Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69589 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
Here is a practical guide to writing short stories that explains all the essential techniques of fiction - from character and plot to flashback and foreshadowing - in a way that is both understandable and useful to the beginning writer. Long considered a classic in the field, WRITING IN GENERAL is t

Customer Reviews

Clearly explains what makes a good short story
This really is the best book on short story writing out of the couple of dozen I've read. Lucidly explains what makes a good short story. It's more of an examination of good fiction than a how-to, but it's incisive and valuable. If I could have only one book on writing, this would be the one.

Single best source for any starting writer;amazingly helpful
Rust Hills has created a reference that is valuable for even the most experienced writer. His expertise in the short-story, after years of editing The Esquire, has allowed him a unique ability to point out those simple things that are the most complicated for writers and offer helpful advice in the correction of these concerns. A brilliant read for anyone interested in writing.

An Inspirational Book
Rust Hill's Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular is unapologetically (even aggressively) focused on writing literary fiction, and the impression that this if the only type of fiction worth writing about is very clear from the beginning. "Slick" fiction or popular commercial fiction is dismissed as at best a waste of a writer's effort. According to Hills, when a book is described as something the reader could not put down, it is probably because they could not bear the idea of having to pick it up again!! If you are looking for a guide that will help you to break into the women's magazine market or write a million selling bonk-buster this is not the book for you. In fact, you will probably end up feeling as if your efforts are completely worthless, and instead dedicate your life to writing epic poetry - which may not necessarily be a bad thing.

However there is something in this book for everyone, if for no other reason than it is an inspirational book that shows the craft of fiction writing as a worthwhile endeavour in its own right, even if the results are read only by a few dozen subscribers to an obscure literary magazine. This book made me want to write well with a healthy respect for the craft, and while it is not always an easy book to read, it is absolutely worthwhile and always inspiring.