few favorite words below, but I would also encourage writers as well as fans of literature and/or Eudora Welty to read this little book.
"The only way a writer can satisfy his own curiosity is to write it." (4)
"Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, indeed, but truth. And the art that speaks it most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction; in particular, the novel." (40)
"Making reality real is art's responsibility." (53)
"Writing is an expression of the writer's own peculiar personality, could not help being so. Yet in reading great works one feels that the finished piece transcends the personal. All writers great and small must sometimes have felt that they have become part of what they wrote even more than it still remains a part of them." (58)
"Fiction finished has to bear the responsibility of its own meaning, it is is own memory. It is now a thing apart from the writer; like a letter mailed, it is nearer by now to its reader." (62)
"The novel is something that never was before and will not be again. For the mind of one person, its writer, is in it too. What distinguishes it above all from the raw material, and what distinguishes it from journalism, is that inherent in the novel is the possibility of a share act of the imagination between its writer and its reader." (75-76)
"The ordinary novelist, who can never make a perfect thing, can with every novel try again." (80)
"The real dramatic force of a story depends on the strength of the emotion that has set it going. The emotional value is the measure of the reach of the story." (92)
May 25, 2019
CAVEAT: I only read about 40% of this book. It's not for me (at least not right now).
SUMMARY OF MY REVIEW: I am NOT looking for emotionally charged writing in order to learn how to write emotionally charged writing. I wanted more direct, clear, instructional guidelines, even though at a localized level, I appreciated her great skill.
ENTIRE REVIEW:
I was expecting something more directly instructive. I found this to be much more of a review of works with her reactions to the works, combined with instruction deeply immersed in poetic writing. The education within the first 40-50% seemed strictly at a level that I'd characterize as intuitive, ethereal, emotional, poetic, etc. I felt like I understood, but had to watch carefully and interpret a lot of emotional writing to distill out the (quite good) instructions. That made it a lot of work with some risk of missing her points. FURTHER, because it was not a story with a narrative arc, it was harder to stay engrossed in it, though I tried. (One who loves this book may accuse me of being simple minded, thus easily bored - well, who am I to disagree with that?)
FOR EXAMPLE, p. 39 (Kindle location 609) "Place in Fiction" she says "Place is one of the lesser angels that watch over the racing hand of fiction, perhaps the one that gazes benignly enough from off to one side, while others, like character, plot, symbolic meaning, and so on, are doing a good deal of wing-beating about her chair, and feeling, who in my eyes carries the crown, soars highest of them all and rightly relegates place into the shade."
OK, I largely agree, and understand. (Some fantastic books are not written that way, but she still has a good point.) She could have instructed with far fewer words, more precisely, and then given her (great) example of a more "feeling" based version. I'd have LOVED that. I want instruction to be direct. I am NOT looking for emotionally charged writing in order to learn how to write emotionally charged writing.
Having given my preference, I'll say that she is very skilled, and her ability to convey a point in a way that can cause emotional reverberations in the reader is fantastic. But it falls short for conveying core concepts of exactly HOW to do what she's attempting to teach.
SUMMARY OF MY REVIEW: I am NOT looking for emotionally charged writing in order to learn how to write emotionally charged writing. I wanted more direct, clear, instructional guidelines, even though at a localized level, I appreciated her great skill.
ENTIRE REVIEW:
I was expecting something more directly instructive. I found this to be much more of a review of works with her reactions to the works, combined with instruction deeply immersed in poetic writing. The education within the first 40-50% seemed strictly at a level that I'd characterize as intuitive, ethereal, emotional, poetic, etc. I felt like I understood, but had to watch carefully and interpret a lot of emotional writing to distill out the (quite good) instructions. That made it a lot of work with some risk of missing her points. FURTHER, because it was not a story with a narrative arc, it was harder to stay engrossed in it, though I tried. (One who loves this book may accuse me of being simple minded, thus easily bored - well, who am I to disagree with that?)
