The Art and Craft of Fiction by Michael Kardos - Second Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

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The Art and Craft of Fiction

Second  Edition©2017  Michael Kardos

ISBN:9781319032937

ISBN:9781319030421

About

The indispensable guide for fiction writers.
 
As a beginning fiction writer, could you use some practical ideas on ways to begin, end, and revise your stories? Do you need support for creating vivid scenes and characters? This book offers a focused approach designed to help you move from learning your craft to practicing the art of fiction writing. Brief, friendly, and wonderfully readable, The Art and Craft of Fiction gives you all you need to write compelling stories.

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Table of Contents

ART & CRAFT

1. Thinking, Reading, and Writing Like a Writer

Being a Writer Means Paying Attention
Why a Textbook (And Why This Textbook?)
Rules of the Road
Reading Like a Writer
Finding Ideas for Stories
A Word to the Novelist
What’s the Point of All This?

2. The Extreme Importance of Relevant Detail
Details and Believability
Details and Engaging the Reader
Showing and Telling
Fiction Writing as Telepathy
Getting the Details Right (a.k.a. Researching Your Story)
Which Details to Include?
Nothing More Than Feelings
Details and the Writer’s Sensibility

3. Starting Your Story
What Beginnings Do
Reveal Key Information
Establish the Story’s Stakes
Start with a Break from Routine
Consider Starting In Medias Res
Whose Perspective Should You Choose?
Other Information to Convey Sooner Rather Than Later
Ultimately, It’s Your Call

4. Working with the Elements of Fiction
Character
Plot
Causality
Setting
Point of View (POV)
Voice
Theme

5. Creating Scenes: A Nuts & Bolts Approach
Dialogue
Narration
Description
Exposition
Interiority
Scene-Writing, Final Notes

6. Organizing Your Story: Form & Structure
Classic Story Structure and the Freytag Pyramid
Conflict
Climax
Conclusion: What Has Changed?
Form = Meaning
Other Ways to Tell a Story
Scene and Summary
Case Study: Structural Imitation

7. Writing a Compelling Story
High Stakes
Character Desire
Active Protagonists
The Atypical Day (A Break from Routine)
External Conflict
Internal Conflict / Presenting Characters’ Interior Lives
Compressed Time Period
Suspense (As Opposed to Withheld Information)
Originality

8. Ending Your Story
The Challenge
Strategies for Ending Your Story
Common Pitfalls
Getting the Words Right
Two Final Thoughts on Endings

9. The Power of Clarity
Vagueness verses Ambiguity
Clear Words
Clear Sentences
Clear Stories: A Few Words of Advice
Clarity: Some Final Thoughts

10. Revising Your Story
The Case for Revision
What Is "Revision," Anyway?
What Is a "First Draft"?
Twelve Strategies for Revision
How Do You Know When Your Story Is (Really, Truly) Done?

BOOT CAMP

11. The Mechanics of Fiction: A Writer's Boot Camp
Formatting and Punctuating Dialogue
Addressing a Person in Dialogue
Paragraph Breaks in Dialogue
Double Quotation Marks / Single Quotation Marks
Quick Quiz: Repair This Sentence
Scare Quotes
Formatting and Punctuating a Character’s Thoughts
Comma Splices
"Who" and "That"
Exclamation Marks, Question Marks, All-Caps
Conjugation of "Lie" and "Lay"
Quick Quiz: Choose the Correct Sentence
Sentences That Begin with an "-ing" Word
Some Final Advice
The Mechanics of Fiction: Practice Test

ANTHOLOGY

12. A Mini-Anthology: 15 Stories

1. Sherman Alexie, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
2. Richard Bausch, Tandolfo the Great
3. Kevin Brockmeier, A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling from the Pockets
4. Percival Everett, The Appropriation of Cultures
5. Becky Hagenston, Midnight, Licorice, Shadow
6. Etgar Keret, What, of this Goldfish, Would You Wish?
7. Jhumpa Lahiri, This Blessed House
8. Jill McCorkle, Magic Words
9. Kevin Moffett, One Dog Year
10. Tim O’Brien, On the Rainy River
11. ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
12. Susan Perabo, Indulgence
13. Karen Russell, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
14. John Updike, A&P
15. Tobias Wolff, Bullet in the Brain


 

Michael Kardos

Michael Kardos (michaelkardos.com) is an associate professor and co-director of the creative program at Mississippi State University. He is the author of the story collection One Last Good Time (Press 53), and the novels The Three-Day Affair, Before He Finds Her, and the forthcoming Bluff, all from the Mysterious Press imprint of Grove Atlantic. His short stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, Prairie Schooner, and many other magazines and anthologies. His essays about fiction have appeared in The Writer's Chronicle and Writer's Digest. Kardos received his B.A. from Princeton University, his M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Kardos is author of the Bedford text, The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer's Guide and a contributor to Bedford's LitBits where he blogs about teaching creative writing.