Getting to the point

Bernard Cooper's Maps To Anywhere shows writers something that many of us don't realize, a story does not necessarily have to have a point. His conglomeration of creative essays do not lead to a point his work has no real consistent plot. But all of the meaning that he wishes to express through his writing is still expressed even better perhaps than if he did write a novel. His use of rich descriptive language is as skillful as other professional writers but more importantly is the fashion in which he ties together each of his stories. Each new story shows you a small part of the picture he wants to paint of himself and his father. Each story in itself does not lead to anywhere in particular except possibly to a reference in one of the later stories. When his father tells him about his childhood dog it explains the same idea. When he asks his father for the point he tells them there isn't one, he's just looking back. This describes the style with which Cooper wrote the book and a style that we all must master as writers.

Rethinking Fiction Writing

I, and I would assume many of my fellow novice writers, have always followed a pretty standard form of short fiction writing. It would the plot strictly start at the beginning and end at the end. But that technique has some disadvantages such as that it is exceptionally difficult to go into rich detail and it completely passes over  the ability to use techniques like foreshadowing to create a deeper story and lock the readers interest. These techniques can allow the reader to be led and able to predict what might happen or tricked and cause them to be surprised by a character's actions. without a thick level of detail characterization is nearly impossible and then it is impossible to create a relationship with the reader without this it is rare for a person to care about someone they don't feel they know. It is imperative to being a successful writer of short fiction to use rich detail and any other writing technique you can.