Bird by Bird Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Bird by Bird

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Zusammenfassung von Bird by Bird

Name: Bird by Bird
Rating: 4.5 (114 reviews)
Author: Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott

Some Instructions on Writing and Life

4.5 (114 Bewertungen)

23 Min.

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Writing Memoirs

Inhaltsübersicht

Bird by Bird
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What’s in it for me? Learn how to unleash the great writer within you.

Bird by Bird is a classic guide to writing and living a writer’s life. From her unique perspective, novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott explains with wit and honesty her approach to writing and how you too can find the discipline, commitment and focus necessary to hone your craft.

Yet Lamott shows that becoming a good writer doesn’t mean just establishing a solid routine; it means slowing down, observing your world keenly and looking deep within yourself and your surroundings for material.

In the following blinks, you’ll learn how to find your true writer’s voice and create unforgettable characters that come to life in your stories. And with this, you may become the great writer you have always wanted to be.

In these blinks, you’ll also discover

how to deal with and destroy the dreaded “writer’s block”;
why writing a “shitty first draft” is so important; and
how to find your true voice as an author.

Becoming a good writer means writing about everything that happens to you and around you.

While there’s no secret formula to becoming a good writer, there are some essential steps.

The first step is learning how to relax, stand apart from people and observe closely.

You know the kind of people you notice standing in the corner at a party, watching everyone? Good writers are a similar breed: they often choose to distance themselves from the crowd, observing everything they see, and take notes.

The writer’s job is to articulate what she sees and experiences. This requires an ability to relax and focus so that nothing escapes her notice. It’s important not to rush the process, or force anything.

In other words, you have to learn to pay attention. Take time to observe everything around you: the curious gait of a stranger, the unique way the morning light catches a lover’s profile, how thinking about a childhood memory makes you feel.

There’s another reason that observing and noting your world is critical in becoming a good writer. The best writing is about conveying the truth; the observations you collect will help you to tell it.

Whether you believe that your observations will make good material isn’t important. Your main task is to try to find the truth in what you’ve observed, and figure out how to use those observations in the story you want to tell. That way, the truth will naturally find its way into your writing.

Don’t be afraid to draw on past experiences as your main material. For example, take the time to reflect on and write about childhood and other memories. After all, as a writer, you’re lucky enough to look at life in any way you want to. You can turn over events in your memory like fallow earth, digging for the truth that is buried deep within them.

Taking a trip into your own memory bank is justified as long as you make sure to look carefully and write from your own viewpoint as truthfully as you can. Thus you need to examine your self in the same way you examine everything around you.

To find your own voice, you have to be honest with your reader.

If there’s one thing critics agree on when it comes to defining a great writer, it’s that the writer has a “voice” – a unique style that includes not only the details of a story but also how it is told.

The only way you can develop your own voice is by being honest with the reader about your true feelings.

Have faith in your ability to write, even when you think you’re not doing a great job.

Another thing that all good writers have in common is that they don’t worry about whether they’re good writers!

If you believe with every fiber of your being that you should write, just write. With time and practice, you’ll eventually become good at it.

To become a good writer, establish a daily writing routine.

A common assumption about writers, and all artists, is that they work only when inspiration strikes.

Yet all good writers follow a strict routine. If you want to become a better writer, you should do the same.

Don’t be afraid of shitty first drafts.

Many people think that good writing springs fully formed from the writer’s imagination. If you’ve ever written even a college paper, you’ll know this isn’t true: nobody writes an elegant first draft.

All good books are the end result of a series of increasingly good versions, beginning with the roughest formulation of one’s ideas – or, as the author calls it, the “shitty first draft.”

Get to know your characters well; your story’s plot and dialogue flows through them.

Every good story has memorable characters, and every aspiring writer wants to know how to create them. So how do you create unforgettable characters?

To create great characters, you have to get to know them. Then, once you understand them, your job as a writer is to bring them to life.

Pay attention to details to create the atmosphere of your story.

If you’ve ever been engrossed in a novel, you know how important details are to storytelling. Because details make a story more tangible and believable, a writer uses details to bring a reader “inside” her story.

One important detail is your story’s setting. A good setting can bring your story to life, making the world of your characters more three-dimensional.

When you hit writer’s block, back off and take a breath so you can find your confidence.

It happens to every writer: suddenly, you simply have no idea of what to write. In other words, you’ve been struck with writer’s block.

The feeling of being creatively empty can be debilitating, much like shame and frustration. Fortunately, though, there are things you can do to get through this.

Look at your weaknesses with humor and generosity, and then write about them.

We all deny our own feelings. For writers, especially, denying one’s feelings can result in a great loss, since the value of what we feel is in what we learn from those feelings.

This is true even when it comes to potentially dangerous feelings – like jealousy.

Find the right people to talk to about your work.

The world is full of stories. There are so many people out there waiting to share their own, looking for just the right writer – like you. All you have to do is talk to them!

Of course, writing is usually a solitary endeavor, and for that reason many writers end up isolating themselves.

Being a good writer is more important than being published.

Why is it that so many writers are obsessed with being published?

Certainly, writers need readers. No one wants to write in a vacuum.

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Worum geht es in Bird by Bird?

Told from the personal perspective of author Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird is a guide toward becoming a better writer and improving your life along the way. Lamott’s distinctive approach, honesty and personal anecdotes make this book a must for writers or anyone who wants to become one.

Bestes Zitat aus Bird by Bird

The truth of your experience can only come through in your own voice.

—Anne Lamott

Wer Bird by Bird lesen sollte

Aspiring and professional writers
Anyone interested in learning about the writer’s life
Anyone who wants to learn how to establish a creative routine

Über den Autor

Anne Lamott is a novelist, memoirist and writing teacher. She has published seven novels, including Traveling Mercies and Hard Laughter.

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