The Art of Writing Fiction

Andrew Cowan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9780429951497
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

An elegant and intimate insight into the personal and practical processes of writing, Andrew Cowan's The Art of Writing Fiction draws on his experience as a prize-winning novelist and his work with emerging writers at the University of East Anglia.

As illuminating for the recreational writer as for students of Creative Writing, the twelve chapters of this book correspond to the twelve weeks of a typical university syllabus, and provide guidance on mastering key aspects of fiction such as structure, character, voice, point of view, and setting, as well as describing techniques for stimulating creativity and getting the most out of feedback.

This new edition offers extended consideration to structure, point of view, and the organisation of time in the novel, as well as the conduct of the Creative Writing workshop in the light of the decolonising the curriculum movement. It features additional writing exercises, as well as an afterword with invaluable advice on approaching agents and publishers. The range of writers surveyed is greatly expanded, finding inspiration and practical guidance in the work of Margaret Atwood, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Richard Beard, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Richard Ford, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Anjali Joseph, James Joyce, James Kelman, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Sam Selvon, Vikram Seth, and Ali Smith, among many others.

With over 80 writing exercises and examples taken from dozens of novels and short stories, the new edition of The Art of Writing Fiction is enriched by the author's own experience as a novelist and lecturer, making it an essential guide for readers interested in the theory, teaching, and practice of Creative Writing.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Writers’ routines
• 2 Write about what you know: Observational journals
• 3 Write about what you don’t know you know: Automatic writing
• 4 Don’t tell me…
• 5 Write about what you used to know: Remembering and place
• 6 Write about who you know: Character
• 7 Voices
• 8 Viewpoints
• 9 Middles, ends, beginnings: Structure
• 10 Making strange: Defamiliarisation
• 11 Making clear: Revision, grammar, and punctuation
• 12 Workshopping
• Appendix: Approaching agents & publishers
• Bibliography
• Index