Includes bibliographcal references and index

* indicate sections new to this edition. Preface To Instructors: About This Book To Students: About the Writing Workshop 1. Whatever Works: The Writing Process Get Started Journal Keeping Freewriting Exercises The Computer The Critic: A Caution Choosing a Subject Keep Going A Word about Theme Shitty First Drafts, Anne Lamott *Why I Write, Joan Didion Writing Exercises 2. Seeing is Believing: Showing and Telling Significant Detail Writing about Emotion Filtering The Active Voice Prose Rhythm Mechanics *Big Me, Dan Chaon The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, Joyce Carol Oates Writing Exercises 3. Building Character: Characterization, Part I The Direct Methods of Character Presentation Appearance Action Dialogue Summary, Indirect, and Direct Dialogue Economy in Dialogue Characterizing Dialogue Other Uses of Dialogue Dialogue as Action Text and Subtext No Dialogue Specificity Format and Style Vernacular Thought Gryphon, Charles Baxter *Every Tongue Shall Confess, ZZ Packer *Rock Springs, Richard Ford Writing Exercises 4. The Flesh Made Word: Characterization, Part II The Indirect Methods of Character Presentation Authorial Interpretation Interpretation by Another Character Conflict between Methods of Presentation The Character Journal The Universal Paradox Credibility Purpose Complexity Change Reinventing Character Creating a Group or Crowd Character: A Summary *A Visit of Charity, Eudora Welty Bullet in the Brain, Tobias Wolff *Tandolfo the Great, Richard Bausch Writing Exercises 5. Far, Far Away: Fictional Place Place and Atmosphere Harmony and Conflict Between Character and Place Place and Character Place and Emotion Symbolic and Suggestive Place Alien and Familiar Place An Exercise in Place * The English Pupil, Andrea Barrett * Wickedness, Ron Hansen * Love and Hydrogen, Jim Shepard Writing Exercises 6. Long Ago: Fictional

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.