The Art of Fiction

by Walter Besant

The Art of A Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution on Friday Evening, April 25, 1884 by Walter Besant

In this classic essay which originally appeared in his 1888 collection Partial Portraits , Henry James argues against rigid proscriptions on the novelist's choice of subject and method of treatment. He maintains that the widest possible freedom in content and approach will help ensure narrative fiction's continued vitality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Writing, Essays, Literary Criticism, 19th Century, Literature

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1884

About the author

Sir Walter Besant was a novelist and historian from London. His sister-in-law was Annie Besant. The son of a merchant, he was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire and attended school at St Paul's, Southsea, Stockwell Grammar, London and King's College London. In 1855, he was admitted as a pensioner to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1859 as 18th wrangler. After a year as Mathematical Master at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire and a year at Leamington College, he spent 6 years as professor of mathematics at the Royal College, Mauritius. A breakdown in health compelled him to resign, and he returned to England and settled in London in 1867. He took the duties of Secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund, which he held 1868-85. In 1871, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Henry James wrote two essays on the art of fiction. The one I'm reviewing is THE ART OF FICTION: A LECTURE delivered at the Royal Institution on April 25, 1884 when the great author was age 41, having already published seven novels and forty short-stories.

Henry begins by proclaiming three important points: 1) Fiction is an Art (author's caps) just as much as painting, sculpture, music and poetry; 2) Fiction has laws as exact and precise as the other Arts; 3) Similar to painting a portrait or playing a musical instrument, writing fiction requires a natural gift.

Henry goes on to praise the novel as being an Art above all other forms of Art (a great novelist just can't help himself). How is the novel the most praiseworthy of the arts? We're given an extensive list of reasons. I'll couple my own observations/comments with several:

"It has always been the most popular, because it requires neither culture, education, nor natural genius to understand and listen to a story;"

Henry James makes an excellent point about the fine arts. Unlike paintings in a museum or classic music played in a concert hall, a novel is universally accessible - anybody who is literate can enjoy a novel of their choosing. Henry goes on to note the majority of books checked out at libraries and the number of books purchased at bookstores are novels. This was true back in 1883 when Henry was writing and it is true today, one hundred and forty years later. No doubt about it - the novel as a popular artform has had monumental staying power.

"It commands the widest influence, because it can be carried easily and everywhere, into regions where pictures are never seen and music is never heard;"

Within the world of fine arts, this is undoubtedly true: you can read a novel anywhere, in your favorite chair at home or out on a park bench, at a train station or on the train, at a coffee house or in a lunch room. Now that's a profoundly influential and fluid form of art!

"It is the greatest teaching power, because its lessons are most readily apprehend and understood. All this, which might have been said thousands of years ago, may be said today with even greater force and truth."

Of course, back in 1883, there was no television, film or radio. And Henry is thinking in terms of the US and Europe, especially England. As British novelist George Gissing made abundantly clear in his novel New Grub Street, reading novels has caught on like wildfire (a cliché, I know but in this case it works perfectly). One consequence of all this reading: the public looked to the novel to provide models and teach important lessons about life.

"It is the only way in which people can learn what other men and women are like;"

This is a critical point that is frequently overlooked: a novel, especially a novel written in first-person, gives us an opportunity to share another person's inner thoughts and feelings in the context of unfolding events within a story. Sad but true: other than in a work of fiction, the inner life of other people is forever sealed off from us. A novel can provide us with powerful examples of a woman's or man's maliciousness, sadism or foolishness, underscoring Schopenhauer's wise words: "You will always be prey or the plaything of devils and fools in this world, if you expect to see them going about with horns or jangling their bells."

Turning to another section of this Henry James essay, we have: "This Art of Fiction is the most ancient of all Arts and the most popular; that its field is the whole of humanity; that it creates and develops that sympathy which is a kind of second sight; that, like all other Arts, its function is to select, to suppress, and to arrange; that it suggests as well as narrates."

