Customer Reviews

The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Writing Fiction and Nonfiction

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I've been taking fiction workshops for years from many truly wonderful teachers, and yet I was blown away by this book. Full of wit and wisdom, this breathtakingly comprehensive primer on the writing of both fiction and creative non-fiction leads you through all aspects of crafting creative work: from sparking ideas for stories and essays, to developing them using a full range of craft tools, to revision techniques that take an early draft and push it toward a completed work of art.

As I read through this book--and it's a book that you will read from cover to cover, like a novel--I found myself exclaiming in surprise and then nodding with agreement at the utterly original and illuminating explanations of things I thought I knew. The book's chapter on "Showing and Telling" alone is worth the price of admission, as it simultaneously provides a context for that old saw "show not tell," while revealing why the advice can be so wrong-headed. Likewise, the chapter on structure provides a firm grounding in traditional notions of what a short story should be while opening our eyes to the wonderful possibilities of work that doesn't fit neatly into that mold.

Whether you are just getting started or are an old hand at writing, each page will bring you exciting discoveries about craft and creativity and open up new worlds of meaning as you delve into the work of well-known as well as up-and-coming writers. Most importantly of all, you'll be inspired to sit down in front of the blank page (or computer screen), roll up your sleeves, and get to your own creative work.

Alice LaPlante's "The Making of a Story" is textbook-length (well over six hundred pages), and should appeal not only to serious writing students, but also to teachers and readers who would like more insight into how writers create. Creative writing is not for the faint-hearted; that is clear from the outset. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when staring at a blank page or screen, trying to come with original ideas and fresh ways to express them. LaPlante gently and slowly guides her readers through the entire process from getting off the ground to putting the finishing touches on the final draft.

LaPlante's scope is encyclopedic. She includes such topics as: making the ordinary extraordinary, employing imagery effectively, writing a good opening, developing plot and characters, choosing a point of view, writing believable dialogue, generating suspense, and revising one's work. She also discusses the strengths and limitations of writing workshops. The author emphasizes that there are no hard and fast rules; rather, she is passing on "conventions" that have worked for many but not all writers.

How does this work differ from others of its type? "The Making of a Story" covers more territory than most writing handbooks. Part of the book's length results from the inclusion of quite a few full-length classic stories, such as Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," John Cheever's "The Swimmer," James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," and a non-fiction piece, Barbara Ehrenreich's "Welcome to Cancerland." Each work is followed by thought questions such as "How do the opening paragraphs set the tone for the story?" and "Can you point to some sections of narration that are convincing because of their specificity?" There are also dozens of exercises sprinkled throughout the book. For example, the student should pretend that she is a camera and record everything that she sees in a place rich with visual stimulation.

"Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose is another excellent work of this type; in fact, LaPlante quotes Prose and even uses the phrase "Reading as a Writer" repeatedly. "The Making of a Story" is well organized into fourteen carefully constructed chapters. There is a useful table of contents, a glossary of literary terms, a bibliography, a list of stories, and a thorough index. This guide cannot be absorbed in one sitting. It should be savored slowly and kept as a ready reference book. Used judiciously, it can serve as a source of inspiration to help writers bring out the best in themselves.

Buy this book!! I have always wanted to write fiction, but didn't know where to start. A professor at a local University raved about this book so I purchased it immediately. It has literally changed the way I look at writing and has provided me with the structure and knowledge I needed to write. The most amazing part is it teaches you in a way that is easily understood and applicable, something that other similar books I have read have not been able to accomplish. This is a book that you will buy and keep near to you because you will reference it constantly. I am going to purchase a dozen more and give them to my daughters in college, as well as the sons and daughters of my friends and family. Great job Ms. La Plante!!!

The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante is the BEST BOOK I have read on creative writing--a truly "modern" version of older books like Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction and John Gardner's The Art of Fiction. The book is broader and deeper than previous books: for example it contains information on writing creative nonfiction as well as fiction; it describes the traditional models of shaping a story (conflict-crisis-resolution model, epiphany and change models) but is inclusive, allows for a wider, organic, more creative definition (stories must surprise us and convince us at the same time Alice says); it contains 26 complete short stories from outstanding writers (Baldwin, Carver, Cheever, Chekhov, Cooper, Didion, Ehrenreich, Hemingway, Johnson, Lamott, Oates, O'Brien, Packer, Sharma, and others) AND has exercises for writers at the end of each chapter--and examples of each exercise completed by students from Alice LaPlante's classes whose writing excellence is equal in many cases to that of the published authors in the book. What is really helpful is the ability of these exercises, or "constraints" as she explains, to help writers (beginners or advanced) access their personal, authentic, most inspirational material. This book teaches how to combine method (craft) with madness (inspiration) and is fascinating to read! I recommend it to anyone who loves stories--readers and writers.

I've been trying to get a handle on stories for years. Eight years. In that time I've read lots of writing guides: guides on fiction-writing, novel-writing, screenwriting, and myth structure. In my opinion, Alice LaPlante's "The Making of a Story" is the BEST BEST BEST. I'll be keeping it on the bookshelf near my desk, and it will be the first place I go to for guidance, reminders, examples, and encouragement.