FOR EXAMPLE, p. 39 (Kindle location 609) "Place in Fiction" she says "Place is one of the lesser angels that watch over the racing hand of fiction, perhaps the one that gazes benignly enough from off to one side, while others, like character, plot, symbolic meaning, and so on, are doing a good deal of wing-beating about her chair, and feeling, who in my eyes carries the crown, soars highest of them all and rightly relegates place into the shade."
OK, I largely agree, and understand. (Some fantastic books are not written that way, but she still has a good point.) She could have instructed with far fewer words, more precisely, and then given her (great) example of a more "feeling" based version. I'd have LOVED that. I want instruction to be direct. I am NOT looking for emotionally charged writing in order to learn how to write emotionally charged writing.
Having given my preference, I'll say that she is very skilled, and her ability to convey a point in a way that can cause emotional reverberations in the reader is fantastic. But it falls short for conveying core concepts of exactly HOW to do what she's attempting to teach.
October 5, 2018
This little book is composed of seven essays written between 1943-1974. All deal with the acts of writing and reading fiction. Each one is profoundly subjective, almost possessing the quality of diary entries. As such, the writing is (for Ms. Welty) uncharacteristically opaque. Some passages are all but impenetrable. But, as always, when she strikes its gold:
Great fiction, we very much fear, abounds in what makes for confusion; it generates it, being on a scale which copies life, which it confronts. It is very seldom neat, is given to sprawling and escaping from bounds, is capable of contradicting itself, and is not impervious to humor. There is absolutely everything in fiction but a clear answer.
If the personal vision can be made to order, then we should lose, writer and reader alike, our own gift for perceiving, seeing through the fabric over everyday to what to each pair of eyes on earth is a unique thing. We'd accept life exactly like everybody else, and so, of course, be content with it. We should not even miss our vanished novelists. And if life ever became not worth writing fiction about, that, I believe, would be the first sign that it wasn't worth living.
We in the South are a hated people these days; we were hated first for actual and particular reasons, and now we may be hated still more in some vast unparticularized way. I believe there must be such a thing as sentimental hate. Our people hate back.
From the simplest to the most awesomely complicated, a plot is a device organic to human struggle designed for the searching out of human truth. It is from inception highly sensitive to time, it acts within time, and it is in its time that we ourselves see it and follow it.
February 7, 2021
In my quest to read all the books about writing written by writers, I borrowed this one from the library. I was not familiar with Eudora Welty before reading it and am glad that I discovered her. The book contains a collection of essays about writing fiction.
I wrote 14 pages of notes, most of them long quotes I will reread many times for inspiration. Here's one example,
"And so finally I think we need to write with love. Not in self-defense, not in hate, not in the mood of instruction, not in rebuttal, in any kind of militance, or in apology, but with love. Not in exorcisement, either, for this is to make the reader bear a thing for you.
"Neither do I speak of writing forgivingly; out of love you can write with great fury. It is the source of the understanding I speak of: it's this that determines its nature and its reach."
I struggled to understand many sections of Welty's writing, especially when she referenced works I had not read. Some paragraphs felt like I was reading a foreign language. The essays dated from 1949 to 1974, and I felt they became easier to understand as she relaxed some of the formality in her language of the earlier essays.
This little book is a gem. I wrote down titles and authors she referenced to add to my Want to Read list and books to look for when visiting used book stores. Welty's advice for writers isn't a how-to book, but a loftier vision, description, and philosophy of fiction as art to communicate truth and the human condition.
I wrote 14 pages of notes, most of them long quotes I will reread many times for inspiration. Here's one example,
"And so finally I think we need to write with love. Not in self-defense, not in hate, not in the mood of instruction, not in rebuttal, in any kind of militance, or in apology, but with love. Not in exorcisement, either, for this is to make the reader bear a thing for you.
"Neither do I speak of writing forgivingly; out of love you can write with great fury. It is the source of the understanding I speak of: it's this that determines its nature and its reach."
