On Writing Short Stories

Rating:
Summary: Lessons to take to heart
Review: "On Writing Short Stories" is a masterful introduction to the craft of short stories. Editor Tom Bailey (an accomplished writer himself) has compiled some of the best essays by well-known authors that not only serve as inspiration but also as a fine learning tool for young writers.

The twelve stories included within this book are some of the seminal tales that any writer must be familiar with: Updike's "A&P", Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Tobias Wolff's "Bullet to the Brain," and "A Father's Story" by the much too under-read Andrew Dubus. Bailey points at the genius of these stories in his own chapter "Character, Plot, Setting and Time, Metaphor and Voice," parts of which he expanded into his book "A Short Story Writer's Companion."

Also of note are essays by Mike Curtis who contribute a frank but ultimately moving lesson on the pain or rejection letters-and no one knows this better than the fiction editor of The Atlantic Monthly. The essay by Dubus is one of the best pieces on writing that I've read and illustrates the necessity of "the habit of writing" through his illustrious and gentle prose.

Bailey's pulled off a collection of essays on and about short stories that are not only an introduction for young writers but also have lessons that even the more seasoned veteran can take to heart.

Rating:
Summary: Lessons to take to heart
Review: "On Writing Short Stories" is a masterful introduction to the craft of short stories. Editor Tom Bailey (an accomplished writer himself) has compiled some of the best essays by well-known authors that not only serve as inspiration but also as a fine learning tool for young writers.

The twelve stories included within this book are some of the seminal tales that any writer must be familiar with: Updike's "A&P", Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Tobias Wolff's "Bullet to the Brain," and "A Father's Story" by the much too under-read Andrew Dubus. Bailey points at the genius of these stories in his own chapter "Character, Plot, Setting and Time, Metaphor and Voice," parts of which he expanded into his book "A Short Story Writer's Companion."

Also of note are essays by Mike Curtis who contribute a frank but ultimately moving lesson on the pain or rejection letters-and no one knows this better than the fiction editor of The Atlantic Monthly. The essay by Dubus is one of the best pieces on writing that I've read and illustrates the necessity of "the habit of writing" through his illustrious and gentle prose.

Bailey's pulled off a collection of essays on and about short stories that are not only an introduction for young writers but also have lessons that even the more seasoned veteran can take to heart.

Rating:
Summary: On Writing Short Stories
Review: If you are looking for a guide through the mire of writing short fiction, you can't go wrong with this book! The editors really knew what they were doing when they chose the contributors as I found the comments by published authors very insightful, and the selection of short stories includes some of the best ever written.

Rating:
Summary: On Writing Short Stories
Review: If you are looking for a guide through the mire of writing short fiction, you can't go wrong with this book! The editors really knew what they were doing when they chose the contributors as I found the comments by published authors very insightful, and the selection of short stories includes some of the best ever written.