In which the journey begins…
Dear Storyteller,
Welcome to The Classic Storyteller, a blog post series that’s built on a simple premise: classic authors and their works have a lot to teach us about storytelling.
Why do this? Simply put:
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learned to dance.” – Alexander Pope
I’ll be setting out on a journey to learn as much art of writing as I can from past masters, and I’d love for you to join me.
Together, we’ll look at stories, novellas, and novels by authors from the early 20th century and before to extract craft techniques and try them out ourselves – like point of view, worldbuilding, managing clues in mysteries, and more.
We’ll also hear from the authors themselves – from their letters or diaries or interviews – about their own views on writing, including the habits that helped them write the stories we love. In other words, evergreen productivity hacks.
My aim will be to feature insights from a wide selection of authors across genres, such as Jane Austen, L. Frank Baum, the Brontë sisters, Frances Hodgson Burnett, G.K. Chesterton, Kate Chopin, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, Lord Dunsany, Elizabeth Gaskell, Victor Hugo, Henry James, Edgar Allan Poe, Anthony Trollope, Dorothy L. Sayers, Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton, P.G. Wodehouse, Emile Zola, and more.
Along the way, I’ll highlight key techniques to try out, offer writing prompts so we can actively practice our authorial skills, and – as a positive side effect – introduce you to classic works of fiction or nonfiction you might’ve missed along the way. Or put a fresh spin on an old classic.
And throughout, I’ll keep both feet firmly planted on the ground. Promise! No brilliant academic treatise on the Great Books. Instead, the conversation will be focused on tangible, easy-to-grasp writing concepts. So if you’re looking for accessible advice on telling a good story, I hope you’ll find the newsletter useful.
All right, so let’s answer some questions…
Why do a creative writing newsletter on classic literature?
I’m launching this project for a dozen reasons that can be boiled down to three key points:
- Classic works of literature have taught me so much about writing already – I know a deeper dive into the classics will only make my writing life richer. I hope you feel the same.
- As a writer and writing coach, I feel a call to share my ideas with others, in the hopes that you will benefit from them.
- Classic literature can teach us a lot about making stories that entertain as much as they enlighten.
That last point deserves a bit of unpacking. What I mean is this: Pre-Modernist writers, like Austen and Conrad and Dickens, wrote within their time’s most popular artform, creating stories that appeal as much to the heart as to the mind.
In other words, they’re fun.
Once we get used to diction that’s different from ours, classic stories are still accessible today.
They’re also “accessible” in another way – they’re easy to get hold of. The books and stories I’ll be looking at are in the public domain and so accessible to everyone with an internet connection, regardless of income or location. You can find many of them on the wonderful Project Gutenberg site.
How often will I see new posts?
Initially, I expect to post 1-2 times per week. If I run a special series on a longer work, I may change the cadence to better suit our purposes, but I’ll let you know.
Who are you?
I’m glad you asked! Here’s the short version:
My name is Mathias Black, and I’m an indie author and writing coach. For years, I worked in marketing and communications (incl. at Ford Foundation), and I still do some consulting in that field. On top of book coaching and communications consulting, I write and publish commercial fiction – 14 light-hearted mysteries so far, all under the name M.P. Black.
For nearly a decade, home was New York City. After taking courses at The Writers Studio and Gotham Writers Workshop, and then studying under a wonderful writing mentor (Martin Roper), I completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College. Now, I live in cozy Copenhagen, Denmark, with my family.
What do I need to do?
To get the most out of this series, I encourage you to read the stories we’ll be looking at and then complete the exercises and writing prompts. I’ll be giving a variety of prompts to stimulate your imagination but also to test out specific techniques, so you can learn bite-sized skills that will come in handy when you’re knee-deep in a story or novel.
What’s next?
For our first dive into classic storytelling, we’ll look at how Nathaniel Hawthorne turned a tragic event into fiction in his story “The Ambitious Guest.” Following a brief analysis, we’ll do a writing exercise based on what we can learn from Hawthorne.
You can find “The Ambitious Guest” in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story collection Twice-told Tales here. I encourage you to read it.
Enjoy your reading, happy writing, and see you next time!
