num_pages: 336
description: "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences," the best-known and best-loved essay in this collection, is Mark Twain's how-to guide for the would-be author. A hilarious and cutting critique of what not to do, this deliciously wicked essay also lays out what writers should and must do if they wanttheir fiction to live and breathe--as Twain's own fiction always does. In "How to Tell a Story," the title piece, Twain takes on such mysteries as the perfectly-timed pause and the uses of the dead-pan mask, and candidly describes his own efforts to hone his platform skills. In "What Paul BourgetThinks of Us," Twain lays out a job description for the "native novelist" that is as fresh and accurate today as when Twain first wrote it. Anyone who cares about storytelling or writing will find Twain's sage suggestions in this volume compelling and engaging.
language: English
title: How to Tell a Story and Other Essays
titlecomplete: How to Tell a Story and Other Essays
genres: Literature, American, Classics, Essays, 19th Century, Short Stories, Writing, Humor, Amazon, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 2005
publisher: Oxford University Press