This is a compact volume, running quickly through functional theories of character, dialogue, plot, and description. It is complex enough to be interesting while being clear and approachable, and is replete with many very good examples of the concepts he addresses from well-known authors.



Mostly, it was a motivational tool for me (I really must read Trollope, more Woolf…remember Great Expectations) as well as a survey of neat vocabulary. However, its weakness, in my opinion, was in its brevity. The author would bring up an interesting idea (like hypotyposis) show an example, but then move on – not much discussion of the concept’s usefulness or limits, or if it really did explain a way that fiction “works.” The short sections, while probably more interesting for the ADHD in all of us, worked against revealing really interesting connections between ideas and building towards any sort of cohesive theory or system of proof of any kind besides and example or two. Overall, this is a good thought-provoker, but I fear its best use is as a reading-list prompting thought and reflection, not answers (as the title would seem to indicate).