Becoming a Writer

by Dorothea Brande

Overview

Becoming a Writer recaptures the excitement of Dorothea Brande's creative writing classroom of the 1920s. It remains evergreen decades after it was first written. She believed that anyone can write as writing can be both taught and learned. This is Dorothea Brande's legacy to all those who have ever wanted to express their ideas in written form.

About the Author:

American author, lecturer and magazine editor, Dorothea Brande, was the youngest of five children born to Frederick S. and Alice P. Thompson of Chicago, Illinois. Alice Dorothea Alden Thompson was born in Englewood, a Chicago community, on 12 January, 1892. Both of her parents were originally from Maine and had previously lived in Delaware where her three oldest siblings were born. Her father was employed as a manager at local business in the Chicago area.

Brande attended the Universities of Michigan and Chicago, earning her Phi Beta Kappa key at the former. She went on to work as a newspaper reporter in Chicago and later as circulation manager for American Mercury magazine during the time of H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. In the 1930s she became an associate editor of Bookman magazine and later its successor (1934), the American Review. In the years to come Brande would also operate a nationwide correspondence school for aspiring writers and tour on the lecture circuit.

In 1916 she married fellow Chicago newspaper reporter Herbert Brande. Herbert would later gain some notoriety as an editorial writer. Their marriage ended in divorce sometime before 1930. In 1936 she married Seward B. Collins (1899-1952), who at the time was American Review's editor. Her inspirational book, 'Wake Up and Live' (1936) was written during the Great Depression and was a best seller and her most successful book. She was also the author of 'Becoming a Writer' (1934), 'Most Beautiful Lady' (1935), 'Letters to Philippa' (1937), 'My Invincible Aunt' (1938) and others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789387550841
Publisher:	Samaira Book Publishers
Publication date:	08/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	325,460
File size:	455 KB

About the Author

Born in Chicago, Dorothea Brande (1893–1948) was a widely respected journalist, fiction writer, and writing instructor. Brande is widely known for her enduring guide to the creative process, Becoming a Writer, originally published in 1934 and still popular today. In 1936, Brande published a masterwork of practical psychology, Wake Up and Live! The book entered more than 34 printings and sold more than 1 million copies. For many years, Wake Up and Live!, with its simple and sound advice for personal excellence, rivaled the popularity of contemporaneous works such as Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	11
	In Introduction	19
1.	The Four Difficulties	25
	The Difficulty of Writing at All
	The "One-Book Author"
	The Occasional Writer
	The Uneven Writer
	The Difficulties Not in Technical Equipment
2.	What Writers are Like	35
	Cultivating a Writer's Temperament
	False and Real Artists
	The Two Sides of a Writer
	"Dissociation" Not Always Psychopathic
	Everyday Examples of Dual Personality
	The Slough of Despond
3.	The Advantages of Duplicity	45
	The Process of Story Formation
	The "Born Writer"
	Unconscious and Conscious
	The Two Persons of the Writer
	The Transparent Barrier
	Keep Your Own Counsel
	Your "Best Friend and Severest Critic"
	The Right Recreation
	Friends and Books
	The Arrogant Intellect
	The Two Selves Not at War
	The First Exercise
4.	Interlude: On Taking Advice	61
	Save Your Energy
	Imagination Versus Will in Changing Habits
	Displacing Old Habits
	A Demonstration
	The Right Frame of Mind
5.	Harnessing the Unconscious	69
	Wordless Daydreams
	Toward Effortless Writing
	Double Your "Output"
6.	Writing on Schedule	75
	Engaging to Write
	A Debt of Honor
	Extending the Exercise
	Succeed, or Stop Writing
7.	The First Survey	81
	Reading Your Work Critically
	The Pitfalls of Imitation
	Discovering Your Strength
	A Footnote for Teachers
8.	The Critic at Work on Himself	89
	A Critical Dialogue
	Be Specific in Suggestions
	Correction After Criticism
	The Conditions of Excellence
	Dictating a Daily Regime
9.	Readings as a Writer	99
	Read Twice
	Summary Judgment and Detailed Analysis
	The Second Reading
	Points of Importance
10.	On Imitation	105
	Imitating Technical Excellences
	How to Spend Words
	Counteracting Monotony
	Pick Up Fresh Words
11.	Learning to See Again	111
	The Blinders of Habit
	Causes of Repetitiousness
	Recapturing Innocence of Eye
	A Stranger in the Streets
	The Rewards of Virtue
12.	The Source of Originality	119
	The Elusive Quality
	Originality Not Imitation
	The "Surprise Ending"
	Honesty, the Source of Originality
	Trust Yourself
	"Your Anger and My Anger"
	One Story, Many Versions
	Your Inalienable Uniqueness
	A Questionnaire
13.	The Writer's Recreation	131
	Busmen's Holidays
	Wordless Recreation
	Find Your Own Stimulus
	A Variety of Time-Fillers
14.	The Practice Story	137
	A Recapitulation
	The Contagiousness of Style
	Find Your Own Style
	The Story in Embryo
	The Preparatory Period
	Writing Confidently
	A Finished Experiment
	Time for Detachment
	The Critical Reading
15.	The Great Discovery	147
	The Five-Finger Exercises of Writing
	The Root of Genius
	Unconscious, Not Subconscious
	The Higher Imagination
	Come to Terms with the Unconscious
	The Artistic Coma and the Writer's Magic
16.	The Third Person, Genius	155
	The Writer Not Dual But Triple
	The Mysterious Faculty
	Releasing Genius
	Rhythm, Monotony, Silence
	A Floor to Scrub
17.	The Writer's Magic	163
	X Is to Mind as Mind to Body
	Hold Your Mind Still
	Practice in Control
	The Story Idea as the Object
	The Magic in Operation
	Inducing the "Artistic Coma"
	Valedictory
	In Conclusion: Some Prosaic Pointers	171
	Typewriting
	Have Two Typewriters
	Stationery
	At the Typewriter: WRITE!
	For Coffee Addicts
	Coffee Versus Mate
	Reading
	Book and Magazine Buying
	Bibliography	177
	Index	181