Jerome Stern (1938–1996)
Author of Making Shapely Fiction
About the Author
Works by Jerome Stern
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Stern, Jerome
- Legal name
- Stern, Jerome Hillel
- Birthdate
- 1938-09-27
- Date of death
- 1996-03-19
- Gender
- male
Members
Reviews
Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern
I might have liked this book more if I had read it closer to the time when it was written; unfortunately [b:On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft|10569|On Writing A Memoir of the Craft|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436735207s/10569.jpg|150292] and other writing books more recently published have spoiled me for older works. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, only that it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before.
It wasn't so much a manual of how to write as it was an encyclopedia of writing terms and conventions, all conveniently laid out in alphabetical order.
Seriously, nothing new is under the sun, and I've known about all of these since high-school, but sometimes it's kinda nice to be reminded of what you might have forgotten in your old, old, old age. You know, kinda like that old saying, "I've forgotten more than you've ever known." It makes me feel a little bit like a curmudgeon and an old fogey.
It's not a bad state to live in, btw. I recall that I wanted to be a curmudgeon when I was 16.
Now that I've read this, I feel like my life-long dream has finally come true.
… (more)
Seriously, nothing new is under the sun, and I've known about all of these since high-school, but sometimes it's kinda nice to be reminded of what you might have forgotten in your old, old, old age. You know, kinda like that old saying, "I've forgotten more than you've ever known." It makes me feel a little bit like a curmudgeon and an old fogey.
It's not a bad state to live in, btw. I recall that I wanted to be a curmudgeon when I was 16.
Now that I've read this, I feel like my life-long dream has finally come true.
… (more)
I have learned a lot from Stern. This is the best book I've read on the various ways longer fictional works can be conceived and structured. I use it in my English 307: Writing the Literary Novel course, and students love it. I highly recommend it for both teachers and students of creative writing.
1 
VicCavalli | 3 other reviews | Oct 27, 2019 |
VicCavalli | 3 other reviews | Oct 27, 2019 | 
All of the stories in this collection are 300-words or less, which makes this a great resource for teachers of creative writing. As with most anthologies, I loved some stories more than others. Many of them were overly abstract for my taste. But the book is well worth the small investment it requires (in terms of both time and coin).
Lists
You May Also Like
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 775
- Popularity
- #32,829
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 9