The Art of Compelling Fiction

by Christopher T. Leland

Presents advice on creating a great piece of fiction, covering such aspects as basic structure and characterization, to tantalizing readers with a narrative "striptease"

Genres: Writing

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Linda]

A fairly interesting read to help you focus and remember the important points to writing dramatic fiction, but it's not quite for writers that are already experienced with general techniques. It's a bit dense with information and thus somewhat of a slow read (and that's a bit ironic since the subtitle is "How to Write a Page-Turner), but it does pick up in the second half with more concrete technique issues. Also, each chapter ends with useful exercises.

[Cynthia Sims]

A friend gave me this book along with many others as an encouragement to write. Let me know if you want to borrow it!

[A.L. Stumo]

Great intro text for creative writing. If I were teaching that course, this would be my text book of choice.