Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330704 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent guide for new and experienced short story writers
Iain Pattison has had short stories published on radio and in magazines internationally and he has vast experience as a creative writing tutor, a leader of workshops and a judge of countless competitions. There is no doubt that he is well qualified to write this book, but what really tips the scales for me is that a much published short story writer still refers to this book for inspiration and ideas when her brain is tired. Several of her friends asked for the loan of it and she told them she couldn't do without it and they must buy their own. They did.
The book is so full of excellent advice that it won't be Iain's fault if his readers fail to sell their stories.

a must for aspiring writers
I enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal about writing and marketing short stories at the same time. Iain Pattison writes about all aspects of writing and selling in a humorous way. Most of all, it gave me a lot of inspiration and while I was reading the book, I was very eager to start writing my own stories. I would really recommend this book to all of you who wish to write and sell short stories, but don't exactly know how and where to start!!

Top guide for UK short story writers
This is probably the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide available to writing for the UK short story market. It covers basic topics such as plotting, characterisation and dialogue, and also has chapters on writing genre fiction, writing for radio, writing for competitions, and more. There is also a long and helpful chapter on 'The Art of Selling'. The style is highly readable, sometimes quite witty, and the author uses plenty of examples drawn from his own (and other authors') published work. In my opinion this book is an essential buy for any aspiring short story writer, along with 'Creating Short Fiction' by Damon Knight (Writer's Digest Books) for a more theoretical/literary perspective.