Review: Creating Short Fiction : The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction
This was a GREAT book!
Okay, regular readers of this blog know that I’m an amatuer writer with delusions of granduer. But, for those of you who are new, I want to write. What that means, though, is that I’m always reading books to help me with my writing, in one way or another. This past week I read Creating Short Fiction : The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction, by Damon Knight. This book is an all-around, kick-ass writing book. Damon Knight, though famous for his science-fiction writing, really hits all the bases in this one book. He covers, if lightly, everything from the creative process to editing to submitting your work. If it relates to writing, it’s in there.
I admit, I got this book because it was: a) on sale, b) short, and c) written by Damon Knight, who’s a great science-fiction author. But, this book only touches on science-fiction, as well as several other genres. Mainly this is just a really good book on writing short fiction. And, let’s face it, most authors start in short ficition before they get anyone to look at their longer work. It’s just how it is. So, writing short fiction is something that almost every fantasy or science-fiction writer will do at some point in their career.
So, if you’re looking for a refresher, or if you’re just getting started writing short ficiton, this is a great place to start. In fact, I got so excited about this book, I wrote a “So you’d like to…” guide over at Amazon.com, called So you’d like to write “speculative fiction”. Check it out!
