Of the Innumerable Effects
Ben H. Winters said to us in a recent workshop, (my paraphrase) that a writer’s work is not to create stories, but rather to create certain feelings in a reader. The story – what happens – is very nearly irrelevant. Following is the best quote I have read lately on the craft of writing. It is about the decisions a writer must make. The decisions regarding what goes onto the page, and tremendously more importantly, what is left off. The decisions we make that shape the reader’s experience.
Of the innumerable effects or impressions of which the heart, the intellect or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion select?
Edgar Allen Poe – “The Philosophy of Composition” 1846
The Conversation
Hi Dave!
I found your wordpress blog and have occasionally hopped in here to read your musings! 😀
I particularly like this one and have often wondered at remembering that I liked a book so much, but couldn’t remember the storyline or much about the plot. Evoking those emotions are what a reader remembers most.. at least this reader! 🙂
Thanks!