Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction (Paperback)

by Damon Knight (Author) "In a remarkable book called You Are Extraordinary, Roger J. Williams wrote that if there were as much variation in the visible parts of our..." (more)
Key Phrases: omniscient viewpoint, plot skeleton, viewpoint character, New York, John O'Hara, Kate Wilhelm (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"To those who hunger to be writers I commend this book without reservation."--Harlan Ellison

"What Knight doesn't know about writing the short story cannot be put into expository prose anyway."--Algis Budrys

"Knight is one of the preeminent teachers of writing in this country. [This book] should be considered essential for all beginning writers . . . not to mention a few others, who've forgotten the valuable information it contains."--Lucius Shepard, author of The Jaguar Hunter
-- Review

Review

"To those who hunger to be writers I commend this book without reservation."--Harlan Ellison

"What Knight doesn't know about writing the short story cannot be put into expository prose anyway."--Algis Budrys

"Knight is one of the preeminent teachers of writing in this country. [This book] should be considered essential for all beginning writers . . . not to mention a few others, who've forgotten the valuable information it contains."--Lucius Shepard, author of The Jaguar Hunter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Revised edition (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312150946
• ISBN-13: 978-0312150945
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,704 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DAMON KNIGHT IS A MASTER TEACHER READ AND LEARN, March 1, 2003

By	W.Mathesonis "wizards-r-us" (currently Canada) - See all my reviews

Damon Knight passed away recently --he was not only a great writer (penning such classics as the original Twilight Zone episode 'To Serve Man') but a first rate teacher. I have many writing books including Jack the classic 'Short Story Writing' by Thronley but THIS book by Knight beats them all. He not only covers everything from getting ideas to mixed viewpoints and compression in story action but goes into such detail you will feel you're are sitting in a serious university class on writing fiction.
Harlan Ellison recommended this book--Harlan Ellison -- if you know Ellison you know he would never recommend anything unless he liked it.


As a matter of fact this book is NOT some fluff piece on 'getting in touch with the inner writer' and all that nonesense --no this author treats the reader as a serious aspiring writer. He also includes excercises which adds to what he is teaching you.
I only wish I could have met this author to shake his hand. A job very well done you will NOT be disappointed! It's about 208 pages (with index) of packed information on how to write and especially on how to get control over your story, keep that control till the end until you have a quality manuscript.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best of its class., June 19, 1997

By A Customer

As an MFA student I've been looking at a lot of books about how to write fiction, and very few of them do anything other than encourage you to keep writing. This book teaches you how to write a short story, and encourages you to write a =better= short story (without imposing its own definition of "better"). It is the only "how-to" book in fiction that I have found that I can recommend, and I use it in my own teaching

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical advice from a talented writer, January 29, 2005

By	Galen K. Valentine "gallaine" (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Knight's, Creating Short Fiction is, perhaps ironically, a short book but he manages to cover the craft of writing from nurturing talent to getting the story completed to what its like being a writer. A lecturer at the Clarion Workshop and author of many short stories and novels he knows how to write. But he doesn't give the reader a step-by-step guide to story writing. Such a recipe, in my limited experience, doesn't exist and Knight does well to avoid trying to give one. What the reader will find are discussions about the elements every story must have and how to use them. He also discusses what a story is and is not, how to generate ideas, and even a few work habits the reader might find effective.

The elements of stories and story writing can be found in many other books. Rather than simply parrot them, Knight is candid about which techniques he doesn't like and why; but that isn't to say the would-be author is allowed to break every rule. He give examples of stories and authors that show the successful use of a particular element or technique e.g. first person subjective point-of-view. And Knight includes diagrams that make the concept of story structure and viewpoint easier to understand. All of this advice is given in a conversational style that is never condescending.

Creating Short Fiction helped me to understand that, like painting or drawing, writing is highly individualized. Every art form has its accepted rules and techniques. And each artist must learn to build upon that foundation, combining the fundamental elements into unique patterns.

There are a few editorial errors, mainly of omission, that make the book feel as if it were the choicest bits from a much longer work. Overall this is an excellent book for the beginning writer, and perhaps the experienced one.