The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write
A Handbook for Fiction Writers

An indispensable, jargon-free handbook for any author who wants to fulfil their potential in writing a novel or short story.

Sarah Burton (Author), Jem Poster (Author)

9781316513446, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 March 2022

298 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'The best art of fiction book I've read in a long time, structured around close readings of novel extracts and offering lots of very wise, sound advice. Highly readable and never prescriptive, it's a book to be enjoyed and savoured. I love the chapter on beginnings and endings and the extremely useful one on research. This IS the book you need to become a better writer.' Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or short story but didn't know where to start? If so, this is the book for you. It's the book for anyone, in fact, who wants to write to their full potential. Practical and jargon-free, rejecting prescriptive templates and formulae, it's a storehouse of ideas and advice on a range of relevant subjects, from boosting self-motivation and confidence to approaching agents and publishers. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience as successful writers and inspiring teachers, it will guide you through such essentials as the interplay of memory and imagination; plotting your story; the creation of convincing characters; the uses of description; the pleasures and pitfalls of research; and the editing process. The book's primary aim is simple: to help its readers to become better writers.

1. Getting started
2. Memory and imagination
3. Character
4. Plot and structure I
5. Plot and structure II
6. Form and length
7. Dialogue
8. Narrative viewpoint and narrative voice
9. Beginnings and endings
tension and pace
10. Description
11. Research
12. Drawing it all together
13. Publication and the writing life.

Subject Areas: Writing & editing guides [CBW], Creative writing & creative writing guides [CBV]