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Best in 7 days
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4.3 ★★★★★
Based on 2013 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
The Best Starter Writing Book Out There
Format: Kindle
Anyone who's serious about writing a book needs to start here. Gardner's advice on maintaining the "fictional dream" for the reader--that is, suspension of disbelief, immersion--is top notch. Part I, the discussion and overview of fiction, is engaging and helps contextualize the advice presented: where on the spectrum of the written word we are trying to fit into, what it aims to accomplish, what it needs to accomplish that, and how we go about creating it as writers.
Part II covers the common pitfalls and offers technical advice. Style and structure are covered, with especially good lessons on diction and proper sequencing of signals in the test (stimulus, involuntary reaction, voluntary reaction--which may be thought of as cause & effect and is explained in greater depth in Dwight V. Swain's book as Motivation-Reaction Units), with solid explanations for why mistakes here harm the fictional dream and why it is important to get it right. Also covered are the "clumsy writing" mistakes such as characters looking in mirrors to shoehorn description into the text, as well as melodrama, which relies on cheap sleight of hand in writing as opposed to real drama. I loved the section on vocabulary, which explained the problem with writing-by-thesaurus while emphasizing the importance of expanding ordinary vocabulary that include more uncommon words (such as technical architectural terms like "lintel," which, while uncommon, are a benefit to writing) as well as brand names.
What this book will do:
- Give you a good overview of fiction
- Help you understand what fiction tries to accomplish, why, and how
- Explain the common clumsy mistakes and how to avoid them
- Provide you exercises
- Entertain you with Gardner's engaging writing voice (so it doesn't feel like a manual)
What this book won't do:
- Help you understand nonfiction and how to write it
- Cover the common mistakes in-depth
- Give you genre-specific advice
- Cover anything related to self-publishing
- Explain the business of writing
- Take the place of critiquers, beta readers, or editors
This is a great intro to writing craft book. It should, at the very least, help you understand what you're trying to do and identify your weaknesses so that you may find more narrowly tailored resources to help you. I find myself referring to the passages I highlighted quite often, both in the paperback and the Kindle version.
FWIW, the Kindle version is now searchable. When I first bought it, it was not. The search function is a *great* help.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2016
★★★★★ 5
This is a must read for ALL writers, not just fiction writers!
Format: Paperback
This is a must read for ALL writers, not just fiction writers! Although, in places, a bit technical, for any writer, not just new writers, for anyone who wants to master their craft, this is a must read book.
What can be said about Gardner that hasn't been said yet? One of the best books on writing about writing that I have read. Comparable to Stephen King's, On Writing. Yes, it is that good. In Part I Gardner lays out a compelling treatise about the genre of fiction, what it is and why it is important. In Part II he discusses the how-to of writing good fiction, where he talks about common errors, technique and plotting at length. One of the benefits from reading The Art of Fiction is that it gives the reader a crash course in literature, who many of us that come from a Science, Technical, Engineering and Math (STEM) background are sorely lacking in. This said a writer who has grown up in the sciences, or engineering, or business worlds will find this book very useful in "catching up" a bit to our friends who have read all of classics and can retell significant scenes as though they were there. Again, this is a must (must) read for ALL writers, not just fiction writers.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2017
★★★★★ 4
Helpful
Format: Hardcover
The book itself is excellent, very helpful with lots of specific information.
I was disappointed (one star) that the used hardcover edition I ordered arrived as the paperback edition, though in very good condition.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Good!
Format: Paperback
Needed this for a class but still keep it around as its useful to my field of study.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2026
★★★★★ 5
Simply what any serious would-be writer must know.
Format: Kindle
I am a writer only in the sense that I write daily and believe that I do have that ineffable "it"; I do not, however, have any formal writing training. I say all of this to make clear that anyone, literally, can read and understand this book, gaining invaluable knowledge about the craft of writing. Some of the less effulgent reviews of this title have pointed to the "pompousness" of Prof. Gardner and his supposed sesquipedalian loquaciousness as reasons for hopeful writers to search-out more simplistic guides.
I disagree emphatically. I truly believe that this book holds the keys to unlocking the divide between the good and great writer, particularly for those of us who have not had access to the best educational opportunities. Personally, I want to be a great writer. Not a good writer, not a successful, or published, or wealthy writer: a great writer. I want to move people to think about things in ways that they never would have, maybe without even knowing that their ideals are changing; I want to move people!
To write like that one needs, me thinks, the guidance of one with an intimate knowledge of how this is properly -and not so properly- done, and the "arrogance" to believe he can convey this understanding, even to we ignoramuses. This is what I have found in Prof. Gardner and this wonderful tome.
Distracters may feel free to criticize my review as they wish. I stand by my opinion of this book and its Author.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013
