Jo Jung-rae shares his know-hows on writing novels that touches readers' hearts

Learn about the process of writing a novel from research to revision from the author of "Taebaek Mountain Range" and "Arirang".

This Class Is For :

Readers who want to learn about novels and authors
Those who want to write to move people's hearts
Aspiring writers
Those who want to learn about Jo Jung-rae's artistic spirit

CREATOR STORY

I want to offer what help I can to aspiring novelists by sharing my experience as a writer over the last fifty years truthfully and earnestly.

“Literature should contribute to humans for their decent human being lives.”

Novelist Jo Jung-rae, who has devoted his life to literature to the extent that he is called the victory of the spirit of the writer. He is a great star in the Korean literary world who set a record with cumulative book sales exceeding 15 million copies by portraying the tragedies of modern and contemporary Korean history with " Taebaek Mountain Range" "Arirang" and "Han River."

Jo Jung-rae, who said inspiration is a “momentary ignition of countless accumulated thinking”, wrote his work every single day, comparing his writing period to "an ecstatic literary prison." He emphasizes the importance of steady effort rather than a natural gift. Looking back on his 50 years of literary life, he uses his signature modern and contemporary history trilogy as an example to tell the process from the conception of a novel, coverage, creating the character, sentence writing, to the know-how of revision.

This class also contains the literary world of Jo Jung-rae, such as his thoughts on the spirit of the writer, the novelist’s qualities, and the attitude novelist should have, through the behind-the-scenes story of his work.

For aspiring writers, readers who love literature, and anyone interested in our society, this class will be the best class to learn novelist Jo Jung-rae's creative writing theory.

Q & A

Q. What do you think the artistic spirit is?

Cultural historians around the world have formerly stated what authorship should be. They said that writers are supposed to tell the truth and that they should resist all that is inhumane in any time period, under any circumstances. As this calls for resistance to inhumane contradictions, writers have no choice but to be progressives.

Q. What would you like to say to those who want to become writers but unsure of their talent?

Genius is found not only in the arts but also in all other areas. Those geniuses have one thing in common. People who are called geniuses are those who reap huge achievements by keeping up with their lifetime work pursuing one single thing that they never get tired of. Thus, geniuses are not born but made. Made by whom? Yourself.

Q. How do you choose subject matters?

What is the most effective subject matter for writing? One important factor is that we have to choose issues that apply to everyone, issues that people can reach a consensus on, or issues connected to everyone’s lives. Then, we have to make a distinctive, novel, original, and touching description of the issue. Those should be the basics behind artistic work.

Q. What do readers mean to you as a writer?

Without readers, writers cannot exist. I want to tell you that writers cannot live any more as writers without readers than monarchs can rule without their territory. Don't forget that readers are level-headed. Please keep in mind that they will only show responses to well-written works. How many readers your works are going to have is up to you.