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Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft
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Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft

Details Lay Solid Groundwork for Fiction

Burroway's Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative CraftChoose details well, and you'll lay solid groundwork for fiction, says Janet Burroway in the classic Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft. But what rule of thumb should writers use to decide which details to include? Burroway advocates two: details that are sensory, and those that matter. "As a writer of fiction you are at constant pains not simply to say what you mean, but to mean more than you say," Burroway notes. The key is to select details that appeal to one of the five senses, and that convey an idea, a judgment or both. That's what makes for stories with staying power.