Laurie Henry nurtures writers throught the long and sometimes lonely task of writing a novel. Her 115 imaginative journal activities offer ways to approach every stage of the process from creating characters to shaping the story, from exploring themes ro revising and polishing. She helps writers develop a schedule, conduct research, benefit from bad days, even think of a title.

An essential guide to the inside language of fiction, this book dusts off the traditional concept of "dictionary" by giving full, vivid descriptions and by using lively examples from classic and contemporary fiction to show theories in play,