Reading A Writer's Mind: Exploring Short Fiction - First Thought to Finished Story

…great coaching advice… …a must for all creative writers…
From initial idea, through the story itself, to a commentary explaining the decisions made during the creative process, Reading A Writer’s Mind sets out the detailed thinking behind the writing of ten stories across a range of genres:
* Lyrical narrative v terse dialogue; using tone as a descriptive tool (Mainstream) * Characterisation through deed and thought (Horror) * A calendar structure using the Tell technique (Women’s Fiction) * The importance of pacing, and of duping the reader (Twist in the Tail) * The use of alliteration, rhythm and subliminal detailing (Romance) * Using the Show technique to elicit an emotional response (Drama) * Building fiction using an unsympathetic narrator (Crime) * Working with parallel storylines via past and present tense (SF) * Conjuring the weird from the everyday (Fantasy) * Writing for performance and sound effects (Historical) * Editing: ten common problems explored
Linda Acaster is the author of 70+ published short stories, five novels, and a host of articles on the techniques of writing fiction. A past tutor for a UK distance learning college and a reader for a leading London literary consultancy, her instructional articles on the techniques of creating fiction have appeared in writers’ journals in the UK and USA. Exploring Short Fiction – First Thought To Finished Story is the first in the Reading a Writer’s Mind series.