"Creating Literary Stories: A Fiction Writer's Guide" by William H. Coles

The following review is also published in onlinebookclub.org, on 27 December 2019 [written as per the guidelines of host platform].

The function of fictional stories is to entertain through drama - which involves conflict, action and resolution. An effective fictional story will enlighten its readers as well. William Coles's Creating Literary Stories: A Fiction Writer's Guide is a must handbook for creative story writers. The book provides enough guidelines that cater to adding meaning and momentum to a story, and chart out criteria for an engaged reader's story.

Coles has invested ample thought in delineating the multifarious elements that make a creative piece. Having elaborated on the many elements (or jargons), he has conveyed to the readers and learners an understanding of how even the most trivial aspect demands good attention while constructing a story. There is a fine differentiation done in explaining, through examples, how plots or characters or scenes are not discovered and described, rather they are imagined and created for attaining a maximally effective story.

The book is structured in a two-part engagement, where the first part - "The Literary Story in Fiction" - gives a great deal of information in terms of narration, character-sketch, constructing a humorous plot, conflicts in dialogues, and avoiding cliched and misleading metaphors. While the second part - "Creating a Literary Fictional Story" - makes use of the detailed analyses done in part one and instructs the readers into the proper praxis of creative writing.

Coles explains how it is important to make a creative literary piece into a living entity. The story must have real-world truth and credibility. The author is required to have an in-depth understanding of humanity and must learn the broadest worldview for effective plot, characterization and opportunities for including irony and enlightenment. It is important for one to note, as an amateur writer, how one forgets to learn what exactly makes a creative piece a living entity. One of Coles's elaboration of an example befits this particular line of thought, where the writer has to structure the story to demonstrate what it means to be human through character-based plotting and make the story significant.

Overall, Creating Literary Stories serves as an apt guidebook for writers who are trying their hand at creative writing. This practical guidebook comes with series of analyses of popular scenes from best fiction and drama, which help the readers learn by way of looking into many examples and understanding how they affect the entire narration. As an index to a creative writer, this book deserves three out of four stars.