Possibilities and Paradoxes in the Craft of Fiction The pieces of a satisfying novel or story seem to fit together so effortlessly, so seamlessly, that it's easy to find yourself wondering, "how on earth did the author do this?" The answer is simple: He sat alone at his desk, considered an array of options, and made smart, careful choices. In On Writing Fiction, award-winning author and respected creative writing professor David Jauss offers practical information and advice that will help you...

Winner of the AWP Award for Short Fiction, Black Maps is a collection of nine finely worked stories charting the lives of human life on the brink; looking at their actions, their emotions, and how they react to the events that have pushed them to this brink.

A collection of stories from AWP Award for Short Fiction winner, David Jauss.

Another powerful story in the Logan Family Saga and companion to Mildred D. Taylor's Newbery Award-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.A drive South becomes dangerous for ‘lois and her family.'Lois and Wilma are proud of their father's brand-new gold Cadillac, and excited that the family will be driving it all the way from Ohio to Mississippi. But as they travel deeper into the rural South, there are no admiring glances for the sh...

This updated edition of the classic, comprehensive guide to creative writing features new topics and writing prompts, contemporary examples, and more.A creative writer's shelf should hold at least three essential books: a dictionary, a style guide, and Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction. This best-selling classic is the most widely used creative writing text in America, and for decades it has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn the craft. Now in it...

“Make [your] characters want something right away—even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.” —Kurt Vonnegut“‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not the beginning of a story, but ‘the cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is.” —John Le CarréNothing is more inspiring for a beginning writer than listening to masters of the craft talk about the writing life. But if yo...

A mother in New York sneaks her young daughter out of a research hospital. A billionaire philanthropist in Texas fights to save his dying son at all costs. A young traffic-ticket lawyer in Austin named Andy Prescott runs his legal empire out of a tiny office above a tattoo parlor and dreams of being a rich lawyer. Five lives on separate paths—until Andy defends the billionaire's secretary against a speeding ticket. Their lives become fatefully intertwined, destined to intersect—in death. A...

A landmark book, “brilliant, thoughtful” (The Atlantic) and “raw and gorgeous” (LA Times), that fast-forwards the discussion of the central artistic issues of our time, from the bestselling author of The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead.Who owns ideas? How clear is the distinction between fiction and nonfiction? Has the velocity of digital culture rendered traditional modes obsolete? Exploring these and related questions, S...

“Elvis Cole provides more fun for the reader than any L.A. private eye to come along in years.”—Joseph WambaughWINNER OF THE ANTHONY AND MACAVITY AWARDS FOR BEST NOVEL • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR AND SHAMUS AWARDS FOR BEST NOVELMeet Elvis Cole, L.A. Private Eye. . . . He quotes Jiminy Cricket and carries a .38. He’s a literate, wisecracking Vietnam vet who is determined to never grow up.When quiet Ellen Lang enters Elvis Cole’s Disney...

Fifty remarkable short stories from a range of contemporary fiction authors including Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more, selected from a survey of more than five hundred English professors, short story writers, and novelists.Contributors include Russell Banks, Donald Barthelme, Rick Bass, Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, Amy Bloom, T.C. Boyle, Kevin Brockmeier, Robert Olen Butler, Sandra Cisneros, Peter Ho Davies, Janet Desaulniers, Junot...

A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry-writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels.The Practice of Poetry is the first handbook for poets to combine poetry-writing exercises with illuminating personal essays by each contributor. The editors, Robin Behn and Chase Twichell, who are themselves poets and teachers of creative writing, have collected more than ninety tested and proven exercises intended...

Take a journey into darkness. Visit places where one might expect to find the dark—in a house where love was shared and lost, a milky-white pool in an Australian cave, the trenches of World War I, the deep woods. You would not be surprised to find the dark in a cheap apartment on the wrong side of town, down mean streets, under a gallows-tree, along dank passageways, trapped underground, in the near future, or among the mysteries of old New Orleans. Dunes, lakes, isolated cabins, old books...