Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories

Written by Steve Almond

Narrated by Steve Almond

The long-awaited craft book from Steve Almond, based on three decades of writing, failing, and trying again.

 

In Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, Steve Almond shares the insights gleaned from three decades as a beloved teacher and mentor, and a considerably less-beloved literary rabble rouser. His tone is irreverent. His ideas are iconoclastic. And his approach is stubbornly, radically, empathic. The goal is to explode the well-meaning but misguided myths that hold us back from writing our deepest and most honest work, to awaken the joys of storytelling while also confronting how grueling the process can be. Truth features chapters on plot, character, and chronology, but travels far beyond the earnest aims of most creative writing books, with essays about humor, sex, obsession, and writer’s block, as well as prompts to generate new work and a rollicking Frequently Asked Questions section. You’ll never think about writing the same way again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zando
• Release date: May 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9781666666977

Steve Almond

Steve Almond is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from The New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares to Poets & Writers, and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Mysteries, and Best American Erotica. He teaches creative writing at the Neiman Fellowship at Harvard and Wesleyan and lives with his family in Arlington, Massachusetts.