Henry James notes most people fail to take in the world around them. This is certainly not the case for an accomplished novelist since the material for their novel will be that very world they encounter directly, particularly the people they come in contact with. According to Henry, the key to being a true novelist: an extraordinary ability to observe life, select just the right details and convey one's observations and selections in clear, compelling language. Here are two quick character sketches which can serve as examples of what Henry is driving at here:

From Nobody Runs Forever by Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark:

"The first impression was of a slender, stylish, well-put-together woman in her forties, but almost instantly the impression changed. She wasn't slender; she was bone thin, and inside the stylish clothes she walked with a graceless jitteriness, like someone whose medicine had been cut off too soon. Beneath the neat cowl of well-groomed ash-blond hair, her face was too thin, too sharp-featured, too deeply lined. This could have made her look haggard; instead, it made her look mean. From the evidence, what would have attracted her husband most would have been her father's bank."

From The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard:

“A strong brow and nose were betrayed by a weak chin on an otherwise noble countenance. It was the sort of face that would have looked at home over a polished chest plate while busily engaging in the infection of South American natives with Catholicism and smallpox, while all the time robbing them blind of every grain of gold they might have.”

I'll let Henry James have the last words, relating to an element he values above all others: a novelist's style: "It is almost impossible to estimate too highly the value of careful workmanship, that is, of style. Everyone, without exception, of the great Masters in Fiction, has recognized this truth. You will hardly find a single page in any of them which is not carefully and even elaborately worked up. I think there is no point on which critics of novels should place greater importance than this, because it is one which young novelists are so very liable to ignore."

[Leonard Gaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Art of Fiction assembles two different texts. First, a lecture by Walter Besant (a late-19th-century British novelist now almost entirely gone clean out of everyone’s mind), and then an article by Henry James (another late-19th-century novelist now universally regarded as an undying figure of world literature). So, in retrospect, the dispute seems a tad off-balance.

Walter Besant’s approach to “the art of fiction” (i.e., the modern novel) is twofold. Firstly, to rehabilitate the value of literary fiction in a time when it was considered, at best, a second-rate art form (much as comic books or video games today, I would guess). The common belief in those days allegedly was that “the intellect of a novelist… if he have any intellect at all, which is doubtful, must be one of the most frivolous and lightest kind” (the Nobel and Pulitzer didn’t exist back then). And so, Besant argues that literary fiction is not only popular but at least as great an art form as painting, music, poetry, or architecture. Unsurprisingly, Henry James doesn’t argue with Besant on this score.

The second leg of Besant’s lecture is essentially a sort of “poetics” of novel writing, a normative approach, and a set of rules and dos and don’ts for the younger writer. In short, “the Art of Fiction requires first of all the power of description, truth, and fidelity, observation, selection, clearness of conception and of outline, dramatic grouping, directness of purpose, a profound belief on the part of the story-teller in the reality of his story, and beauty of workmanship.” These things have been repeated and developed countless times in fiction writing manuals and programmes since Besant, so it all feels a bit trite, but it probably was quite ground-breaking in 1884.

And this is where James fundamentally disagrees. To him, all these rigid, arbitrary compositional rules can only stifle the novelist’s work when his only obligation is to be true to his own sensibility and ideas and to attempt to express them in interesting ways: “the only classification of the novel that I can understand is into the interesting and the uninteresting”. In essence, “the advantage, the luxury, as well as the torment and responsibility, of the novelist, is that there is no limit to what he may attempt as an executant — no limit to his possible experiments, efforts, discoveries, successes.”

Two conflicting views on the craft of writing which persist in their opposition to this day.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 4 for the week long gilmore girls readathon

Rory gilmore is a genius

[Jowayria Rahal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I would have never ever read Henry James' article nor that of Mr Beason if it wasn't for my Novel class that I'm taking this year .

Okay , both articles are magnificent , to say the least . But I , for one , thought that James' response article ( essay) was more articulate , straightforward and ,of course, genuine . Henry James made two major contributions which exerted a powerful influence on the theory of the novel :

1- He managed to establish the novel as a worthy object of critical attention ( literary criticism) by lifting it to the level of art .
2- He helped to initiate debates and discussions about methods , narrative structures , moral thinking and interpretation .

