The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write: A Handbook for Fiction Writers

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or short story but didn't know where to start? If so, this is the book for you. It's the book for anyone, in fact, who wants to write to their full potential. Practical and jargon-free, rejecting prescriptive templates and formulae, it's a storehouse of ideas and advice on a range of relevant subjects, from boosting self-motivation and confidence to approaching agents and publishers. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience as successful writers and inspiring teachers, it will guide you through such essentials as the interplay of memory and imagination; plotting your story; the creation of convincing characters; the uses of description; the pleasures and pitfalls of research; and the editing process. The book's primary aim is simple: to help its readers to become better writers.

ISBN-13: 9781009073738

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 03-17-2022

Pages: 298

Product Dimensions: 6.06(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.63(d)

Sarah Burton's publications include two biographies, Impostors: Six Kinds of Liar (Penguin, 2000) and A Double Life: a Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb (Penguin, 2003, shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year award); a children's book, The Miracle in Bethlehem: A Storyteller's Tale (2008); and a page-to-stage guide, How to Put on a Community Play (2011). Her novel, The Strange Adventures of H (Legend Press, 2020) was shortlisted for the 2021 Historical Fiction Writers' debut fiction award. With Jem Poster, she co-founded Cambridge University's master's programme in creative writing and is co-author of The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Together, Sarah and Jem run a mentoring service for writers, Between the Lines. Jem Poster is the author of two novels, Courting Shadows (Sceptre, 2002) and Rifling Paradise (Sceptre, 2006), as well as a collection of poetry, Brought to Light (Bloodaxe, 2001). He edited volume III of the six-volume Oxford University Press Edward Thomas: Prose Writings (2018). With Sarah Burton, he co-founded Cambridge University's master's programme in creative writing and is co-author of The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Together, Jem and Sarah run a mentoring service for writers, Between the Lines.

Table of Contents

1. Getting started; 2. Memory and imagination; 3. Character; 4. Plot and structure I; 5. Plot and structure II; 6. Form and length; 7. Dialogue; 8. Narrative viewpoint and narrative voice; 9. Beginnings and endings; tension and pace; 10. Description; 11. Research; 12. Drawing it all together; 13. Publication and the writing life.