A Writer's Guide to Fiction: A Concise, Practical Guide for Novelists and Short-Story Writers

by Elizabeth Lyon

The second book in the Writer's Compass series from professional writing instructor Elizabeth Lyon offers both aspiring and established authors the fundamentals of writing and selling a great novel or short story. In addition to the basics of characterization, plot, pacing, and theme, A Writer's Guide to Fiction also features a plan for revising fiction, a guide to marketing, samples of cover and query letters, and methods of honing the writing craft.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy of this guide, the second in Elizabeth’s Lyon’s Writer’s Compass books, is as marked up as Manuscript Makeover, the final in her five series.

I was in a workshop when a participant whose work I respect, a published writer, declared A Writer’s Guide to Fiction to be his writing bible. I quickly thanked him, and plunged down the stairs to buy it – the only copy left!

Compass-Point titles in this guide are North: Getting Your Bearings; South: Trouble Shooting and Problem-Solving; East: Your Rising Star; and West: Refining Your Vision.

Lyon also offers “Maps” throughout. Some examples: Map 1-1 – Sources of Story Ideas (9); Map 1-2 – Generating Ideas – Recommended Books (21); Map 12-1: Can Your Novel Pass This Test? (14 questions, with a rating guide); and Map 13-1 – Elements of Dynamic Synopsis.

North has the real meat of this guide: the basics of plot, characterization, pacing and theme. The other three sections offer tips, strategies and examples which will ultimately lead you to the other books in her series, most notably, The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit, and the final in the series: Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore.

On her website, http://www.elizabethlyon.com/ Elizabeth says: My two books in the skill-based Writer's Compass series continue to gain recognition for their comprehensive clear how-to instruction and my down-to-earth style (always the farm girl). Published by Perigee, an imprint of USA Penguin, they are A Writer's Guide to Nonfiction ('03) and A Writer's Guide to Fiction ('04).

A Writer’s Guide to Fiction contains material I haven’t read anywhere else, and it is valuable for the novel and short story writing – of any genre, including literary fiction. I highly recommend it for anyone who takes his/her writing seriously.

[Rhonda Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* - I didn't find anything earth-shattering in this book. The info was pretty basic. I had moments where I didn't really care for the author's writing style - sometimes chapters felt more like college essays (with perfect summaries at the end to remind you what you learned).

[John Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For somebody like me who's trying to learn how to write fiction, this is a great book. It covers all the basics. It helped push me along my journey.

Understand while reading it that there are many ways to skin a cat. The advice here is straightforward and standard. It doesn't win any think outside the box awards. The advice is also broad. Entire books have been written about most of the chapters; which she refers. You don't find many books covering The Hero's Journey and even less The Heroine's Journey. I think even published authors will find refreshing perspectives on at least something in here.

It doesn't all work for me, but I'm not a proven writer. I read about characterization and yawned, but I read about narrative arc and realized there's a lot to be said about understanding the rules and why they exist before you break them. This book helps you with many rules, fundamentals, and understanding.

I highly recommend it as part of your writing journey.

[DW · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I don't know if I'm really the intended audience. I had mild interest in maybe writing a short story, but this book is mostly focused on novels. The Hero's Journey kind of made sense. The Heroine's Journey made no sense whatsoever. I don't know what the Jungian archetypes of Masculine and Feminine are, and they aren't explained in this book. And what on earth is "The Initiation and Descent to the Goddess" supposed to be? I also thought the "Archetypes of Characterization" were weird - why would somebody change their personality type depending on what phase of the story they were in? I am also predisposed to be critical because I thought the whole North, South, East, West sections, and calling lists "Maps", were just gimmicky.

This book did teach me that it is the characters that make the story. At first I disagreed with this assertion, because I like plenty of stories with complex and surprising plots. But then I reflected that I was also drawn to the characters in the plots, and if I didn't care about the characters I would not have been very interested to find out what happened to them. And in fact, we do tend to remember the characters better than the plot intricacies later on. I also learned that writers can hire professional editors to work on their manuscripts before sending them in for publishing.

The most interesting section was the one on troubleshooting. If I ever did end up writing a novel, I would check it over with this section when revising. One interesting possible problem was POV - including something a character would not have known, when writing from the point of view of that character. I saw this a couple of times in a Tom Clancy novel I was reading and it was extremely confusing.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very helpful guide.
I found so many useful tips and advice.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Lyon guides the budding writer through the art of fiction. Much like her guide to nonfiction, this book takes a step-by-step approach to construct a piece.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this book, I assumed that there wasn't much to writing a novel beyond simply sitting down and writing it. This book opened my eyes to the extremely complicated and structured path that a writer actually takes to write a successful novel. It described the process of structuring scenes, ordering conflicts, describing characters, and so much more - I took so many notes on this book. It also described the basics of marketing and publishing a novel, which was another thing to which I hadn't given much thought. Overall this book gave me a solid path to take when I write, and I know that I will refer back to it in the future to review everything that it taught me!

[Angela Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book hard to get into. It was chock full of information but I found it harder to get through than some other books I've read about the art of writing. I also didn't like the charts and lists in the middle of chapters. I felt like they slowed me down and I didn't read many of them. I often had to turn the page to keep reading a paragraph and I never went back to read lists/charts. Even though I didn't particularly like this book, I will still take some things away from it to use in my own writing.

[Laura Gilfillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great advice for developing the art and craft of writing. Leans heavily on the hero's or heroine's journey as a basis for plotting the story. Also a lot of emphasis on mapping your story, and analyzing it for certain characteristics and character growth, which I personally find confusing. But there are so many great tips, and wonderful support for getting the job done, it was an enjoyable second read for me, and I came away with some things I'd like to try to improve my own writing.

[T.M. Carper]

This book reads a lot like an English class. In fact, the book sounds exactly like my high school AP English classes, down to the type of books they describe. If you want to know specific terms and exact how-tos, this book is for you.



It is informative, but not overly helpful to me. Borrow, don't buy.

[Colin · Rating 1 out of 5]

For what I want to use it for--a commercial balance to the experimental fiction my students will also read--it'll be fine. But there's only a smattering of good advice in here, and it's sloppily proofread (no one caught "Wally Lamb's This Much I Know Is True"??).

[Kathryndenisesmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth is a friend, reading her books are like listening to her speak, which is very enjoyable.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of step with the current industry and marketing. Needs revision to be applicable to today's author.

[Christy Blevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Lyon writes very informative and helpful books. These are most definitely helping me on my journey of writing a fiction novel.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good practical information, lots of help on developing characters. No nonsense stuff!

[Tammie Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book with clear advice in places, but was a bit too "philosophical" for me in others.