Literary Nonfiction. Writing. Composition. You've got a great story, but do you have great sentences? Stylish sentences have their own powerful energy that mesmerizes and even rearranges a reader's world. Think of this book as a private lesson with Nina Schuyler--award-winning author and professor of creative writing at the University of San Francisco--featuring guest appearances by the masters, including James Baldwin, Grace Paley, John Updike, Saul Bellow, and Toni Morrison. They've arrived to show you the mechanics of their magic. With 25 essays and over 100 writing prompts, HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES is the best way to expand your writing style."Nina Schuyler's HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES is like a Kama Sutra for sentences: it describes the positions and passions of her artful love, and through sharp analyses and generous prompts suggests how you too, writer, may become such an artful lover...Read it and the pleasure will be yours."--Aaron Shurin"With its elegantly curated examples of stunning prose, HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES offers luminous insight into the elements of language as they relate intimately to content. Reading this book can transform your awareness and your practice, line by line and page by page, with glorious results."--Elizabeth Rosner"Passionately intense and exquisitely precise, Nina Schuyler's brilliant readings of gorgeously disparate sentences by a wide spectrum of innovative writers illuminate the subversive pleasures of suspension and subordination, the joys of complexity and extravagance, and the potent, piercing delights of language distilled to spare perfection."--Melanie Rae Thon"In this wonderful book, Nina Schuyler not only explores how syntax and diction can embody the meaning of a sentence but also how they can enrich subtext and capture the sensibility of a character. The pleasure of looking so closely at the power and intricacy of sentences is present on every page and richly evident in the plentiful writing exercises that Schuyler provides. Each chapter has the potency of a daily meditation from which any writer would benefit."--Catherine Brady"Nina Schuyler is an alchemist of style, with a brilliant eye for the secret inner workings of language. This book is a treasure trove for anyone wishing to harness the power of rhythm and syntax, meaning and music, in their own sentences or in the ones they read. This book is a fantastic contribution to the literature of craft."--Carolina de Robertis"There are books to read and then there are books to own, and Nina Schuyler's wonderful volume is of the latter category. As a writer, it offers nifty inspiration at a moment's notice. As a teacher, it offers clear proof that the blood, sweat, and tears behind beautiful writing is worth it. Even if I didn't write or teach, HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES would still be a graceful reminder that our ability to communicate deep emotions through the art of writing is one of the best things about being human."--Tom Molanphy, Academy of Art University

How to Write Stunning Sentences: 100 Simple Exercises from Beloved Authors to Improve Your Sentence Writing Style

Literature & Fiction

Schuyler, Nina

History & Criticism

Fiction Advocate

Painting

In 1869 Japan, a young woman escapes the confines of her arranged marriage by painting memories of her lover on mulberry paper. She secretly wraps the painting around a ceramic pot that's bound for Europe. In France, a disenchanted young man works as a clerk at an import shop. When he opens the box from Japan, he discovers the brilliant watercolor of two lovers locked in an embrace under a plum tree. He steals the painting and hides it in his room. With each viewing, he sees something different, and gradually the painting transforms him. Set outside the new capital of Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration and in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, The Painting is a richly imagined story of four characters whose lives are delicately and powerfully entwined: Ayoshi, the painter, pines for her lover as she dutifully attends to her husband; Ayoshi's husband, Hayashi, a government official who's been disfigured in a deadly fire, has his own well of secret yearnings; Jorgen, wounded by the war and by life, buries himself in work at the Paris shop; and the shop owner's sister, Natalia, who shows Jorgen the true message of the painting. Exquisitely written and utterly spellbinding, The Painting reveals the enduring effect of art in ordinary life and marks the debut of a skilled stylist and first-rate storyteller.

The Painting

Contemporary

Algonquin Books

“Schuyler writes with piercing intelligence and real insight into the complex worlds of literary translation and human relationships.” ― Ellen Sussman, author of the New York Times bestselling novel, French Lessons
When renowned translator Hanne Schubert falls down a flight of stairs, she suffers from an unusual but real condition ― the loss of her native language. Speaking only Japanese, a language learned later in life, she leaves for Japan. There, to Hanne’s shock, the Japanese novelist whose work she recently translated confronts her publicly for sabotaging his work.
Reeling, Hanne seeks out the inspiration for the author’s novel ― a tortured, chimerical actor, once a master in the art of Noh theater. Through their passionate, volatile relationship, Hanne is forced to reexamine how she has lived her life, including her estranged relationship with her daughter. In elegant and understated prose, Nina Schuyler offers a deeply moving and mesmerizing story about language, love, and the transcendence of family.

