I like writing advice. For two or three years now, I have even kept a running list of storytelling principles in a document on my phone: “Exposition creates drama”; “Tell one story well rather than several less well”; “If the end isn’t working, the problem is at the beginning”. Such rules of thumb distill the wisdom accumulated by generations of practitioners. They are like a map through the minefield of narrative. And yet, I have found, they are powerless against one of the most serious dangers that fiction writers encounter: an inability to muster confidence in the basic value of what novels do.
Read Full Article »
