Master, how di I write?

[Olly Buckle]

“Master, how do I write fiction?” asked the scholar.
“First”, said the Master, “You must steal a pen.”
“But I am an honest man, I do not steal.”
The Master turned and started pacing the room, “And do you write fiction; no! First you must steal a pen,” he said, then, turning back to the desk, “But I see you already have, enterprising. I am afraid it doesn’t count, I give it freely for you to treasure and guard as a gift from a master. You do not know or understand half the human emotions, guilt, remorse ... First you must steal a pen, before you can write you must experience degradation.”
“Bullshit, you egocentric old fraud,” shouted the scholar slamming from the room.

“Not bad, some promise,” said the Master handing back the read, red pencilled, manuscript the scholar had slammed on his desk the morning after, “Now you must learn to edit, attend lectures.”

“When I teach mathematics,” said the Master’s colleague, I know my laws and theorems and impart them, but how do you teach fiction writing? It has no laws and some clever writer disproves any theorem as soon as it is proposed.”

“Understanding the pupil and having the ability to get them started are the main requirements, once the pupil starts producing work one can provide valid and helpful criticism.”

[LeeC]

Nothing in the writing caught my eye. That is other than your exceptional style, and saying more that the words alone.

[Reichelina]

Missed your posts, Olly!
This is lovely! I see what you're trying to convey.

The "How do I write Fiction" intro made my eyes pop out. 'I need this', I thought.

--steals Olly's pen--

[BobtailCon]

Interesting, it read very much like a riddle.

Though I felt some confusion around the part "'Bullshit, you egocentric old fraud,' shouted the scholar slamming from the room."

The events get jumbled there, you say he slammed from the room, but then the master is reading his manuscript. Did he hand the master the manuscript? Was "slammed" him slamming the door, or slamming down the manuscript? And when did the Master's colleague come into the mix?

[Olly Buckle]

Thank you Lee, Reich. Bobtail, the paragraphs denote temporal breaks, The ms is slammed on the desk 'the morning after', and returned 'red pencilled', so he has had time to mark it. I had imagined him talking to the colleague in the staff room later, I suppose I could have started the last para. 'Later in the staff room his colleague asked ...' , but it seemed like spelling out the obvious a bit, however it is always interesting to know what confuses people, thank you, I shall consider your comments and see if I can add clarity.

[LeeC]

Different strokes ... and all that Olly. To me, an attribute of good writing is opening the reader's mind's eye to what is not said.

“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.” ~ Mark Twain

[Olly Buckle]

Different strokes ... and all that Olly. To me, an attribute of good writing is opening the reader's mind's eye to what is not said.

“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.” ~ Mark Twain

Indeed, when Reich says she sees exactly what I am getting at I wonder; because it is non-specific it allows people to interpret it in a personal way. Same old story, less is more ;)

[Bard_Daniel]

I'm definitely enjoying this. It's quite witty and engaging.

Good work Olly!

[Jay Greenstein]

It has no laws and some clever writer disproves any theorem as soon as it is proposed.”Try telling that to a publisher.

[Reichelina]

Try telling that to a publisher.

Only if being published is all you care about, yeah.
But then again, you can self-publish.

[Olly Buckle]

Try telling that to a publisher.

I thought I heard it from a publisher, like people in any profession they vary.

[Jay Greenstein]

Only if being published is all you care about, yeah.
But then again, you can self-publish.Yet the potential customers of self publishing are looking for the same things in what they choose that publishers are, because those people are the people the publisher is hoping to entice to buy. publishers criteria for saying yes isn't random. It'd based on experience in what will sell. After all, they make their living by sifting through offers and identifying what will sell. So if you can't impress a publisher, what are the odds that you'll impress their customer?