Throughout his article , James defined fiction as being one of the fine arts . The word 'fine' does not describe the quality of the work in question , but rather the righteousness of the field / discipline . For him , fiction -just like arts - is a craft ; some are good at it while others are simply not . He then went on to raise a question that has always been debated on by literary critics ; that of the criteria which make of a novel a "good" work of fiction . Some , he said , believe that a good novel is a representation of virtues through pious and aspiring characters ,others argue that it all depends on "the happy endings " ,while others regard the movements and actions to embody the required criteria that make of a novel a good one . But James explained that it is a mistake to say so definitely beforehand what sort of an affair the good novel is , because , after all , a novel is in its broadest definition a personal impression of life . And That is exactly why , I believe , James pleaded for the liberty of the artist to shape the form which best suits his impression of life . The artist , according to James , should be allowed the freedom in the choice of subject and method but he must assume his responsability of making the two fuse to serve as the vehicle of expression of his intentions .

I absolutely loved the last part of the article wherein James gave pieces of advice to a young to-be novelist . They spoke to me , not that I'll ever be a novelist or anything but they were just beautifully written . And yes , now I just can't wait to start reading one of James' novels " The Turn Of The Screw " .

[Amanda Alexandre · Rating 3 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER: I copied these notes for personal reasons only: I use GR to keep track of my notes, since I don't trust my Kobo and notebooks are impractical. I know I am a cheap bastard and don't deserve any like for it. so, this was NOT written by me!

Henry James's“The Art of Fiction”

Why is it revolutionary?

1. Choice of subject belongs to the artist without restriction.

We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, his donnée; our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it. (561)
2. Conscious artistry and treatment of the subject is the key.

Art is essentially selection. (563).
Questions of art are questions (in the widest sense) of execution. (655)
3. Organic structure is important.

A novel is a living thing, all one and continuous, like any other organism, and in proportion as it lives will be found, I think, that in each of the parts there is something of each of the other parts. (560)

4. Artistry, not morality, should be the criterion. "Bad" novels and "good" novels are a matter of taste, not morality or choice of subject matter.

Nothing, of course, will ever take the place of the good old fashion of "liking" a work or not liking it. (562).
There are bad novels and good novels, as there are bad pictures and good pictures; but that is the only distinction in which I can see any meaning. (560)

5. Faithfulness to life (realism) is the important factor.

The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life. (554).
The air of reality (solidity of specification) seems to me to be the supreme virtue of a novel (559).

6. The expertise of the writer, like that of the painter, depends upon an artistic sensibility and openness to impressions.

Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spiderweb of the finest silk threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness. (559).
A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life. (557)
It goes without saying that you will not write a good novel unless you possess the sense of reality; but it will be difficult to give you a recipe for calling that sense into being. (558).
“Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!” (559)

[Inna · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/a...

"The old evangelical hostility to the novel, which was as explicit as it was narrow, and which regarded it as little less favourable to our immortal part than a stage-play, was in reality far less insulting. The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does compete with life. "


"The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting. That general responsibility rests upon it, but it is the only one I can think of. The ways in which it is at liberty to accomplish this result (of interesting us) strike me as innumerable and such as can only suffer from being marked out, or fenced in, by prescription. They are as various as the temperament of man, and they are successful in proportion as they reveal a particular mind, different from others. A novel is in its broadest definition a personal impression of life; that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression. But there will be no intensity at all, and therefore no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say."

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurgu üzerine iki değişik bakış açısı. Kısa ve akıcı, birisi diğerinin kritiği olmak üzere iki deneme. Merak duygusu ile okunuyor.

“… özgürlük muhteşem bir ayrıcalıktır, genç romancının öğrenmesi gereken ilk ders de buna layık olmaktır...“, sf; 79.

[Madi Badger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of considering fiction a Fine Art, and it does 100% take skill that only an artist would have. But I disagree that you should give up writing a novel after trying twice lol

[Ethan Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book is in 2 parts.
First is a lecture given in the late 1880’s by Sir Walter Besant, an English novelist of some renown, but clearly below Hardy and Meredith on the English writing totem pole.
Besant’s lecture is a treatise on why the novelist’s artistic status should be elevated to the level of painters and sculptors, largely because writers better illustrate ethical morality, and raise social consciousness much more so than any other art form.
He embellishes his position to state there should be schools for writing, just as there are institutes of learning for painting, music, sculpting, etc., so that ignorance of the art of writing a novel might diminish.

