Mastering Fiction Writing [Hardcover]

Kit Reed (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- Reed's book gives concrete examples of how to write a specific scene or develop a character or situation. For those with some experience, Roth's book is a real gem. There are all kinds of lists of terminology, ideas, skills, settings, themes, etc., for unlimited genres of fiction. Both ask questions to make writers think about what they are doing, how they are doing it, and where they are going. Teenagers will love Roth's book; there are more lists than text. Reed's title, on the other hand, will require more intensive reading. Both are useful in their own right. --Margie Jones, Herndon Int., Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 142 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 1st edition (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089879479X
• ISBN-13: 978-0898794793
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,530,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kit Reed's new short story collection, "What Wolves Know," just out from PS Publishing ( Spring 2011), includes stories originally published in venues ranging from Asimov's SF to the Kenyon Review and the Yale Review.

Called "a gripping dystopian thriller" in a starred review in Publishers Weekly, Kit Reed's novels, Enclave, The Baby Merchant and Thinner Than Thou a winner of the A.L.A. Alex Award, and her collection, Dogs of Truth, are available in trade paperback. The New York Times Book Review has this to say about her work: "Most of these stories shine with the incisive edginess of brilliant cartoons... they are less fantastic than visionary." Other novels include @​expectations, Captain Grownup, Fort Privilege, Catholic Girls, J. Eden and Little Sisters of the Apocalypse. As Kit Craig she is the author of Gone, Twice Burned and other psychological thrillers published here and in the UK. A Guggenheim fellow, she is the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation. She's had stories in, among others, The Yale Review, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature. Her books Weird Women, Wired Women and Little Sisters of the Apocalypse were finalists for the Tiptree Prize.

A member of the board of the Authors League Fund, she serves as Resident Writer at Wesleyan University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Bit too Mystical and Patronizing, January 19, 2002

By 

Leonard R Budney - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Fiction Writing (Hardcover)

This book claims to be "practical", but I'm afraid it isn't very. Instead, it's full of self-indulgent fluff.

Ms. Reed sets the tone in chapter 1: "Sources: Where I Think Fiction Comes From". True to its title, the chapter is mostly a bunch of personal opinion--generally vague, mystical ones like, "Be willing to bring everything you know and are to the typewriter". The only truly useful point in the chapter is also an obvious point: fiction comes from the writer's experiences.

The book also contains some useful information about writing. But the useful information is all fairly obvious: either inane observations or else the same suggestions you will find in a hundred other books on writing. Nothing that really makes it worth plunging through the "I thinks" and the personal anecdotes--unless you are as fascinated with Kit Reed as Kit Reed seems to be.