Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow
A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories
Zando · Print & ebook · April 9, 2024
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- Who it’s for
- A candid, irreverent look at the joys and grind of writing honestly.
- Themes
- Storytelling craft, Writer’s block, Honest writing
- Genres
- Fiction Writing, Writing Nonfiction & Memoir, Unlocking Creativity
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For younger readers: Writing Radar, Rip the Page!, Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book?
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Start with this bookAbout this book
“Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow is one of the best books on writing I’ve ever read. It’s also the funniest by a country mile.” —Richard Russo, author of the North Bath trilogy The long-awaited craft book from Steve Almond, based on three decades of writing, failing, and trying again. In Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, Steve Almond shares the insights gleaned from three decades as a beloved teacher and mentor, and a considerably less-beloved literary rabble rouser.
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His tone is irreverent. His ideas are iconoclastic. And his approach is stubbornly, radically, empathic. The goal is to explode the well-meaning but misguided myths that hold us back from writing our deepest and most honest work, to awaken the joys of storytelling while also confronting how grueling the process can be. Truth features chapters on plot, character, and chronology, but travels far beyond the earnest aims of most creative writing books, with essays about humor, sex, obsession, and writer’s block, as well as prompts to generate new work and a rollicking Frequently Asked Questions section. You’ll never think about writing the same way again.
Writing Without Myths
A candid, irreverent look at the joys and grind of writing honestly.
Come here for
- Fresh ways to think about plot, character, and chronology
- Humor and empathy alongside the hard parts of writing
Expect
- Craft chapters that roam into sex, obsession, and writer’s block
- Prompts and a rollicking FAQ
Where it sits
| Fiction Writing | 90% |
|---|---|
| Writing Nonfiction & Memoir | 40% |
| Unlocking Creativity | 39% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Creative Writing
- Writing Composition
- Unlocking Creativity
- Authors
- Steve Almond
- Publisher
- Zando
- Published
- April 9, 2024
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Storytelling craft · Writer’s block · Honest writing
- Reading lane
- Creative Writing