Writing Fiction (6th Edition) review:5 stars (Review?) - This is not a review - but I have a question. DOESN'T ANYBODY WHO REVIEWS AT AMAZON KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A REVIEW AND AN OPINION????? I get utterly frustrated at all of your opinions and I still don't know what's IN the book most of the time. Go read up on how to REVIEW a book before you enter stuff here and waste our time!2 stars (Are YOU ready to write mediocre *blah* fiction?) - First let me say that I am not a mean person. I am sure Ms. Burroway is doing her best to teach people how to write here. And look, the book is popular, and it's sold a lot of copies so that's something, right?

Well, popularity is not enough for me. And I would hope it's not enough for other smart consumers too -- professors and students alike.

This book shares a virtue in common with many other fine American textbooks these days -- it takes up a lot of space to say disappointingly little. It's structured thusly:

The author covers all the elements of fiction, one after the other, in a very cursory manner, interspersing between her thoughts a few mildly inspiring, mildly relevant quotes from a few "Important Writers."

Now the author's commentary on the elements of fiction is why I bought the book. I wanted to know about the elements of fiction and how I can use and fuse them to help me build legendary, immaculate fiction. Some of the commentary here, though not so original, is helpful. The author has clearly read up on the topic, and she doesn't do a terrible job distilling the basics. But each chapter left me wanting. These mini-essays are sparse, folks, sparse, and they won't get you past Fiction Writing 101.

After each fiction element is discussed, the author then presents a selection of short stories which feature the techniques discussed. Theory in practice. Not such a bad idea -- in theory. But in practice, this idea doesn't work so well, because the author's taste for fiction is generally (excuse me) mundane, to put it kindly. Don't hate me for saying this, but I think she included a lot of the stories just because they were written by women. "American History," "How Far She Went," "Girl," "20/20" -- it's a fem-fiction fiesta, especially in the beginning, and I thought I was going to have to excuse myself to vomit out the massive estrogen doses more than once.

Hold on, hold on. I'm no sexist. I respect women's lit., if it's _good_ lit. And some of the women's lit. here is good. There's stuff in here by Anne Lammott, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Talent, Joyce Carol Oates, to name a few, that's marvelous.

I hated some of the stories by males here too, but male writers just seem to be a lot less represented. (39 % to 61 %, by my quick calculations).

Regardless of gender, apart from a few quality selections like Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," an excerpt from Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," an outstanding piece, "Orientation," by Daniel Orozco, and the selections from the female writers aforementioned, this book's _sense for story_ stinks. And that's not a quality I want from a book that would teach me how to write.

I wasn't moved by most of these stories. I don't understand why people would choose to read them. I don't care what Rik-Shaw prize they've won here or there. They didn't inspire me to live, and they did not inspire me to write.

Therefore caution. I paid a lot of money for this book because it got good reviews as a comprehensive writing course, and I want to become the greatest writer in the world.

Well, I suffered through many hours of mediocre material because of the initial investment I made. Students, teachers (please, teachers), think twice. The decent advice on craft in this book is ultimately drowned out by the gagging mediocrity of the anthologized fiction.

If your goal is to get published in that vast gray ocean we call *blah* fiction, then get this book. If you aspire to greater heights, look elsewhere.3 stars (For academic-literary writers only) - For would-be writers looking for a first book on fiction writing, this book is as good as any, provided and only provided that you are interested in writing what might be termed the academic-literary short story. For those interested in writing for readers (termed by academics the "popular" novel), this book could well be highly misleading. The fact that Burroway and others such as Macauley & Lanning think that the same basic principles apply but that "literary" fiction goes beyond--this fact shows that they understand neither popular fiction nor yet "literary" fiction. In fact, the two are based on diametrically opposed principles and have largely opposite criteria of quality.
Also, bear in mind that you are getting only the ABCs in this book. This is a first book, not a last book.
That said, the exposition is clear and there are numerous examples (all from academic-literary fiction). Whether it is worth the price--ah, that is another question.

Writing Fiction (6th Edition) Features:
Author: Janet Burroway
Author: Susan Weinberg
Literary Criticism & Collections / General

Writing Fiction (6th Edition) is the Paperback version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 55.08USD.