The Art and Craft of Fiction A Writer's Guide

Brief, practical, and wonderfully readable, The Art and Craft of Fictiongives aspiring writers all they need in under 300 pages. Michael Kardos focuses on technique and presents fiction writing as a teachable (and learnable) art. With an organization built on methods and process rather than traditional literary elements, Kardos helps students begin their stories, write strong scenes, use images and detail, revise for aesthetics and mechanics, and finish and polish their own stories. He delivers clear instruction, effective examples, and assignments that build toward finished work in a tone reviewers praise as "pitch perfect." A brief fiction anthology at the back of the book of 15 works that Kardos draws on in his instruction provides stories that students will love to be inspired by.

Michael Kardos (michaelkardos.com) of Mississippi State University is a fiction author and instructor. He is the author of the story collection One Last Good Time (Press 53, 2011) and the forthcoming novel The Three-Day Affair (Grove/Atlantic 2012). His short stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, Prairie Schooner, and many other magazines and anthologies. His essays about fiction have appeared in The Writer's Chronicle and Writer's Digest. Kardos received his B.A. from Princeton University, his M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He currently lives in Starkville, Mississippi, where he co-directs the creative writing program at Mississippi State and edits the literary journal Jabberwock Review. Kardos is author of the upcoming Bedford text, The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer's Guide and a contributor to Bedford's LitBits, where he blogs about teaching creative writing.