Anyone who has tried to write knows that storytelling is an art, just as making music or painting a portrait, and we admire it when it is well done. When it is well done, we are often astonished by its appearance of simplicity, says John Leggett, author of Storytelling.

Leggett, a former editor who for 17 years was director of the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, says “It looks so easy that we feel we can do it equally well ourselves. It is only when we do, that we discover how even the simplest tale offers a gallery of opportunities for getting it wrong. A badly told story spreads boredom, or pain, just as surely as sour notes from a violin.”

In this guide, Leggett builds a case and gives guidelines for telling stories that keeps readers interested, providing insights into character, plot, point of view, voice, theme, scene and “the big story.”

Says Leggett, “A storyteller's struggle with a character, a motivation, a situation, a bit of scenery, a line of dialogue takes place in the crucible of language, and a writer's growth demands an ever-greater facility with that language. It follows that he or she who engages in such struggle on a regular basis, comes that much closer to moving mountains and working other worthwhile miracles.” This small guide helps writers on that journey.