Related points discussed in different lectures were brought together, and comments on fiction from a 1969 course on nonfiction writing were added. He also performed the editing usually needed to make a spoken presentation read smoothly. In addition, the focus of the material was broadened to be suitable for readers as well as writers of fiction. The lectures emphasize the fiction-writing process, but the book is also invaluable to those seeking a rational method for evaluating the fiction they read. Ayn Rand overthrows this subjectivist approach by proving how reason is essential to artistic creation.
All writers have to rely on inspiration.
Most writers cannot account even for why they chose to write a particular story, let alone for the manner in which they wrote it. What you need is conscious knowledge. Read the complete article by ordering our print issue. The base of Tocqueville's own philosophical views is the exact opposite of the views he has attributed to the Americans. At root, Tocqueville is a Platonist who believes that everything high and good rests ultimately in another, non-material, dimension.