How Fiction Works

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous Picador edition as follows:

Wood, James, 1965–

How fiction works / James Wood. — 1st Picador ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-312-42847-1 (trade paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-4299-0865-8 (ebook)

1. Fiction—Authorship. 2. Fiction—Technique. 3. Fiction—History and Criticism. I. Title.

PN3355.W66 2009

808.3—dc22

2009001786

Picador Paperback ISBN 978-1-250-18392-7

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First published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

First Picador Edition: August 2009

Second Picador Edition: August 2018

eISBN 9781429908658