The Prompts You Need to Help You Write the Book You Want to Write
Practical Exercises for Fiction Writers
Book
Hardback
978-1-009-39145-0 (ISBN)
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Description
How can you take your writing to the next level? In this follow-up to their acclaimed handbook The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster offer exercises and practical advice designed to set aspiring authors of fiction on their way to creating compelling short stories and novels. Carefully explaining the purpose and value of each exercise and encouraging writers to reflect on what they have learned in tackling each task, this themed collection of writing prompts provides both encouragement and inspiration. There are many books of prompts already available, but this one is different. Its structured, in-depth approach significantly increases the impact of the exercises, ensuring that storytellers use their time and talent to best effect - not only exploring their own creativity but also developing a wider and clearer understanding of the writer's craft.
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Sarah Burton | Jem Poster
The Prompts You Need to Help You Write the Book You Want to Write
Practical Exercises for Fiction Writers
Book
11/2025
Cambridge University Press
€22.50
Available immediately
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Author
Co-founders of Cambridge University's Master's programme in creative writing, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster draw on a wealth of teaching experience in a variety of contexts, from informal community education to Ph.D. supervision. Sarah is a novelist (The Strange Adventures of H, 2020), biographer (A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb, 2004, shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year award) and social historian (Impostors: Six Kinds of Liar, 2000). Sarah and Jem are co-authors of a handbook for fiction writers, The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and a historical detective novel, Eliza Mace (2024). Together they run Between the Lines, an online mentoring programme for writers.
Co-founders of Cambridge University's Master's programme in creative writing, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster draw on a wealth of teaching experience in a variety of contexts, from informal community education to Ph.D. supervision. Jem is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University; he is also a novelist (Courting Shadows, 2002; Rifling Paradise, 2006), poet (Brought to Light, 2001) and literary critic/editor (Edward Thomas, Prose Writings Vol. III, 2018). Sarah and Jem are co-authors of a handbook for fiction writers, The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and a historical detective novel, Eliza Mace (2024). Together they run Between the Lines, an online mentoring programme for writers.
Content
1. Memory and imagination; 2. Character; 3. Structuring plot; 4. Dialogue; 5. Point of view; 6. Narrative voice; 7. Beginnings and endings; 8. Pace and tension; 9. Description; 10. Research; 11. Editing; 12. Wordplay.