How to Write Damn Good Fiction by James N. Frey

Advanced Techniques for Dramatic Storytelling

I first heard James N. Frey’s book How to Write a Damn Good Novel recommended by champion speaker Craig Valentine for its tips on storytelling. I want to learn better storytelling and since I couldn’t find that book at my local library I ended up grabbing this sequel on advanced storytelling techniques instead. I’m not particularly interested in writing fiction but much of the advice also applies to telling true stories to a written or spoken audience. Here are the key insights I gleaned:

Having skipped the first book, I don’t know really what I missed (you know, we don’t know what we don’t know), but I could still follow much of what he was saying. The rules are there to be broken, but first you want to know what the rules are so you know when you’re breaking them.

I was most interested to … Continue reading…