The Person on the Page

Using Their Lives

Writing from Experience

Writing from Imagination

Practice

Literary Criticism: Does Fiction Reflect the Writer’s Life?

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One day your friend tells you about a book he just finished reading.

The Person on the Page

This guy went fishing with his younger cousin, and they ended up getting attacked by a bear. The guy got away and made it back to the road, but his cousin didn’t. He just left his cousin out there in the woods, can you believe that?

Man, if I did something like that, I sure wouldn’t write about it for the whole world to read. I’d feel too bad about it—kind of like a coward, you know?

Then your friend makes a common—but often false—assumption about the story’s author . . .

The Person on the Page

What has your friend assumed about the author?

Is the narrator the same as the person writing the book?

Sometimes the answer is yes. Some authors write about themselves.

The Person on the Page

The character

Sometimes the answer is no.

are not alike.and the author

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The writer of a story about a girl who learns to fly might set the story in his own neighborhood.

Writers often use parts of their real lives—people, places, situations, and things—as parts of made-up stories.

Using Their Lives

A writer might base the personality of a Wild West sheriff on her uncle.

Gary Paulsen was never stranded alone in the wilderness like the hero of his book Hatchet.

Using Their Lives

However, his own adventures training sled dogs made their way into his novel Dogsong.

It can be interesting to connect what we know about a writer’s life with his or her work.

Using Their Lives

Why does one writer make all her teenage characters outsiders and rebels?

Why does another seem especially interested in the judicial system?

Only the writer can answer these questions for sure.

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At one time almost all the books published in America were written by people of European descent.

Writing from Experience

Mark Twain Dorothy M. Johnson Edgar Allan Poe

Now you can read about the experiences of Americans from all backgrounds in books written by people from those backgrounds.

Writing from Experience

Amy TanChristopher Paul CurtisVirginia Driving Hawk Sneve

In their stories, you can read about the lives of Native Americans,

Writing from Experience

African Americans,

and Chinese Americans.

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Although experience is an important part of an author’s writing, imagination is also crucial.

Writing from Imagination

Writing from Imagination

Can a person who spent her whole life far from the sea write about the ocean?

Can a grown woman write from the point of view of a little boy? What do you think?

Writing from Imagination

Many writers have written brilliant, convincing books about things they have never experienced.

fantasy

science fiction

In fact, some types of fiction always require the writer to think beyond his or her experience.

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2. Who is the story’s narrator?

1. Is the main character the writer’s mother?

Let’s Try It

Practice

A Smart CookieSandra Cisneros

I could’ve been somebody, you know? my mother says and sighs. She has lived in this city her whole life. She can speak two languages. She can sing an opera. She knows how to fix a TV. But she doesn’t know which subway train to take to get downtown. I hold her hand very tight while we wait for the right train to arrive.

She used to draw when she had time. Now she draws with a needle and thread, little knotted rosebuds, tulips made of silk thread.

3. Do you think the mother’s feelings about her life are felt only by Mexican American women?

Let’s Try ItSomeday she would like to go to the ballet. Someday she would like to see a play. She borrows opera records from the public library and sings with velvety lungs powerful as morning glories.

Today while cooking oatmeal she is Madame Butterfly until she sighs and points the wooden spoon at me. I could’ve been somebody, you know? Esperanza, you go to school. Study hard. That Madame Butterfly was a fool. She stirs the oatmeal. Look at my comadres [friends]. She means Izaura whose husband left and Yolanda whose husband is dead. Got to take care all your own, she says shaking her head.

Practice

Let’s Try ItThen out of nowhere:Shame is a bad thing, you know. It keeps

you down. You want to know why I quit school? Because I didn’t have nice clothes. No clothes, but I had brains.

Yup, she says disgusted, stirring again. I was a smart cookie then.

4. What universal human experience is addressed on this page?

Practice

Practice

On Your Own

In your reading you have almost certainly found a special writer whose stories you love.

As the school year goes on, keep records of your favorite reading experiences on notecards like the one to the right. You can find answers to the last three items by reading about the writer’s life.

Author:

Favorite titles:

What he/she writes about:

How stories show author’s heritage: beliefs: experiences:

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The End

Literary Criticism: Does Fiction Reflect the Writer’s Life?