Award-winning author and scholar John D. Nesbitt has penned an easy-to-use handbook, complete with short stories he references throughout, all under one cover.
Shaping the Story is a complete, professional tool for aspiring creative writers. This book contains discussion, as well as examples and sample stories, to illustrate many of the points made.
Whether you’re writing a short story or a longer piece, this book is a must-have!
EXCERPT
As the title and subtitle suggest, this book provides an introduction into the craft of writing fiction. Its main focus is on short fiction, but most of the principles are applicable to writing longer fiction as well, and frequently the discussion makes such applications. This book treats short story writing as a craft in itself, not just as an apprenticeship for writing novels. Aspiring writers who want a quick fix on how to write a best-selling novel will find better help, or at least better promises, elsewhere. Those who wish to write the best fiction they can, for the sake of writing fiction, may find this book useful.
This book takes a practical approach to fiction writing. It does not present ethereal ideas about writing. Rather, it focuses on craft and technique. It describes elements or aspects of stories, gives examples, and offers suggestions for developing those aspects in one’s own work. It includes exercises in most of the chapters. It also has a chapter on planning a novel—again, practical and methodical and on an introductory level.
In accordance with my belief that writers learn by reading good examples of the kind of work they hope to write, the latter part of the book contains a collection of traditional short stories. The first six chapters of this book contain references to these stories as well as to other well-known, widely available stories and novels. At the beginning of each chapter, there is a note identifying which stories receive attention in the discussion. In the anthology, I have striven for economy and quality in selecting rather short stories by well-known authors. Additionally, I have chosen stories that are out of copyright, so that I might avoid the complications of securing reprint permissions. In the references to other well-known works of fiction, I hope the aspiring writer follows up on some of them as recommendations.
Except for the stories by other authors, the contents of this book are entirely of my own composing and devising. Some of the commentary is based on work I have done for other manuals and textbooks, especially Writing for Real, a college composition text, and Understanding Fiction, a college literature textbook. Anyone wishing to reproduce parts of this work should request written permission.
I hope this book is useful to those who read it. I have tried to take a practical approach, and so there is not much warbling about the Muse, inspiration, creative juices, and the like. Nor are there many inspirational quotations from other writers. In spite of my attempts to be practical, this book will not answer every question and solve every problem for a developing writer. However, it may provide some new insights as well as reinforce some suggestions you have heard before. Taking a broader view than of immediate utility and application, I believe in personal enrichment through reading and writing, and I hope this book serves such a purpose for you.
— John D. Nesbitt
Trade paperback coming soon.
