As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: "For centuries there's been one path through fiction we're most likely to travel -- one we're actually told to follow -- and that's the dramatic arc: a situation arises, grows tense, reaches a peak, subsides . . . But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculosexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature,...

This exciting title introduces readers to the folktale genre. Readers will learn that folktales are often passed down and retold from generation to generation. Writing activities help readers write their own folktales.

Introduces legends and describes how to identify a legend by its themes, content, and setting, and includes selected famous legends and explains how to critically and creatively analyze each one. Describes the defining characteristics of a legend, discusses where legends come from, why people tell legends, and what role legends play in various cultures, recounts popular legends, and explains how to write a legend.

Presents a history of the written word, from hieroglyphics to the printing press to computers.

"A selection of essays on writing and reading by the master short-fiction writer Lydia Davis"--