You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside The Story (Paperback)

~ B. J. Hollars (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Welcome to the Ride of Your Writing Life

Compelling stories have the power to generate infinite wonder: It’s nearly impossible to imagine how the author began, and yet we sense there’s much more beyond the final word. It’s this mystery—a combination of inspiration and craft, smoke and mirrors—that makes writing feel momentous. But it can also feel overwhelming, causing us to become small, scared, not quite ready for the “big” rides, such as finishing that story, that novel, and finding the courage to share it with the world.

In You Must Be This Tall to Ride, you’ll find 20 works of fiction and nonfiction by acclaimed contemporary authors, each offering fresh perspective on “coming of age” (a story to which we can all relate), as well as exclusive personal essays and practical exercises. In their own words, these writers grant you a guided tour of craft with unparalleled access to the process behind their creation, including how to:

• grow a story from the seed of an image or sentence
• allow experiments with language to lead you to plot
• turn even the most unlikely characters into heroes
• transform raw anecdotes from your own life into compelling fiction and essay

Join these 20 writers as we grow up and down, taking a rollercoaster ride in stories. You’ll not only begin to understand what makes the wheels of a story turn, you’ll also gain the tools and strategies to transform lost characters and runaway plots into the greatest show on earth. So go ahead, step right up. Listen for the calliope music, and take your place in line.

Your ride has just begun.

About the Author

B. J. Hollars is a student in the MFA programme at the University of Alabama. His short fiction has been published in many journals and has earned the Davenport Fiction Prize and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize. He is a book reviewer for bookslut.com and a staff member for the literary journal Black Warrior Review.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (May 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582975744
• ISBN-13: 978-1582975740
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #546,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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