The Art & Craft of the Short Story

from WholeHouseLibrary

This was my first venture into reading a book about the technical side of writing books, short stories or otherwise. I'd like to give the excuse that perhaps I set my expectations too high, but in fact, I had no expectation at all, other than to learn something I hadn't already figured out for my...

from ral12345

I'd recommend this book for beginning writers with the caveat that I don't believe they will gain much from the book other than a very surface level understanding of how short fiction works. The book is paradoxical in the sense that it can be read and somewhat understood by the beginner, and yet ...

from malrubius

Not very well organized, and chapters like "Form" are less about form than about attempting unconventional forms, but this monograph is definitely one step more advanced and insightful than the usual "Writer's Digest" craft books, etc, with regard to the creative process and the writer's choices ...

from Farringdon

A fine piece of instructive writing full of excellent examples. The thing that makes this book so good is that the author doesn't just preach his points - he illustrates them. He draws heavily on examples from his own writing, but this is fully justified by their applicability to the point he is ...

from rmagahiz

The short story in English is an especially protean type of expression which can cause fits for those who try to define how it is supposed to work. The author's humility in taking this task on is admirable, and so is the more modest strategy of talking about the different aspects of craft by usin...