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Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft

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The most widely used and respected text in its field, Writing Fiction, 7e by novelists Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French guides the novice story writer from first inspiration to final revision by providing practical writing techniques and concrete examples. Written in a tone that is personal and non-prescriptive, the text encourages students to develop proficiency through each step of the writing process, offering an abundance of exercises designed to spur writing and creativity. The text also integrates diverse contemporary short stories in every chapter in the belief that the reading of inspiring fiction goes hand-in-hand with the writing of fresh and exciting stories.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

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About the author

Janet Burroway

34 books62 followers
Janet Burroway is the author of seven novels including The Buzzards, Raw Silk (runner up for the national Book award), Opening Nights, and Cutting Stone; a volume of poetry, Material Goods; a collection of essays, Embalming Mom; and two children's books, The Truck on the Track and The Giant Jam Sandwich. Her most recent plays, Medea With Child, Sweepstakes, Division of Property, and Parts of Speech, have received readings and productions in New York, London, San Francisco, Hollywood, and various regional theatres. Her Writing Fiction is the most widely used creative writing text in America, and a multi-genre textbook, Imaginative Writing, appeared in 2002. A B.A. from Barnard College and M.A. from Cambridge University, England, she was Yale School of Drama RCA-NBC Fellow 1960-61, and is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Florida State University in Tallahassee.

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5 stars
1,426 (40%)
4 stars
1,276 (36%)
3 stars
613 (17%)
2 stars
136 (3%)
1 star
57 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews
Profile Image for Taka.
693 reviews578 followers
May 11, 2011
Excellent, with some quibbles--

Used by creative writing programs all over the U.S., this book pretty much covers everything about the craft. The contemporary short stories at the end of each chapter were really good, especially starting from Chapter 4 with "Mule Killers" by Lydia Peelle.

The main focus of the book is literary fiction and is admittedly biased against genre fiction with a convincing reason: "whereas writing literary fiction can teach you how to write good genre fiction, writing genre fiction does not teach you how to write good literary fiction." She further draws a comparison between realism and drawing of still life in painting, which analogy I found to be pretty compelling.

There are limitations to the book, however. First, there are other books that cover certain topics much more in depth, such as characterization (see Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer), point of view (see Orson Scott Card's Characters and Viewpoint), description (Monica Wood's Description), story and structure (James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure and Donald Maass's books), revision (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers), etc. Also, the students are left to find all the topics implemented in the short stories at the end of each chapter, and yet it's sometimes difficult to pinpoint why exactly those stories were selected. Some guidance on how those stories used the techniques discussed could have been beneficial.

There are other shortcomings. In certain parts, the author also asks questions to the reader without providing answers, which is a shame because feedback is one of the most important factors in learning. The section on "psychic distance" was not entirely clear, especially the examples she gives to illustrate using abstract nouns and generic details increases a sense of distance while using concrete nouns and specific details increases intimacy.

Another misguiding thing about the book is when it covers the "golden" rule of contemporary fiction: show and tell. She pretty much tells you, "Show, don't tell," which is misleading because you should definitely show and tell where appropriate and simple vilification of telling does more damage than good, since telling can be a powerful tool, too, and she doesn't cover when it's good to tell and instead gives the false impression that telling is always bad--a preposterous stance if you stop and think about all those authors who use a hell of a lot of telling (Marquez, Chabon, Murakami) and still manage to be fascinating. She does, however, cover what makes good telling in a wholly different chapter under a different name: summary.

Also, she covers some topic and doesn't tell us any rule of thumb for knowing when it's good to use it. For example, she says filtering should be avoided. But a lot of stories--even those included in the book--use filtering at some point. When is it okay to use any technique she cautions us against? Should we always avoid them? But why are the stories she herself selected use them? So some explanation on that aspect of each technique would have been illuminating.

All in all, this is a really good book on writing, and I think everyone who is serious about the craft should read it.

Good stuff.
Profile Image for Dave Cullen.
Author 8 books61.5k followers
August 11, 2016
This is THE classic how-to on writing fiction.

I used this both as a student and teacher. The examples are incredible.

Update, Aug 2017:

I just bought the 8th edition of this book, and started rereading several chapters again. (I also went back and reread 10 years ago.) Even an experienced writer can really benefit from a quick refresher on techniques I've left behind. We each fall into our own writing ways, doing the stuff that has worked for us, and it's remarkable how many things I'm NOT taking advantage of. Or techniques that I spurned at another time, didn't feel right for me, but I'm in the right place for now.

And exceptional book. A true gift for writers.

