Sherrie Flick

James Thomas

John Dufresne

73 Very Short Stories

Flash Fiction America

"This is the most practical, hard-nosed, generous, direct, and useful guide to writing fiction." —Brad Watson Finally, a truly creative—and hilarious—guide to creative writing, full of encouragement and sound advice. Provocative and reassuring, nurturing and wise, The Lie That Tells a Truth is essential to writers in general, fiction writers in particular, beginning writers, serious writers, and anyone facing a blank page. John Dufresne, teacher and the acclaimed author of Love Warps the Mind a Little and Deep in the Shade of Paradise, demystifies the writing process. Drawing upon the wisdom of literature's great craftsmen, Dufresne's lucid essays and diverse exercises initiate the reader into the tools, processes, and techniques of writing: inventing compelling characters, developing a voice, creating a sense of place, editing your own words. Where do great ideas come from? How do we recognize them? How can language capture them? In his signature comic voice, Dufresne answers these questions and more in chapters such as "Writing Around the Block," "Plottery," and "The Art of Abbreviation." Dufresne demystifies the writing process, showing that while the idea of writing may be overwhelming, the act of writing is simplicity itself.

The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction

Ever since Lafayette Proulx quit his day job, left his wife, hauled his dog and his Royal portable across town to Judi Dubey's house, and set out at last to be a fiction writer, his life has been a sordid mess. Judi's exotically dysfunctional family isn't all to blame. Sure, the murders are disconcerting. And, yes, Judi's father's gone off the deep end. Worse are the vicious rejection letters Laf gets from editors. To top it off, Laf's falling for Judi at the same time he's nettled with guilt, is in marriage counseling with his wife, and is writing his long-hoped-for novel. When Judi is diagnosed with stage IV cancer, they both struggle to find the memory that will comfort, the truth that will redeem in a world where everyone suffers some kind of love disorder. John Dufresne, called “a highly readable Faulkner,” will once again take the literary world by storm with this new tragicomic tale.

Love Warps the Mind a Little

Whether you are daunted by a blinking cursor or frustrated trying to get the people in your head onto the page, writing stories can be intimidating. It takes passion, tenacity, patience, and a knowledge of?and faith in?the often-digressive writing process. A do-it-yourself manual for the apprentice fiction writer, Storyville! demystifies that process; its bold graphics take you inside the writer's comfortingly chaotic mind and show you how stories are made. In Storyville!, seasoned guide John Dufresne?whose approach "will anchor the newbie and entertain the veteran" (San Francisco Chronicle)?provides practical insight into the building blocks of fiction, including how to make the reader see your characters, create a suspenseful plot, and revise, revise, revise. Storyville! is a combination handbook and notebook, with original prompts and exercises crafted with Dufresne's singular dry wit and Evan Wondolowski's playful and illuminating graphics on every page.

An Illustrated Guide to Writing Ficiton

Storyville!

An engaging and frank guide to writing the very short story, full of sound advice, exemplary models, and provocative exercises. The history of fiction has been dominated by the novel and the short story. But now a brave new genre has emerged: very brief fiction. FLASH! identifies the qualities that make for excellent flash fiction, demystifies the writing process, and guides writers by exercise and example through the world of the very short story. John Dufresne’s characteristic warmth, wit, and humor remind writers of the joy in the creative process, making this a perfect guide for any writer interested in trying a new form.

FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story

A creative and funny guide to writing fiction shows readers where to go to find inspiration, stories, and characters, in a guide that demystifies the writing process while maintaining the author's comic voice. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

The author presents a six-month program, arranged by week, to complete a first draft of a novel.

A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months

Is Life Like This?

It's Christmas Eve in Eden, Florida, and Wylie 'Coyote' Melville, professional therapist and hobbyist forensic consultant, is called to the scene of a horrific crime at a quiet suburban address. Wylie has enough on his plate as it is, his father is slipping deeper into the clutches of Alzheimer's, his new kitten Django is wreaking havoc with the soft furnishings and a homeless man has taken up residence on his front lawn. But a local family has been found brutally slain in their own home, and Wylie's friend Detective Sergeant Carlos O'Brien wants him to use his rare ability to 'read minds', to see the clues. So he starts his own haphazard investigation, but with suspicions of mob involvement and the police strangely keen to shut down Wylie's amateur operation, he might be biting off more than he can chew. No Regrets, Coyote is a wild ride to the dark heart of the Florida underworld. For fans of Christopher Brookmyre, Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard, and introduces a brilliantly original detective with the crime scene skills of Sherlock Holmes and the personal life of Jeff 'the Dude' Lebowski.

No Regrets, Coyote

“A very cool ride. If Raymond Chandler was reincarnated as a novelist in South Florida, he couldn’t nail it any better than Dufresne.”—Carl Hiaasen On Christmas Eve in Eden, Florida, Wylie “Coyote” Melville, therapist and forensic consultant, is summoned to a horrific crime scene. Five members of the Halliday family have been brutally killed. Wylie’s rare talent is an ability to read a crime scene, consider the evidence seen and unseen, and determine what’s likely to have happened. The police are soon convinced that the deaths were a murder-suicide carried out by a broken and desperate Chafin Halliday, but Wylie’s not so sure. As Wylie begins his own investigation with the help of his friend Bay Lettique—a poker-playing sleight-of-hand artist with links to the Everglades County underworld—he discovers a web of corruption involving the police union, Ponzi-scheming lawyers, county politicians, and the Russian mob. What follows is a heart-stopping, edgy novel that introduces a completely original crime solver.

No Regrets, Coyote: A Novel

Wylie 'Coyote' Melville - burnt-out professional therapist and hobbyist forensic consultant - needs a break. South Florida might be home, but it's also home to bad memories and local gangsters bearing grudges. So Wylie and his ace poker-playing best friend Bay Lettique head to the tawdry glitz of Las Vegas to lie low for a while. But when Wylie and Bay see a woman fall from the balcony of her hotel on the Strip, their low-profile Vegas vacation soon turns into a murder investigation. With the powers-that-be keen to cover up all trace of the woman's death, Wylie starts to follow a trail that leads him across the vast and lawless deserts of redneck Nevada and deep into the heart of a human trafficking conspiracy. A crime caper filled with Dufresne's trademark black humour, I Don't Like Where This is Going continues the story of Wylie's haphazard investigations into America's bankrupt political system, where power and influence are on sale and the corrupt prey on the innocent.

Book #2 of the Wylie 'Coyote' Melville series

I Don't Like Where This Is Going

As family and friends arrive at Paradise, the Loudermilk family ancestral home in the swamp country of Shiver-de-Freeze, Louisiana, for the marriage of Grisham Loudermilk and Ariane Thevenot, all kinds of romantic entanglements arise to complicate the wedding. By the author of Louisiana Power & Light. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

John Dufresne

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