Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

This book covers the core principles of writing good fiction, providing useful reference material and examples throughout. The book also includes helpful writing prompts at the end of each chapter.Will this book turn you into the next great novelist if you don't already have good writing and research skills? Definitely not. But if you have a strong foundation this book provides a good starting point for your fiction writing journey, by helping you avoid the most common mistakes while emphasizing proven plot and character development techniques.

So I got this book because it is a textbook for my English course. I like the book and it's great. However, I would recommend reading this book when you have enough practice to know what type of fantasy story you're going for, and if your more of a basic reader you're going to find yourself looking up certain words to know what they mean. So keep that in mind. Plus this book mentions many other authors that beginning readers may not know about (or care), but I would be lying if I say that this book does not teach well on how to use your skills in creating a novel of your own.

I've read Gardner, Forster, Lukeman, and many others. Burroway is the best single-source of must-know instruction for developing and maturing your talent. You will begin to think about dimensions of your manuscript in new ways before you finish reading the preface. When world-glass writers write about writing, they develop a rhythm and flow that is as enjoyable to read as a good story. This text sets the bar very high.

I have the 6th edition of Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction, bought used since it's a college textbook and thus more expensive than you'd expect. When I noticed the 10th edition listed in upcoming books here on Amazon, and at a cheaper price, I was intrigued. The contents of the book are mostly the same, with some small shifting of topics between chapters, but the major differences are paper type (this edition uses a thicker paper you more commonly see with trade paperback books rather than the thinner paper you'd find in a college text) and the lack of actual stories found in the previous editions. In their place are lists of stories at the end of each chapter. Overall the content is there and probably just as good as before, but you are on your own in hunting down the example stories.

I used the 9th edition for teaching undergrads for several years, but then it got too pricey and I couldn't justify the $100+ price tag. I'm grateful they've taken out the anthology and reduced the price so it's affordable for students again. Terrific for intro- and intermediate-level fiction writers.

The prose here is insightful and concise. I would give this book 5 stars except for two huge flaws.The first is that the tenth edition is missing the example stories. You need to buy the ninth edition to get those. The authors cite the cost to students, but they could have easily split out the anthology of short stories into a separate volume if that was their concern.The second flaw is that the authors give very short shrift to plot and story structure. Larry Brooks' "Story Engineering" can fill this gap, but it's a glaring omission in an otherwise stellar book.

Every writer needs these basics. I’ve been a professional writer for years but still learned hidden gems that I should have known.Easy to digest and full of excellent advice. You’ll want to use it as a reference and for inspiration.

Writing Fiction was assigned as a textbook for a creative writing class. This was a fantastic resource for understanding the elements of fiction. Each chapter was followed by sample pieces from well-known writers. I learned a lot from this text. I'm so glad I ordered the paper version so that I have as a resource for future work.

This book was recommended to me by two people: one is a story coach and the other is a published author. So far, I've only read the first two chapters. The advice is helpful and Janet Burroway offers examples of good writing techniques. In order to keep the book small, she refers readers to a list of short stories at the end of each chapter that you can search for and read on the internet.The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that she refers to other books on craft at the end of the first chapter that I consider classics. The advice in those books were incredible helpful to my writing career (Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, Dorthea Brand's On Becoming a Writer). This books skims over the topics covered in those books.

This manual offers many good advices to plan, write and revise a book but it's all somewhat boring...Still pretty useful, though.

Clear, consise, aims at higher level reader/writer, highly recommended

Excellent book! Arrived early! Thank you!

I've read many books about writing literary fiction.This is the most insightful.Honed over many years and editions.Concise and informative.Using examples explains in detail the mechanics of superior fiction.Avoids extended theorizing and abstraction that can blight others.A staple of creative writing courses for decades.It's not magic. There are strategies.Here's how it's done.NB.Stories recommended as further reading are not included in the text of the 10th edition.Not a deal breaker.Numerous segments referenced within etc