Second is a rebuttal, albeit polite, from the author, Henry James.
James purposes that it’s all about appreciation of the art form = when you look at a painting or statue, your evaluation of it, how it moves you, what it speaks to you; is decisive, complete, and immediate. However, with a book, “there is danger of its hurting you before you know it. Literature should be either instructive or amusing … artistic pre-occupations [such as] the search for form, contribute to neither end, [rather] interfere, indeed, with both.”

And there you have the mist of the argumentation. As you might expect, the treatment expands and does go deeper.

I’m surprised this debate arose at all. Given it is taking place in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, but the novel as an art form, as well as the endearing endeavor of a work by serious authors should be readily apparent, in any age.
Having said that, both gentlemen are learned on their subject of discourse, are salient in their POVs, both discuss the important elements and construction of a novel well, both analyses still hold up, and both are as relevant today as they were then.
Notwithstanding my reservation regarding its necessity- it was articulate, well presented, and somewhat thought provoking for its subject matter- particularly for an author.
I give it a borderline recommendation largely due to its brevity; had it been much longer it would have become somewhat monotonous, and consequently somewhat dull.

I leave you with a well-said passage that likely sums up a position many enthusiasts of good fiction would agree with; Besant’s final thought on well-crafted novels:
“I, for one, feel irritated when critics begin to appraise, compare, and to estimate them: there is nothing, I think, we can give but admiration that is unspeakable, and gratitude that is silent. This silence proves more eloquently than words how great, how beautiful an Art, is that of Fiction.”

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in a collection of Henry James essays on writing and writers.

I really enjoyed The Art of Fiction itself, as it is very encouraging to budding young writers like myself, and his articles on Turgenev were incredibly interesting, but the essay The New Novel put me off Henry James forever. How dare he criticize Joseph Conrad for demanding too much of the "common reader's" concentration?! Henry James demands so much concentration from his readers that I had to reread half his sentences and sometimes even full pages just to figure out what he was trying to say! Sometimes I never did figure it out, and just kept going anyway. And he had the audacity to complain about Joseph Conrad?! My beloved Joseph Conrad, who knew how to write an exciting tale in which more fascinating things happened in each chapter than EVER happened in any one of Henry James' stories??

I'd liked James' short stories, but after reading that, I am officially not a fan.

[H]

-solid illusion of reality = cornerstone
-experience = sensitive intake of existence
-"atmosphere of the mind"
-quality of art = quality of producer's mind
-sincerity. be worthy of fiction

[Jemma Forster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knocked off a star for Besant’s assertion that ‘everything (...) which is invented and is not the result of personal experience and observation is worthless’. I don’t know if I can blame him for this- if the aim of art is to mimic real life then, how can he be wrong? But to negate writings upon writings (fantasy, sci-fi etc, though I do not at all suspect he anticipated their subject matter)...
It doesn’t sit quite right with me, a modern reader.

[Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS was the guide to writing I was looking for! There’s real encouragement here, and although it predates The Elements of Style, it manages to feel far more contemporary. Henry James pretty much felt about literature what my circle feels about independent film today. There’s a great and liberating freedom just to be interesting!!

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Henry, you sure were vexed by Mr. Besant and his ideas, weren't you? I need to read the Besant piece now so I am clear on the basis of his arguments. Intriguing piece.

[Peter Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m more into the art of art but Henry James is always worth reading.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 🌟

[Mary Rogers-G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otro libro imprescindible para entender diferentes miradas literarias. Además del texto, que es muy corto, las dos introducciones son un aporte.

[Vale Greenbriar꒰♡꒱ · Rating 3 out of 5]

solo leí este libro porque esta en la lista de libros de Rory Gilmore jsksjajb :)

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

thought I could use this for an assignment but I fear that is not quite what I had in mind. Rip.

