Techniques of the Selling Writer [Paperback]

Dwight V. Swain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1982 | ISBN-10: 0806111917 | ISBN-13: 978-0806111919

This book provides solid instruction for persons who want to write and sell fiction, not just to talk and study about it. It gives the background, insights, and specific procedures needed by all beginning writers. Here one can learn how to group words into copy that moves, movement into scenes, and scenes into stories; how to develop characters, how to revise and polish, and finally, how to sell the product.

This is the book for writers who want to turn rejection slips into cashable checks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dwight V. Swain spent a lifetime writing newspaper and magazine articles, pulp fiction, and screenplays. For more than twenty years he taught in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Oklahoma. His popular books, Techniques of the Selling Writer and Creating Characters: How to Build Story People are published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 342 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (May 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806111917
• ISBN-13: 978-0806111919
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Authorship

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

164 of 165 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book got me published July 1, 2002

By R. Tiedemann

Format:Paperback

Although Swain's book was originally published in 1965, there's a very good reason why it's still in print. The information he presents is solid, useful and timeless.

The book has 10 chapters. The first, Fiction and You, tells what the writer needs to know and gives common traps writers fall into. Then he discusses things like rules and the creative act of writing. His style is terse and sentences are short. That makes it easy to find specific information when you go back later to look for it.

In the second chapter he gets down to serious business -- words. How to find them, how to use them and make them clear and concise. The third chapter is all about feelings and how to use them. In the fourth he goes into the necessity for conflict, what to do and not to do in building it. Chapter Five presents the strategies of fiction. "Fiction..." he writes, "creates an especially vivid vicarious tension...Your job as a writer is to control and manipulate this tension." He also delineates the source of story satisfaction and describes how to produce it.

Chapter 6 is all about getting a story started, lining up story elements, developing the middle of the story and winding it up. Story people and the importance of characters and character development are covered in Chapter 7. Planning the story, recognizing good story material, preparing to write, and what you need in order to succeed as a writer wind up the last few chapters. He devotes one page to marketing advice and that simply directs the reader to study the markets.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most useful and easiest to use books on the craft of writing that has ever been published. Its advice is timeless. This book should be in every writer's collection.

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Skip the MFA classes and read this book, then write! January 11, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I had published a fair amount of fiction BEFORE I read it. But reading Swain, having him help me take apart the structure of my scenes, the very order of the sentences in a paragraph, the order of words in a sentence, and to then change them for maximum power--wow! Since then I've published much more fiction, because I have an understanding of the techniques of writing. The selling parts of the book are things I've gotten elsewhere, but learning what makes good sentences, good scenes, balanced chapters--it's worth a fortune. This book and Gary Provost's MAKING YOUR WORDS WORK are the two best tools for writers I've found. And I'm saying this as my 1th book is about to come out, and my 500th shorter piece. Thanks, Dwight. Wish you were still around.

65 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on writing around November 10, 2001

By Patricia Kay

Format:Paperback

This book was recommended to me before I sold my first book, and I'm certain what I learned in reading it contributed to that first sale and all the ones that followed (I've sold 45 novels in all). I highly recommend it, not only for novices, but for all writers.