James N. Frey

Frey lays out the basics here: character, conflict, and climax. He also looks at premise, viewpoint, and dialogue. Chapter 4 includes a section on the stepsheet, a useful technique for planning your story. The final chapter, "The Zen of Novel Writing," discusses the mindset necessary for the art. If you are a new writer, this book is a great place to start.

Building on the foundation of his earlier book, Frey here provides additional inspiration and information for elevating your writing. At the heart of the book are two chapters discussing the importance of premise. He also addresses common errors—not the tired old grammatical ones, but real errors of art such as timidity and failure to be true to yourself. He ends with a section on writing with passion that contains one of my favorite quotes about writing: “You cannot soar with the eagles if you’re wasting your precious time gaggling with the geese.”

Frey follows up his earlier books with this examination of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Here he shows how to use the mythic structure often called the Hero's Journey in writing great fiction.