Cover: The Art and Craft of Fiction, 2nd Edition by Michael Kardos
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The Art and Craft of Fiction

A Writer's GuideSecond Edition ©2017 Michael Kardos

Brief, practical, and affordable, The Art and Craft of Fiction gives aspiring writers all they need, in a friendly voice that students love. Michael Kardos focuses on technique and presents fiction writing as a teachable (and learnable) art. With an organization built on methods and process r...
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ISBN:9781319032937

ISBN:9781319030421

Cover: The Art and Craft of Fiction, 2nd Edition by Michael Kardos

Brief, practical, and affordable, The Art and Craft of Fiction gives aspiring writers all they need, in a friendly voice that students love. Michael Kardos focuses on technique and presents fiction writing as a teachable (and learnable) art. With an organization built on methods and process rather than traditional literary elements, Kardos helps students begin their stories, write strong scenes, use images and research detail, revise for aesthetics and mechanics, and finish and polish their own stories. Instructors trust The Art and Craft of Fiction to help structure their course, and reinforce and complement their teaching points with examples and exercises. A brief fiction anthology at the back of the book includes 15 selections that instructors praise for their usefulness in the creative writing classroom.

     The Art and Craft of Fiction is available in a variety of e-book formats. For more information about our e-book partners, visit macmillanlearning.com/ebooks.

Features

Moves students from learning craft — to creating art.  Michael Kardos gets writers started with a focused approach to beginning, ending, and revising a story. Highly-praised chapters on how to write compelling scenes and stories move students through technique — and toward artistry.

A "boot camp" of the basics. A favorite among reviewers, a "boot camp" chapter on mechanics helps writers refine their work and avoid common errors, such as mispunctuated dialogue and comma splices.

Just enough stories. Plenty of practice. A brief anthology of 15 stories, referenced frequently with the instructional chapters, offers models that Kardos draws on in his instruction — including Tobias Wolff, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sherman Alexie, and other masters of the short story form. Lively assignments and student examples help writers build on what they learn.

Friendly, concise, and speaks to students as fellow writers.  Kardos gives students just the right amount of guidance — in a conversational tone that reviewers describe as "pitch perfect."

New to This Edition

Practical advice on research. In a new section in Chapter 2, developed with the input of numerous creative writing instructors, Kardos walks students through the dos and donts of researching material to include in their stories, and offers advice on how to balance research with the creative writing process.

Compelling new anthology selections. Stories by Etgar Keret, Susan Perabo, and Kevin Moffett round out an anthology instructors praise. Students love –and learn from—these works.

New exercises. The second edition includes new exercises on drawing on experience, describing events, opening stories, and achieving clarity.

To get the most out of The Art and Craft of Fiction, assign it with LaunchPad Solo for Literature,which can be packaged at no additional cost. In this course space, you can build interactive, collaborative assignments around your favorite reading selections and video content – and draw on the content we offer there, too.

"Easily the most readable craft textbook Ive ever encountered. I enjoy reading the chapters for their own sake. I know my students feel the same way."
– John Vanderslice, University of Central Arkansas

"Each semester, I have students who tell me how helpful they found this book to be."
– Betty Wisepape, University of Texas–Dallas

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Table of Contents

ART & CRAFT

1. Thinking, Reading, and Writing Like a Writer

Being a Writer Means Paying Attention
Why a Textbook (And Why This Textbook?)
Rules of the Road
Reading Like a Writer
Finding Ideas for Stories
A Word to the Novelist
What’s the Point of All This?

2. The Extreme Importance of Relevant Detail
Details and Believability
Details and Engaging the Reader
Showing and Telling
Fiction Writing as Telepathy
Getting the Details Right (a.k.a. Researching Your Story)
Which Details to Include?
Nothing More Than Feelings
Details and the Writer’s Sensibility

3. Starting Your Story
What Beginnings Do
Reveal Key Information
Establish the Story’s Stakes
Start with a Break from Routine
Consider Starting In Medias Res
Whose Perspective Should You Choose?
Other Information to Convey Sooner Rather Than Later
Ultimately, It’s Your Call

4. Working with the Elements of Fiction
Character
Plot
Causality
Setting
Point of View (POV)
Voice
Theme

5. Creating Scenes: A Nuts & Bolts Approach
Dialogue
Narration
Description
Exposition
Interiority
Scene-Writing, Final Notes

6. Organizing Your Story: Form & Structure
Classic Story Structure and the Freytag Pyramid
Conflict
Climax
Conclusion: What Has Changed?
Form = Meaning
Other Ways to Tell a Story
Scene and Summary
Case Study: Structural Imitation

7. Writing a Compelling Story
High Stakes
Character Desire
Active Protagonists
The Atypical Day (A Break from Routine)
External Conflict
Internal Conflict / Presenting Characters’ Interior Lives
Compressed Time Period
Suspense (As Opposed to Withheld Information)
Originality

8. Ending Your Story
The Challenge
Strategies for Ending Your Story
Common Pitfalls
Getting the Words Right
Two Final Thoughts on Endings

9. The Power of Clarity
Vagueness verses Ambiguity
Clear Words
Clear Sentences
Clear Stories: A Few Words of Advice
Clarity: Some Final Thoughts

10. Revising Your Story
The Case for Revision
What Is "Revision," Anyway?
What Is a "First Draft"?
Twelve Strategies for Revision
How Do You Know When Your Story Is (Really, Truly) Done?

BOOT CAMP

11. The Mechanics of Fiction: A Writers Boot Camp
Formatting and Punctuating Dialogue
Addressing a Person in Dialogue
Paragraph Breaks in Dialogue
Double Quotation Marks / Single Quotation Marks
Quick Quiz: Repair This Sentence
Scare Quotes
Formatting and Punctuating a Character’s Thoughts
Comma Splices
"Who" and "That"
Exclamation Marks, Question Marks, All-Caps
Conjugation of "Lie" and "Lay"
Quick Quiz: Choose the Correct Sentence
Sentences That Begin with an "-ing" Word
Some Final Advice
The Mechanics of Fiction: Practice Test

ANTHOLOGY

12. A Mini-Anthology: 15 Stories

1. Sherman Alexie, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
2. Richard Bausch, Tandolfo the Great
3. Kevin Brockmeier, A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling from the Pockets
4. Percival Everett, The Appropriation of Cultures
5. Becky Hagenston, Midnight, Licorice, Shadow
6. Etgar Keret, What, of this Goldfish, Would You Wish?
7. Jhumpa Lahiri, This Blessed House
8. Jill McCorkle, Magic Words
9. Kevin Moffett, One Dog Year
10. Tim O’Brien, On the Rainy River
11. ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
12. Susan Perabo, Indulgence
13. Karen Russell, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
14. John Updike, A&P
15. Tobias Wolff, Bullet in the Brain


 

Headshot of Michael Kardos

Michael Kardos

Michael Kardos (michaelkardos.com) is an associate professor and co-director of the creative program at Mississippi State University. He is the author of the story collection One Last Good Time (Press 53), and the novels The Three-Day Affair, Before He Finds Her, and the forthcoming Bluff, all from the Mysterious Press imprint of Grove Atlantic. His short stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, Prairie Schooner, and many other magazines and anthologies. His essays about fiction have appeared in The Writers Chronicle and Writers Digest. Kardos received his B.A. from Princeton University, his M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Kardos is author of the Bedford text, The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writers Guide and a contributor to Bedfords LitBits where he blogs about teaching creative writing.

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Bibliography -- Resources for Fiction Writers