Storyville!: An Illustrated Guide to Writing Fiction

"You need at least two skills to be a fiction writer. You need to be able to write and you need to be able to tell a story. Telling a story is the harder skill to master." So begins this guide to the craft of storytelling. It's not as simple as having something to say, or being able to put together a beautiful or grammatical sentence. It's a matter of engaging with your reader, discovering your creativity, and learning the skills of how to pace your narrative, how to interact with your characters or subjects, when to bust out a new development and when to hold your cards close. Storytelling is one of those skills that if you have it, you can do anything. This highly-designed and illustrated guide does a good job of practicing what it preaches: it tells the story of how to tell a story, with every element, including quotes about writing from famous authors, serving a conscious purpose to move you convincingly through the process.