How Fiction Works: The Last Word on Writing Fiction, from Basics to the Fine Points

by Hall, Oakley

• ISBN13: 9781884910494
• ISBN10: 1884910491
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: F & W Media Inc

Summary

In 1989 Oakley Hall published The Art and Craft of Novel Writing, a classic text that Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Stone called "simply the best book in print to examine the strategies and necessities involved in the making of a novel." Now he has expanded and deepened his instruction. He has added exercises and all new examples, as well as new advice on all forms of fiction, including short stories, short-short stories, even novellas. He covers every fictive technique, from plot and characterization to word choice, voice, and style. The key to Hall's teaching method is his brilliant use of examples. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the importance of reading and evaluating fiction with an eye toward craft. To this end, he offers more than one hundred excerpts from fine literature, showing the reader through analysis and advice how fiction works. Oakley Hall is the author of fourteen mainstream novels and five mysteries. His novel Warlock was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a feature film. For more than twenty years he was director of the writing program at the University of California at Irvine, For many years he acted as general director of the programs in writing at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. He lives in San Francisco.

Author Biography

Oakley Hall is the author of short stories, novellas, libretti, fourteen mainstream novels and five mysteries. His novels Warlock and The Downhill Racers were made into major motion pictures. Warlock was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He wrote the libretto for the opera Angle of Repose, which was produced by the San Francisco Opera Company. For more than twenty years, Hall was director of the writing program at the University of California at Irvine. He also served as general director of the writing program at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. He lives in San Francisco, California

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
PART ONE The Dramatic Method	3	(160)
Specification	5	(10)
The Senses	15	(12)
Words	27	(20)
Symbol and Indirection	47	(10)
Dialogue	57	(22)
Authority/Point of View	79	(30)
Characterization	109	(32)
Plot	141	(22)
PART TWO Forms of Fiction	163	(46)
The Short Story	165	(28)
The Novel	193	(16)
Appendix: Reading	209	(8)
Index	217