Before I get into the unique strengths of the book, here's a brief, incomplete description of its contents. It offers thorough discussions of the foundational elements of written stories: point of view, dialogue, characterization, scene vs. narrative, specificity, etc. You'll also find fantastic sections on the aspects of storytelling that are harder to define and exemplify. For example, the chapter titled "What's This Creative Work Really About?" discusses the idea of "truth" in fiction. The chapter entitled "The Shapely Story" provides the best answer I've ever seen to the question, "What is a story?" The book also contains excellent writing exercises. I find that some other books suggest rather prescriptive writing exercises, about a specific situation or set of characters. I love LaPlante's exercises because although they set you to the task of focusing on a specific point of craft, in terms of subject matter they are generally quite open-ended, so that the exercise is not just an exercise, but also potentially a journey into your own particular subject matter du jour. Finally, the book contains the entire text of many well-known stories and essays which give the reader/writer an idea of what's possible, what's been done, and what to shoot for.

As you can see, this book provides all the basic information and tools an aspiring writer would like to find in a guide to writing stories. But LaPlante goes above and beyond. She doesn't ever settle for the easy answer, choosing instead to take the time to explore many answers to one question. You can get a sense of this from one of her chapter titles alone: "Why You Need to Show *and* Tell". It's a fabulous, fabulous chapter. In the chapter entitled "The Shapely Story," LaPlante takes on the question, "What is a story?", refusing to settle for a simple rule or set of rules. Instead, she offers a number of different ways to express what a story is. (If you've ever workshopped a story you're proud of, only to have everyone say, "but this isn't really a story yet," you'll really appreciate this chapter.) One of my other fave chapters is "Learning to Fail Better," about first drafts and revision.

Alice LaPlante is such a thoughtful, experienced, wise writer...and generous, too. Her book is full of quotes from other writers. Some of these quotes are examples from fiction and nonfiction that exemplify the techniques or qualities being discussed. Some of the quotes are from other writers who have written brilliantly on writing. The voices of E.M. Forster, Charles Baxter, John Gardner, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and many others are heard here.

LaPlante is to-the-point whenever she can be, philosophical when necessary, down-to-earth at all times. Her friendly voice paired with her careful, intense scrutiny of the craft of storytelling make for an outstanding book. If you're a serious student of the art and craft of telling stories, you will find a wonderful teacher in "The Making of a Story."

I've been waiting for this book for years, and it does not disappoint! A friend of mine has taken classes with the author at Stanford University, and has long been telling me about the amazing exercises she creates to help her students come up with thrilling ideas for stories, poems, and essays, as well as teach them about important points of craft. This book collects these in one place, along with the most practical, hands-on, and easily understandable explanations of creative writing that you'll find anywhere. All of this is backed up further with carefully annotated excerpts from some of the best contemporary stories and essays.

But it's the exercises that are the crown jewels of this book. Not only does LaPlante tell you the purpose of each exercise, and provide step-by-step instructions on how to complete each one, she gives you examples of how her students have completed the assignments. This is wonderfully inspirational as well as practical, as it gives you a concrete jumping-off point for your own work. My only quibble is that there aren't more of them!

Yet another book on creative writing? Who needs it? That's what I thought until I read The Making of a Story. I have every book on writing ever published, and this is the one that will be on my desk, next to my dictionary and thesaurus. Utterly fresh and accessible, this book combines the encouraging voice of a mentor who really, really likes you with the academic rigor of the toughest professor. Truly a stunning achievement!

Although it checks in at a pretty hefty size (677 pages), Alice LaPlante's 'The Making of a Story' has hardly a wasted word in its entirety. Each chapter deals with a separate aspect of writing (primarily covering character-driven fiction, but also creative non-fiction), including high-level concepts such as the true meaning and goal of writing as an art form, but also more rudimentary aspects of writing, such as characterization, dialogue, and point of view.

Of course, this isn't the first, and certainly not the last, book to cover this material. Classics of the genre include Sol Stein's 'Stein on Writing', John Gardner's 'The Art of Fiction', EM Forster's 'The Aspects of the Novel', and many others (Stephen King's 'On Writing' comes to mind).

'The Making of a Story' stands up to all these works, and in many ways eclipses them, particularly with respect to accessibility. Where Gardner, Stein, and Forster are prone to esoteric pontification, LaPlante prefers the practical; this only enhances the value of what she has to say. Each chapter concludes with a few writing exercises that reinforce the chapter's material, and these exercises are followed by one or two pieces of published writing that further illustrate the topic. These examples, unlike those of Gardner or Stein, are excellent examples, and include a wide range of authors, from ZZ Packer and Denis Johnson to Chekov and Tim O'Brien. The net effect of the three-part form chapters (her narrative, then exercises, then published writing) combine to create an immensely useful guide.

I consider it one of the best (if not THE best) books I've read on creative writing.

As a former student of Ms. LaPlante's, I have first-hand knowledge of her teaching talent. She has somehow managed to get her priceless lectures into a book that is thorough and accessible. Teachers and writers of all shapes and sizes will find a way into their material with Alice LaPlante's guide. Not all teachers are excellent writers and not all writers are excellent teachers. Alice is uniquely both. Lucky us that Alice decided to write this book. Enjoy!

This is an excellent book for writers of all experience/ability levels. If you are at all interested in improving your writing skills this is the guide to get. Its appeal should not have to be limited to aspiring fiction writers either, anybody who writes reports, letters, even blogs can benefit from some of the targeted advice. I'd love to see this guide on college textbook lists for all students, not only the literary ones!