I struggled to understand many sections of Welty's writing, especially when she referenced works I had not read. Some paragraphs felt like I was reading a foreign language. The essays dated from 1949 to 1974, and I felt they became easier to understand as she relaxed some of the formality in her language of the earlier essays.
This little book is a gem. I wrote down titles and authors she referenced to add to my Want to Read list and books to look for when visiting used book stores. Welty's advice for writers isn't a how-to book, but a loftier vision, description, and philosophy of fiction as art to communicate truth and the human condition.
February 2, 2022
Eudora Welty's brilliance is evident in her book ON WRITING. Each chapter is an essay approaching various topics on the writing of fiction. This book published in 2002 is an excerpt from, THE EYE OF THE STORY, originally published in 1977. Topics approached in various chapters of the book include (but are not limited to) short stories, writing, analyzing, and place, words, and time in fiction. The brilliance of Eudora Welty's ability to dissect these concepts and present them in such a teachable manner, makes this book a valuable reference for the aspiring writer and published author alike.
The following are my favorite quotes from ON WRITING:
"Indifference would indeed be corrupting to the fiction writer, indifference to any part of man's plight. Passion is the chief ingredient of good fiction. It flames right out of sympathy for the human condition and goes into all great writing."
"Writing in the heat of passion can be done with extremely good temper."
"And so finally I think we need to write with love. Not in self-defense, not in hate, not in the mood of instruction, not in rebuttal, in any kind of militance, or in apology, but with love."
"Out of love you can write with straight fury."
"Every writer, like everybody else, thinks he's living through the crisis of the ages."
"Remembering is so basic and vital a part of staying alive that it takes on the strength of an instinct of survival, and acquires the power of an art."
The following are my favorite quotes from ON WRITING:
"Indifference would indeed be corrupting to the fiction writer, indifference to any part of man's plight. Passion is the chief ingredient of good fiction. It flames right out of sympathy for the human condition and goes into all great writing."
"Writing in the heat of passion can be done with extremely good temper."
"And so finally I think we need to write with love. Not in self-defense, not in hate, not in the mood of instruction, not in rebuttal, in any kind of militance, or in apology, but with love."
"Out of love you can write with straight fury."
"Every writer, like everybody else, thinks he's living through the crisis of the ages."
"Remembering is so basic and vital a part of staying alive that it takes on the strength of an instinct of survival, and acquires the power of an art."
June 10, 2017
Faulkner looms so large, and deservedly so, that he's almost completely obscured two other southern writers who I count among my favorites: Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. Here, Welty-as-critic offers a palate of vibrant and characteristically subtle observations on writers from Chekhov to Hemingway; an aesthete who stands defiant in contrast to our current moment. As a book on writing, Welty's is the standard uphill battle. You can't teach art. This is much better regarded as a collection of essays instead, which shows Welty's breadth as an essayist in addition to her timeless talent as a novelist.
August 26, 2019
This slim book (100 pages) takes time to absorb. Described in the book flap as 'chapters,' a more accurate description for these seven pieces written across decades (1949-1974) would be articles, essays or better yet, reflections. Welty includes many references to authors she favors, Falkner for one, using their work as examples. Parts of each were a bit deep for me. I read and re-read, pondered and noted numerous story titles to look up. Coincidentally, I had just picked up The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty on display at the library, a fat volume which will give me an opportunity to read her work and see how it reflects her comments "On Writing".
August 3, 2022
some great musings about writing that made me think about my own work and how to improve on it. some thought-provoking quotes:
“feelings are bound up in place.”
“this makes it the business of writing, and the responsibility of the writer, to disentangle the significant - in character, incident, setting, mood, everything - from the random and meaningless and irrelevant that in real life surround and beset it.”
“the mystery lies in the use of language to express human life.”
“indifference would indeed be corrupting to the fiction writer, indifference to any part of man’s plight. passion is the chief ingredient of good fiction.”
“feelings are bound up in place.”
