Includes index.

"Open this book to any page and you'll find something to charge your fiction .... Focused lessons on crafting dynamic beginnings and endings, building tension, writing effective dialogue - even naming characters and moving them from one room to another; insight on personal and professional aspects of the writing life - such as journal-keeping, dealing with rejection, building self-discipline; imaginative exercises to help you find your way into a character, get unstuck, look at your fiction in a new, more objective way; and supportive advice, tough-minded criticism, illuminating examples from classic and contemporary authors, and inspiration to keep you writing." "Copeland has included many cross-references to help you see the complex ways all these elements interconnect and resonate." "In addition, the alphabetical arrangement of the lessons encourages browsing and random discoveries. While searching out Background, for example, you may happen upon the neighboring entry Beanbag Chair, which offers a sharp and delightful analogy for perfecting the "body" of a story."--BOOK JACKET.