SECOND EDITION. ALL TYPOS IN THE FIRST EDITION HAVE BEEN CORRECTED. Based on Anthony Maulucci's 20 years' experience teaching fiction writing to adults in both universities and private workshops, The Fiction Writer's Handbook is a streamlined and straightforward guide to writing captivating and memorable fiction. It is brimming with advice and examples of the timeless techniques for telling a compelling story and bringing characters to life. Focusing on the four essential elements of great storytelling -- motion, character, orientation, and multiplicity -- this guide takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a narrative with a strong plot and vivid characterizations. The many writing exercises in this book have been used in Maulucci's college and private workshops and their effectiveness has been developed over a period of 20 years. These individual and group exercises are designed to enable you to become increasingly more skilled in the use of plotting and characterization while guiding you towards making your fiction more satisfying for the reader. For example, you will learn the fundamentals of evoking a sense of place, creating suspense, and writing dialogue that sounds like real speech. The value of these exercises has been proven over and over again by the results they have achieved in the work of Maulucci's students, who have generously praised him as a gifted teacher worthy of the highest accolades.