Mark Twain Writing Style

Q&A: Big Island author shares insight on novel writing

Star-Advertiser: You have consistent pacing, plotting and writing. Have you written fiction before, or other types of writing? Are you free-form in your first drafts, or do you set up a strict outline?

Rees: Everything is fiction. Take a look at the average resume. Job apps, doctor forms, taxes, underwater survey reports. You could say I've had a lot of practice. To be honest, I never graduated from high school, but I could create a pretty good academic record if I had to. As you can see, I go free-form pretty much from the get-go. Start with an idea and run with it.

The writing itself came to me as a release that I badly needed. I really hadn't written anything before like this. I just sat down and started writing and haven't stopped since.

Q: Do you know the end of the story before you write the first chapter? Do you ever surprise yourself with the way a chapter goes?

A: In a word, no. But I think the story does. It's my job to get there. To persevere, grind it out and never give up. I'm just the writer. I am always shocked the way a chapter ends. Mostly because I didn't know what it was going to be when I started it. And lots of times because, well, they are "shocking."

Q: Do you think your subconscious guides your writing?

A: Yeah, I suppose — but it's your subconscious, so you never really know!

Q: The characters of Jake and Johnny are pretty indelible. Are they based on actual people?

A: You could say that. Johnny and I had been friends forever it seemed. When I became a commercial diver, I was employed by a small company in Honolulu and given my choice of tenders, the guy who holds your air line and life in his hands and I picked Johnny. For years we traveled the Pacific, working our asses off and having one hell of a good time.

Q: How about your diving experiences, or experiences with outfits like "Megacorp?"

A: When I left the small company, I went to work for one of the big players in the diving industry — that was when I ran into the Megacorp mentality. The impact was heavy; I didn't last long. The workdays were as brutal and cutthroat as anything I have written about. What I learned there, concerning the Megacorp mindset remains a deep resource for much of the work.

Essay on Mark Twain and his writing style

If you're the type of person that loves to read. Then you would probably won't miss out beautiful piece of literature like, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, etc. By the first important American novelist (Pearson), Mark Twain. And as you read them, I bet you'd notice that Twain have a distinguish style of writing compare to all the author that you've known or read before. He is well-known for the use of his "irreverent, biting social satire, and realism of place and languages". Twain's first writing was in 1862, when a popular newspaper in Virgina published an article with a "satirical" view about a local judge ('Samuel Langhorne Clemens'). The article, signed with the name "Josh" Immediately, the article caught many people's attention. Then from there his writing career really start. Clemens give himself a brand new pen name, so Mark Twain was born. In Nevada's territorial legislature as a reporter, he discover his humor and satire often get his point across very well. He made many impressions, that it was joked he had more influence on the legislation than the legislators themselves had ('Samuel Langhorne Clemens'). In Huckleberry Finn there are lots of slang, racist language, as well as the institution of slavery. Twain's portrayal of the runaway slave Jim has sometimes been condemned as superficial. That's why the book is criticized by the critics (Twain). Twain preferred to be known as a serious writer better than a humorist, however, it was his humor that brings the crowds and the money (Kelly). The two books "Tom Sawyer", "The adventures of Huckleberry Finn," was Mark Twain's most accomplished work. Twain uses the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood to expose moral issues and inequality. Huckleberry Finn's main accomplice in the novel is the slave named Jim (Pearson). The narrative device of a raft carrying Huck and a runaway slave down the Mississippi allow Twain to reach a realistic portrait of American life in the 19Th century ("Mark Twain.") There's many MANY grammar errors in the piece, I would not and this in until all the errors are corrected, because it doesn't make it very easy to read. Just my two cents. Work on your present and past tense.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain, selected criticism

Clear and simple as the truth, writing classic prose

Writing Huck Finn, Mark Twain's Creative Process

The Cambridge introduction to Mark Twain