[Dhyanvi Katharani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much better than all the unintelligible esaays I've read I want to write a novel now

[Ashlee Draper Galyean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read this essay with people and discuss it and pick it apart and put it back together. Essentially, I want to go back to school. Sigh. Anyway, I was drawn to this essay because I have been questioning myself the worth of fiction, constantly rationing my intake and being careful to "nourish" myself with more worthy literary endeavors. If I were to partake of a discussion on it, I already have my talking points:

-Beauty vs art
-fiction vs "reality"
-morality being true to life, not avoiding the things we have agreed not to speak of
-art is only an extension of the artist--it can only be as deep, as true, as moral, as beautiful as -the artist is
-the only thing a novel must be is interesting

I conclude in James' own words and by so doing, give myself license to be free in my writing :)

"But the only condition that I can think of attaching to the composition of the novel is, as I have already said, that it be interesting. This freedom is a splendid privilege, and the first lesson of the young novelist is to learn to be worthy of it. "Enjoy it as it deserves," I should say to him; "take possession of it, explore it to its utmost extent, reveal it, rejoice in it. All life belongs to you, and don't listen either to those who would shut you up into corners of it and tell you that it is only here and there that art inhabits, or to those who would persuade you that this heavenly messenger wings her way outside of life altogether, breathing a superfine air and turning away her head from the truth of things. There is no impression of life, no manner of seeing it and feeling it, to which the plan of the novelist may not offer a place; you have only to remember that talents so dissimilar as those of Alexandre Dumas and Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Gustave Flaubert, have worked in this field with equal glory."

[Julián Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry James tiene una visión hermosa de lo que significa escribir, de la forma en que intentamos descubrir el mundo a través de lo que escribimos, de las formas con las que definimos y redefinimos nuestro mundo, nuestro diccionario de la vida.

Explora las formas de la novela de forma minuciosa, dándose la libertad de glorificar o rechazar textos que a simple vista son semejantes pero que producto de su contexto, semántica y trasfondo se pueden convertir en cosas simples o simplonas.

Una letra más, un párrafo menos, los pequeños detalles con los que nos obsesionamos quienes escribimos, que le dan sentido y significado a las horas de reflexión con amigos, editores, críticos y otros escritores. La magia de una letra con otra y otra, exploradas minuciosamente, para encontrar el secreto que en sus intersticios ocultan la verdadera historia, que como una revelación se convierte en novela.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essay in which James analyzes and expands upon the lecture by Walter Besant with the same title (The Art of Fiction). The main emphasis seemed to be whether or not it was necessary for a novel to have an edifying moral agenda behind it, and whether or not a novel requires a plot or story at all. An interesting primary source as to the mind set of Victorian authors and readers.

[Anne Oftedahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for my Creative Voice 1 class

Henry James has some really good point about the way we view fiction, but I will definitely have to reread this come time closer to my essay... I mean, it was written ages ago, so it's a very slow and "heavy" read

[Ricardo Tovar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besant, James y Stevenson:

Joyce: I'm about to end this man's whole career.

[Diego Armijo Otárola · Rating 5 out of 5]

taller

[Ioana Lily Balas · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Art of Fiction' consists of two essays, one a lecture delivered by Walter Besant in 1884, and the second a response by Henry James. The latter is one of my favourite classic authors, largely due to 'The Portrait of a Lady' which I strongly believe is ahead of its time partly due to themes that bring to life layers of authenticity and social expectations of the 19th century. I have to admit I haven't heard of Walter Besant, I take it his work just hasn't aged well. And this monologue might help in some ways explain why.

His goals are threefold:
1/ Establish that fiction is an art form, equal to say painting or sculpture
2/ Define norms for creating fiction
3/ Decidedly express that some people may have a talent for writing, while others may not

There's things I liked more and things I liked less. Overall I found that Besant is very rigid in his rules of writing, the strongest one is that one must only write from one's own experiences. This is something that was even an internet conversation in the last year and I firmly disagree. Reading is an exercise in empathy, we learn so much by placing ourselves in the shoes of someone else and 'living' their lives. I'd imagine that the same can be said about writing these characters and these experiences. It forces the author to challenge their idea system, their mindset, creating a fuller spectrum of emotions and thoughts. And I'm glad that Henry James agrees with me. Both authors do agree on exposing oneself to all sorts of different events and adventures, continuously expanding upon one's world views.

