Technique In Fiction Second Edition: Revised and Updated for a New Generation (Writer's Library)

Here is one of the most intelligent and useful guides to the craft of fiction ever published. Acknowledged by teachers students and writers as the indispensable book in the field Technique in Fiction has been in print for over two decades. For this fully updated second edition Robie Macauley and George Lanning have rewritten their discussions of the major technical questions and practices of fiction: setting plot characterization point-of-view style pace and tone and theme. These and other crucial points are illustrated with examples from Tolstoy Forster and James through contemporary masters such as Carver Updike and Beattie. The result is a discerning guide to the essentials of writing fiction; in the authors words It is a how-it-was-done book -- and also a how-it-wasnt-done book.