Note: It's really expensive, but thank God for used books. I find that if you go back one edition, it's dramatically cheaper. The 9th edition is out, so I bought the 8th for $30. Still pricey for a paperback book, but this is unique, and a steal at that price. (And I imagine they have to pay very high fees for using all the short stories, and long excerpts.) So I'm not getting all the latest stories, but so what? They have changed dramatically from the last edition I got. And I don't really need new ones anyway.)
Profile Image for Steven.
269 reviews4 followers
September 25, 2012
I cannot in good conscience give this text anything higher than a two. The advice is solid, I'm not going to argue against that, but there is far too much meat in the writing that comes across less as solid writing advice and more as a formulaic approach to writing.

This text is full of bland approaches to writing and repeats the same things I've read in other books. The exercises are tedious and boring; there is no sense of adventure or experimentation. It's a methodical, bland, autopsy of writing and what works, supposedly, in making writing better.

If your goal is to understand the craft of writing, this is not the book for you. I recommend Jerome Stern's Making Shapely Fiction, Stephen King's On Writing, or The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Non-Fiction for the sake of actual method and practice material.

This book is for you only if you're goal is to be a "write by numbers" kind of person. If you need the formula, if you need every single little aspect of writing to be laid bare for you, then read this. If you're purpose is to understand writing, well, you'll get that from this but it's a longer journey to take and can be done better and more succinctly via other paths.

If you wish to be a good writer, well, write. That's the best advice anyone can (and will, in every writing guidebook) tell you. After that, read. Then, if you're lucky and have talent, you can be a successful writer. No formulaic approach will make you better than what you inherently are. That's where practice and work come in.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
Author 30 books1,281 followers
June 19, 2017
"Almost any reader can identify with almost any character; what no reader can identify with is confusion."
Profile Image for Miranda.
27 reviews12 followers
October 25, 2016
I am beginning my last semester of a Creative Writing BA program in San Francisco, and out of the many writing books I read (Anne Lamott, Stephen King, David Morley, Natalie Goldberg...) this one came close to perfection. It provides students a grounding vocabulary. With this book students can discuss the elements of writing rather than rely on anecdote or discuss talent. As a student myself, I've been frustrated by authors and teachers explaining writing as a boundless art form that cannot be learned by a conventional curriculum

Writing Fiction does not try to contain writing in a concrete definition, but the book makes creative writing possible to study and discuss with others. As craft.

Any aspiring or established writer should spend time with this book. It's dense with information and fantastic examples.
Profile Image for Lorelei Angelino.
124 reviews9 followers
February 21, 2023
*3.5 stars

While I don't agree with all the author said (and the chapters were much to long for my taste 😛), I still think this is a good book for writers, full of information, advice, and writing prompts.

This book could have been made much shorter, and I think the author went too deep in ways that weren't necessary and repeated herself.

But there were some good writing quotes featured in this book—many that I copied onto my notepad to inspire me later.

Read for my creative writing class.
Profile Image for carlageek.
289 reviews26 followers
September 26, 2020
This text joins Sol Stein's Stein on Writing and Ursula LeGuin's Steering the Craft among my absolute favorite craft texts. Clear, readable, with superb and diverse examples (something Stein doesn't do as well), this book is full of inspiring insights and analysis, punctuated by terrific exercises and -- this might be my favorite part -- reprinted complete short stories, a whopping three per chapter, selected to illustrate the concepts discussed in the chapter. It's a terrific craft book and a superb short-fiction anthology all in one.

(One caveat: It is a textbook, intended for college students of creative writing, which means that some of the advice is rather geared toward young people -- I found this mildly annoying, though I worked instead on finding it amusing.)
Profile Image for Chris Blocker.
698 reviews168 followers
December 6, 2010
Clearly this book is written for the beginning English major in undergrad; the author herself even says so. Anyone outside of this demographic probably won't care or will grown bored. I fell into the latter group. While there were many kernals of good advice, it was all information I had heard before. Good reminders, perhaps; beyond that, it offered little more for me.

Overall, this is a good textbook for the undergrad English major. I would suggest being cautious with the author's opinions, however. There are few things I despise more in English craft books than "This is the way to do this and it is the only way" which Burroway alludes to from time to time. Which is ironic considering that the first chapter is entitled "Whatever It Takes" and is the same chapter in which the author tells the reader to "keep a journal," freewrite, and so forth. While these may be good practices to try out, they're not for every writer.
Profile Image for Ellie.
1,524 reviews398 followers
June 9, 2011
I love Janet Burroway's writing-I want to read all her work. Such a great presence shining through the words. And very motivating. Just what it says-a guide and a very good one. It teaches as much about how to read as how to write. I've read it several times & want to read it again. Soon.
Profile Image for Alice.
711 reviews100 followers
May 22, 2018
If your goal is to improve your fictional writing know that this volume is filled with great advice and beautiful examples to help you learn the ways. In addition to in depth explanations of how to work with setting, characters, time, space plot and point of view; it offers many intriguing writing exercises and fun prompts. It's an excellent source of advice to any writer aspiring to be published, or even just if your creative writing is limited to your own entertainment. It offers methods to shape, enrich and enliven the stories by discussing, throughout the book, the main concerns with planning fiction, in its multiple aspects, going beyond outdated advice like Faulkner's "kill all your darlings".
I was impressed by how the book really seemed to cover all possible realms of the writing process and loved Burroway's airy narration along it. One of my favorite textbooks by far!