Besant also encourages aspiring authors to start by practising observation. Look at situations, people, movements, objects, everything you encounter. Take them in and put them on paper. He also underlines how important it is to have clarity in thought, to begin with clear ideas that get to a point. When it comes to characters, express them through their actions and behaviours, through the scenes in which they act. While it is easier to use descriptive words for their personalities, it is far less readable, engaging or convincing. Scene upon scene, the author will bring about a growth of their character, which is more naturally shown than told.

Another aspect the two writers disagree on is the morality of the English novel (and Henry James explicitly includes the American novel here, as an American-British writer himself). While Besant considers them highly moral, with often a hypothesis to prove, a lesson, Henry James expresses that in fact it has only been recently that fiction written in English have been seen as serious, in large part due to authors themselves instilling that tone upon their own work.

Generally, Henry James has more of a flexible view upon the craft. He believes that humanity comes in many forms, and therefore reality can be viewed in many forms too. His only condition? That the story be interesting. How it gets there, what techniques the author employs, is only second to that.

I'm still not sure if this was worth reading and who it's for. It's more of a philosophy of writing than an actual lesson in writing or many applicable tips. It did lead me to think about experiences vs. imagination, of how styles have evolved and how different authors craft, for example some start with outlines, others allow the story to shape itself. But a lot of the ideas in these essays go in circle and take some effort to pull apart, making it a less worthwhile read.

[Emily D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This essay is highly entertaining in that it is an argument against a pamphlet by the same title, written by a guy named Walter Besant. Henry James describes what Besant got right, but mostly presents his objections. He does so in a hilarious way because he writes so beautifully and descriptively, but with a bite of sarcasm. I wonder if Besant ever got the chance to counter?
Towards the middle of the essay, James begins an analogy between a writer and a painter, which he continues to the end of the essay. He says that the two types of artist have similar degrees of freedom but that painting would seem to allow for more teaching up front before sending a novice painter off on his or her own, whereas writing as an art wouldn't have those beginning lessons just due to the mechanics of the art and a novice writer just kind of has to start without guidelines (at least that's the gist I got from what I read). I would add to James' analogy though, that learning to speak and write the language, and other introductory language and writing lessons, could be thought of as similar to the introductory painting lessons on technique (color mixing, brush strokes, etc.) and that his analogy is fine enough without his caveat.

I enjoyed this passage:
"There is a traditional difference between that which people know and that which they agree to admit that they know, that which they see and that which they speak of, that which they feel to be a part of life and that which they allow to enter into literature. There is the great difference, in short, between what they talk of in conversation and what they talk of in print."

And I liked his conclusion, that the only rule he has for writing fiction, is that it be sincere.

[Sukriti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walter Besant's "The Art of Fiction" is a timeless guide for aspiring writers. With clarity and insight, Besant delves into the craft of storytelling, offering practical advice on character development, plot construction, and narrative techniques. His emphasis on the importance of truth and sincerity in fiction resonates throughout the book, making it a valuable resource for both novice and seasoned writers. Through examples and anecdotes, Besant demystifies the complexities of writing, encouraging readers to hone their skills and embrace creativity. Whether you're an aspiring novelist or simply curious about the art of storytelling, this book is an indispensable companion on your literary journey.

[Emily Bancroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever read and enjoyed a fiction book, or have a favourite novel or simply find comfort in reading then you need to read this book! Walter Besant really gets down to the heart of what reading a novel feels like and what it evokes and how that can come to be. If this book was just his work then it would easily be a 5 star read.

However, Henry James comes in to critique with his fanciful words and listless ideas. His section seems to exist simply to criticise. Where Besant explores feeling and what a novel can produce, James’ whole idea seems to be to tell the reader what to think and how to think and not to formulate their own ideas but to just use his. It’s a whole lot of waffle that is disguised as intelligent. It isn’t.