The Translator

United States

Pegasus Books

When renowned translator Hanne Schubert falls down a flight of stairs, she suffers an unusual condition— the loss of her native language. Speaking only Japanese, a language she learned later in life, she leaves for Japan. There, to Hanne’s shock, the Japanese novelist whose work she recently translated confronts her publicly for sabotaging his work. Reeling, Hanne seeks out the inspiration for the author’s novel — a tortured, chimerical actor, once a master in the art of Noh Theater. Through their passionate, volatile relationship, Hanne is forced to reexamine how she has lived her life, including her estranged relationship with her daughter. In elegant prose, Nina Schuyler offers a deeply moving and mesmerizing story about language, love, and the transcendence of family.

<div>In 1869 Japan, a young woman escapes the confines of her arranged marriage by painting memories of her lover on mulberry paper. She secretly wraps the painting around a ceramic pot that's bound for Europe. In France, a disenchanted young man works as a clerk at an import shop. When he opens the box from Japan, he discovers the brilliant watercolor of two lovers locked in an embrace under a plum tree. He steals the painting and hides it in his room. With each viewing, he sees something different, and gradually the painting transforms him. Set outside the new capital of Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration and in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, The Painting is a richly imagined story of four characters whose lives are delicately and powerfully entwined: Ayoshi, the painter, pines for her lover as she dutifully attends to her husband; Ayoshi's husband, Hayashi, a government official who's been disfigured in a deadly fire, has his own well of secret yearnings; Jorgen, wounded by the war and by life, buries himself in work at the Paris shop; and the shop owner's sister, Natalia, who shows Jorgen the true message of the painting. Exquisitely written and utterly spellbinding, The Painting reveals the enduring effect of art in ordinary life and marks the debut of a skilled stylist and first-rate storyteller.</div>

Literary

In This Ravishing World

Short Stories & Anthologies

Regal House Publishing

A pioneer of artificial intelligence rebuilds the love of her life, but when she discovers he's been feeding incriminating civilian information to the Chinese government, she'll have to decide whether to keep or kill him. When approached by a Chinese tech company, Virginia Samson is moved to give them her beloved's algorithm so they can create an AI companion for the aging population. Soon her digital lost love starts spying on Chinese citizens, funneling the information to the Chinese government. When Virginia frantically tries to rebuild him, she uncovers his terrible secret, forcing her to relive their beautiful and tragic love affair. Afterword explores what it means to be human and is a moving testament to the deeply human desire for belonging, companionship, and love.&nbsp;

Afterword

CLASH Books

Join the editors of Alcyone for tales of distant worlds, dystopian futures, magic and mystery, and much more. In our inaugural issue, a government agent explores alternate realities in the search for Jimi Hendrix, a pair of married assassins are subjected to their worst fears, the Tin Man writes to Dorothy, and the dead return to life. And that's just the beginning. Featuring: "Memoria" by Phillip Frey "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Jonathan Travelstead "Thermal Imprint" by Gregory Kimbrell "Reflections on a Night in Dreamland" by Jewel Beth Davis "There is a Constellation" by Terry Severhill "Draining the Swamp" by Kelly Cherry "Leafing" by Nina Schuyler "In the Thick of Flowers" by Taunja Thomson "King Solomon's Ring" by Fred McGavran "Sanguinaria" by Paul Hetzler "Site Unseen" by Joseph M. Felser "A Rocket" by Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter "Too Much Experience" by Mike Tuohy "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Lana Grey "Do Not Resuscitate" by Dan Fields "Tin Man's Note to Dorothy" by Alan Meyrowitz "Shadows" by Mandi Jourdan Edited by Mandi Jourdan and Justin Gordon.

Alcyone: Issue I: Speculative Fiction and Poetry

CHERRY, Kelly

McGavran, Fred

Frey, Phillip

Jourdan, Mandi

Fields, Dan

Tuohy, Mike

Magazine, Alcyone

Severhill, Terry

Kimbrell, Gregory

Independently published

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