Favorite short stories:
"Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff
"Reply All" by Robin Hemley
“Binocular Vision” by Edith Pearlman
“Mud” by Geoffrey Forsyth
"We Didn't" by Stuart Dybek
*"Like a Pilll" by Nicole Rivas
Profile Image for Stef Smulders.
Author 36 books118 followers
July 9, 2019
Excellent treatment of the elements of fiction, with clear examples, like characterisation, show don’t tell, point of view. If you do not understand it after reading this book, you will never get it.
Profile Image for Jareth Navratil.
Author 1 book26 followers
July 12, 2020
What a wonderfully informative book on the craft of storytelling. I learned so many helpful habits that I plan on applying to my own writing immediately.
Profile Image for Theresa.
275 reviews17 followers
May 6, 2019
2.5 stars really....

This book is good for a class setting, if the professor is providing supplemental material. This comes as a very step-by-step manual, but doesn’t really touch on all the bases. It also doesn’t leave much room for authorial decisions.

I’m sure there are better guides out there, so I won’t be too quick to recommend this one.
Profile Image for Laura Leaney.
483 reviews109 followers
November 19, 2011
This is a very helpful compendium on all the ways a beginning fiction writer can go awry. Helpful examples abound, and included in each section (characterization, point of view, structure, etc.) are excellent stories from top-tier writers. This book is a keeper.
125 reviews15 followers
September 18, 2021
This is a lovely book that touches on both technical and philosophical aspects of writing. There are many examples and quotes from other writers, which supplement the discussion of the fundamentals such as structuring, character development, plot and story.

This is my favourite quote from the book, which really resonated with me: 'It might seem dismaying that you should see what your story is about only after you have written it. But try it; you'll like it. Nothing is more exhilarating than the discovery that a complex pattern has lain in your mind ready to unfold.'
Profile Image for E. Ritt.
Author 4 books4 followers
July 8, 2021
Very useful. Very nice prompts.
I read very slowly digesting little but good ideas and working through the prompts.
Profile Image for T.H. Hernandez.
Author 9 books205 followers
March 7, 2016
This is a comprehensive book on craft that starts with the basics and works deeper with solid examples that drive the point home. With detailed chapters on the process of writing, showing vs. telling, and creating three-dimensional characters and settings, this may be the penultimate book for beginning writers. Even intermediate writers will find reminders about all the things we're doing wrong that we knew were wrong, but forgot we were doing. Filled with vivid examples to illustrate every lesson, the book even has a few things for more seasoned writers.

New writers often have the hardest time grasping the concept of showing vs. telling, and this section in Writing Fiction is one of the best yet I've read, teaching the difference between the two with well-written examples perfectly re-written to ensure the lesson is learned. The section on characterization is exceptionally thorough, delving into great detail on what makes good characters and what makes great characters. All stories need good characters, but the best stories have great characters.

With about one-third examples and writing exercises and two-thirds instruction, I firmly believe this is the first book every aspiring fiction writer should pick up and study.

Bottom Line
Writing Fiction is expensive, but worth every penny. This is the textbook every aspiring novelist needs to read.
Profile Image for Heather Gibbons.
Author 2 books16 followers
November 11, 2008
I've used this text for two semesters now, but will be retiring it in the Spring in order to try out Making Shapley Fiction + a contemporary short story anthology still TBD. The craft essays at the beginning of each chapter are too in-depth and analytical for beginning fiction writers, I think. As a textbook, this be perfect for students coming in with more experience/skills. I certainly learned a lot, though, and I plan to use some of these terms and explanations of craft elements in relation to each other in future lectures.

The contemporary short stories in here are absolutely wonderful, in particular "Tandolfo the Great" by Richard Bausch, "Every Tongue Shall Confess" by ZZ Packer, "Gryphon" by Charles Baxter, "Winky" by George Saunders, and "Orientation" by Daniel Orozco. And the essay "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamont, which I first discovered here, will remain a mainstay in my curriculum. Seems to really break the ice at the beginning of the semester and introduce creative writing students to the ardorous process of draft/revision, no matter what the genre, in a humorous way.

