A Long Game: How to Write Fiction

by Elizabeth McCracken

Brought to you by Penguin.

Warm, wise and full of practical tips, this book is the ideal companion to every writing life

Write every day
Show, don’t tell
Write what you know
Kill Your Darlings

These are some of the most popular nuggets of advice given to writers, universally agreed to be true. They are all pieces of writing advice that Elizabeth McCracken expertly and persuasively shoots down in A Long Game.

McCracken has been writing for most of her life. Here, she shares insights gleaned along the way, deconstructing received wisdom whilst playfully tackling the mysteries that are inherent to writing and creativity.

A book about the life of an artist and a guide to fiction, A Long Game is a revelatory and indispensable resource and will lead all writers, at any stage of their career, back to the page.

‘A cheering companion that makes writing a less lonely business’ Yiyun Li

'Elizabeth McCracken is one of America's finest writers' Garth Greenwell

'An irreverent, thought-provoking and ultimately inspiring book about making art' Rumaan Alam

'A world class writer and a world class writing teacher' Paul Harding

'I would encourage every writer to read it' Rebecca Ivory

Elizabeth McCracken 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Audible Audio

Published January 1, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey, with whom she has two children - August George Carey Harvey and Matilda Libby Mary Harvey. An earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis for McCracken's memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.

McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and holds a degree in library science from Simmons College, a women's college in Boston. McCracken currently lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she is an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College. She is the sister of PC World magazine editor-in-chief Harry McCracken.