Bestseller

Acclaimed as the best-ever guide to popular fiction, BESTSELLER is rare gem - a book about best-selling novels by an author who has actually written some. Celia Brayfield distils the special art of writing popular fiction, beginning with respect for the readers and understanding of the part that books play in their lives and moving on to an authoritative analysis of structure and a step-by-step guide to the elements of classical narrative. BESTSELLER has guided many successful writers...
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Acclaimed as the best-ever guide to popular fiction, BESTSELLER is rare gem - a book about best-selling novels by an author who has actually written some. Celia Brayfield distils the special art of writing popular fiction, beginning with respect for the readers and understanding of the part that books play in their lives and moving on to an authoritative analysis of structure and a step-by-step guide to the elements of classical narrative. BESTSELLER has guided many successful writers to a place in their readers' hearts and a ranking in the booksellers' top ten."In this ambitious and fascinating book, Brayfield tackles the Zen of fiction bestsellerdom. Her premise is that stories define a puzzling world and help to defuse our more primitive fears, the most significant continuing to haunt and nourish our imaginations. This is based on a study of how myth works through cultures. From there she constructs her methods of story shaping, research, narrative techniques and, of course, style.......From the student upwards, writers and readers will enjoy this bold an illuminating tilt at unravelling the mysteries of the popular novel. Even, perhaps, the literary novelist." Elizabeth Buchan, The Times