“this makes it the business of writing, and the responsibility of the writer, to disentangle the significant - in character, incident, setting, mood, everything - from the random and meaningless and irrelevant that in real life surround and beset it.”
“the mystery lies in the use of language to express human life.”
“indifference would indeed be corrupting to the fiction writer, indifference to any part of man’s plight. passion is the chief ingredient of good fiction.”
October 3, 2022
Lots of wisdom on writing to be found in these essays, that span a good portion of her career, from 1949 to 1974. One unique aspect of an essay was her description of visiting Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and her personal revelations from that experience.
Her take on writing as a political or moral crusade, and analysis of writers works, still hold up decades after they were put down. She also addresses the responsibilities and judgements she carries as a Southern writer.
Hands down my favorite quote was:
"Indeed, learning to write may be a part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading."
Indeed, Ms. Welty, indeed!
Her take on writing as a political or moral crusade, and analysis of writers works, still hold up decades after they were put down. She also addresses the responsibilities and judgements she carries as a Southern writer.
Hands down my favorite quote was:
"Indeed, learning to write may be a part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading."
Indeed, Ms. Welty, indeed!
December 14, 2023
I was looking forward to reading this book after reading several of her novels and her memoir, ONE WRITER'S BEGINNNINGS, recently and enjoying them all, but I found this book somewhat hard to get through despite its short length. The book is a collection of seven of her essays on fiction writing. While I read a lot of both fiction and non-fiction books, and have written a non-fiction book, I found that the book seemed to be very focused on the fiction writer, rather than the reader. Several essays had a larger feel to them and I enjoyed them, but in the end I was somewhat disappointed in this book.
June 24, 2019
Read for the PopSugar Challenge 2019
8. A book about a hobby
Quite good and inspiring book, referencing lots of short stories and novels to make her point clear and even some of her own: themes, plot, character, space, time, morals, criticism all treated into concise and accesible essays. Ever since I started this one I got on a writing spree trying to follow her suggestions, since I'm not so good at short story writing yet. It was somewhat effective, but won't replace practice. It was also a good introduction to Welty's work herself.
8. A book about a hobby
Quite good and inspiring book, referencing lots of short stories and novels to make her point clear and even some of her own: themes, plot, character, space, time, morals, criticism all treated into concise and accesible essays. Ever since I started this one I got on a writing spree trying to follow her suggestions, since I'm not so good at short story writing yet. It was somewhat effective, but won't replace practice. It was also a good introduction to Welty's work herself.
December 10, 2019
This little book is a delightful, rich source of insight into creative writing. Welty's sharp comments of the abstract elements of fiction writing are just as applicable to nonfiction writing. Problems of time, place, plot, and crusades are discussed in elegant prose with lots of specific examples. I enjoyed looking up some of the short stories she cites and could hear her saying See? That's how it's done. The attention to detail is a very good point she focuses on and explains how crucial good details are to making a story real and believable.
December 14, 2019
After reading The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, I thought I'd reread this gem about writing fiction by Eudora that I picked up at her home in Jackson, MS. while visiting there this past spring. Patchett was a huge fan of Eudora, check out her Parnassus blog about the Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, 3/12/2019. I wondered what lessons she learned from her to apply to her own exquisite writing. There were many. The applicable quotes are too numerous to note here but if you are a fiction writer or any kind of writer you will be inspired. Enjoy!
August 19, 2022
“Il fatto è che nell’abbracciare la fonte del piacere siamo entrati in un altro mondo. Parliamo di bellezza. E la bellezza non ha nulla di vistoso, promiscuo o ovvio; anzi è connessa alla reticenza, a mille tipi di caparbietà. Essa sorge chissà come dal desiderio non di conformarsi ad alcuna aspettativa, bensì di agire inevitabilmente, fintantoché si riesce a scorgere una qualche umana verità, qualunque cosa quell’inevitabilità richieda. La bellezza non è un mezzo, non è un modo di promuovere qualcosa nel mondo. È un risultato: è legata all’ordine, alla forma, alla conseguenza.”
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