Oh, and the writing exercises are excellent. I used a lot of these, both the individual and collaborative, with great success.
Profile Image for Rin.
759 reviews
February 25, 2021
Some of the advice was good, especially in regards to characters. The section on plot was abysmal, though, and her assumption that writers can't tell stories (because we all apparently only want to convey ideas, just like she does) explained why the section was so bad. Clearly this author isn't good at making stories because she can't manage to create a cohesive chapter about how to do it. What tripe.

Character, revision, the opening chapter of this book... Those were fine. There were some good exercises that have produced fun short stories for me.

But man oh man that plot section was so bad that it made me wary to read anything else she's written
Profile Image for Paula Cappa.
Author 14 books500 followers
March 21, 2015
Every writer needs this book. It's like a text book but not at all dull and full of great instruction on how to discover and execute your story on to the page: showing vs. telling, the writing process, character text and subtext, methods of character presentation, fictional place and fictional time and more. I especially like Burroway's chapter on Story Form as an Inverted Check Mark. Here she talks about Freitag's famous pyramid of five actions and moves to how the "story shape" can work as an inverted check mark. She asks '"where should your narrative begin?" Her distinctions between 'story' and 'plot' are very precise. Need help with story conflict, crisis, and resolution? This is the book that will crystallize it for you. I just loved this book as my own little writing workshop. One that you can reread once a year to sharpen up those skills.
Profile Image for Ann.
Author 3 books23 followers
July 27, 2014
Wow! A truly comprehensive guide full of exercises and examples to hone an author's skills. The short stories included are brilliant and well worth reading and I know that I will refer to this book again and again. This is my first time through and I plan to re-read it in the near future. I must admit that if I had read this before submitting writing anywhere, I may have been too intimidated to attempt the process, but I am on track to continue to learn by writing and reading.
Profile Image for James.
63 reviews12 followers
Read
November 29, 2008
This is for committed writers only. Expensive, and hard to find on library shelves. A highly valuable textbook on the writing process, covering story form, plot, structure, building character, place and setting, and a detailed look at point of view. Each section comes with examples of how things do and do not work. A graduate course all by itself.

2 reviews3 followers
Currently reading
August 9, 2009
This is one of my "I'm not in an MFA program so I'm learning from books" book. It offers a load of information and is well written; it has lots of examples from good writing to illustrate points it makes. I like it and find it helpful as I work on stories.
Profile Image for Linda Robinson.
Author 4 books151 followers
Shelved as 'will-not-finish'
June 18, 2010
I have never seen a book with smaller type. I opened it twice because I didn't believe it was that small. Back to the library with this...
Profile Image for Brian .
421 reviews5 followers
May 10, 2015
This holds the knowledge I've been longing for as a rookie fiction writer. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Angela.
301 reviews25 followers
October 30, 2023
I don't know how to feel about this book. I had to read this book for my graduate Creative Writing class and as a writer, I didn't feel that this super helped my writing or my understanding of writing. This is definitely due to the fact that I've taken multiple creative writing classes in my undergrad and read many similar books like King's "On Writing" and Le Guin's "Steering the Craft" (both which I love and still refer back to). I just found this book to be restrictive especially for first time writers discovering their own writer's voice. There are a handful of first-time writers in the class who have described the book as helpful for figuring out how to map a story out but found it detrimental when it came down to their overall writing process because they felt that the way Burroway describes the process was restrictive and not very creative.

I personally just found a lot of it redundant. I loved the short story recommendations and some of the writing exercises but for my purposes, it just wasn't for me. I would have expected to read something like this in a high school or undergraduate course, not graduate.
Profile Image for Micha.
627 reviews9 followers
Read
March 30, 2019
My creative writing program assigned this as the only "essential textbook," although it is no longer available new and no one is there to hold us accountable for reading it. I took my sister's copy, asked if it was okay if I marked it up a bit as I went, and there are a lot of places underlined in pencil, sometimes more than once. It's a very practical look at scenes, at dialogue, things you might think of unconsciously or believe fall into place 'naturally,' but it takes a step back and asks the writer to take seriously the craft of writing on a conscious and deliberate level. I don't know how it fares to other writing guides--most I've read are the kind that say the trick to writing is writing--and you can see that it's purpose is for a creative writing class (especially short fiction), but I'll be going back to those underlined passages as I work through my own writing.
Profile Image for Zéro Janvier.
1,518 reviews79 followers
June 23, 2020
Ce livre aborde les sujets importants autour de l'écriture de fiction : le processus d'écriture, "show, don't tell", les personnages, le cadre du récit, la structure du récit, les points de vue, les métaphores et la symbolique, et le processus de relecture et de correction.

Son autrice le fait de façon intéressante, agréable à lire, et illustrée avec des extraits courts et parlants. Une lecture à la fois plaisante et instructive, ce qui n'est pas une mince affaire étant donné que j'enchaine les lectures sur ce sujet en ce moment.
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