Writing Fiction

Garry Disher is one of Australia's best-known authors and has written more than fifty literary novels, crime thrillers, short story collections and children's and young adult books. In Writing Fiction he shares some of the techniques of plot, character and style that he has perfected over three decades of writing.


This comprehensive guide includes discussions on becoming a (professional) writer; the nature of fiction; finding and developing ideas for stories and novels; character, dialogue, and point of view; plot and planning; structure and setting; the different challenges of novels and short stories; stylistic choices for words, sentences, paragraphs and beyond; and what to do when things go wrong. It includes challenges and exercises for aspiring and developing writers and sets out the accumulated wisdom of many of history's greatest authors in concise and helpful ways.