- Paperback: 348 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA (2 Dec 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195122720
- ISBN-13: 978-0195122725
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
498,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in Books > Reference > Writing > Newspapers & Magazines
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
On Writing Short Stories is a combination text/anthology for college courses in writing short stories (creative writing). It contains nine pedagogical chapters on writing short stories by seven professional writers and a selection of 12 short story examples.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
In the first part of the book you get a decent summary on characters, plot, settings and time, metaphor and voice. There is also an attempt to define the short story, a chapter on the artist as a craftsman, on workshops, the habit of writing and why write in the first place, along with some publishing information; none of it being very inspirational for the beginning or regular writer.
What is inspiring though are the short stories that were chosen for the second part of the book, which makes the book worth buying just for those. Though you can probably find them somewhere cheaper than this book.
What is inspiring though are the short stories that were chosen for the second part of the book, which makes the book worth buying just for those. Though you can probably find them somewhere cheaper than this book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Lessons to take to heart
4 Nov 2003
"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.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
On Writing Short Stories
13 Nov 2000
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.
14 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Best book on writing...
14 Oct 2005
Pound for pound, this may be the best book on, about, or for aspiring writers.
I have read at least 10 books on the craft of writing and a bunch on theory and technique... this book is right up there with the best of the best. If you couple this book with Raymond Carver's posthumous "Call if You Need Me" and mix in a few careful readings of any Richard Yates interview, you've got yourself some tough rope to tow. But if you want to be a strong writer, suck it up and do it anyway!
I hold a BA in fiction writing. I also tend to write literary realist fiction. If you are of the same mind, this book will help you tremendously. It is brutal in it's explanation of what to steer clear of and what to include, but that is how it should be. If you take writing very seriously, and want to take it to the next level, this book is a great start.
You can't go wrong when you have advice from C. Michael Curtis (Fiction Editor of the most prominent publication in America) and Frank Conroy (Chairman to the most prestegious writing institute in America.) Pay attention folks. This is the real deal. Add in some very helpful workshop activites from one Tom Bailey (only a head writing professor at Harvard) and some very heartfelt tips from a true master like Dubus... Forget about it!
"On becoming a Novelist" was good. "ABCs of Reading" was good. "The Lonely Voice" was decent. Forster's guidance was revolutionary, but this book is perfect for now. Go buy it and then read all the Carver and Yates and Dubus and Wolff you can get your grubby little hands on. You'll be a better writer for it. Trust me!
I have read at least 10 books on the craft of writing and a bunch on theory and technique... this book is right up there with the best of the best. If you couple this book with Raymond Carver's posthumous "Call if You Need Me" and mix in a few careful readings of any Richard Yates interview, you've got yourself some tough rope to tow. But if you want to be a strong writer, suck it up and do it anyway!
I hold a BA in fiction writing. I also tend to write literary realist fiction. If you are of the same mind, this book will help you tremendously. It is brutal in it's explanation of what to steer clear of and what to include, but that is how it should be. If you take writing very seriously, and want to take it to the next level, this book is a great start.
You can't go wrong when you have advice from C. Michael Curtis (Fiction Editor of the most prominent publication in America) and Frank Conroy (Chairman to the most prestegious writing institute in America.) Pay attention folks. This is the real deal. Add in some very helpful workshop activites from one Tom Bailey (only a head writing professor at Harvard) and some very heartfelt tips from a true master like Dubus... Forget about it!
"On becoming a Novelist" was good. "ABCs of Reading" was good. "The Lonely Voice" was decent. Forster's guidance was revolutionary, but this book is perfect for now. Go buy it and then read all the Carver and Yates and Dubus and Wolff you can get your grubby little hands on. You'll be a better writer for it. Trust me!
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