You’ll want to dig back into your own discarded ideas box and sculpt something new.

The “shapes” in question are sixteen storytelling archetypes which Stern breaks down in the book’s first section, followed by a tongue-in-cheek section on whether or not to write what you know, and finally a glossary of terms “from Accuracy to Zig-Zag.” This may all sound like stuff you already know, but to read them again in Stern’s irreverent voice is like revisiting fairy tales from your childhood and discovering all the dirty parts that went over your head. Author Betsy Lerner begins the book by profiling what she believes are the different.

Like Stern himself, who was the head of the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University for many years, it takes a brass tacks approach to fiction, one that can be read straight through if you want to bone up on the basics or in bits and pieces as inspiration is needed. The Forest for the Trees is a reference for writers, by an editor.

Previously, she worked as an editor at major trade publishers including Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin and finally as Executive Editor at Doubleday. But Stern’s wise and thorough little book should be as indispensable to the master of the form as the student. Betsy Lerner is a literary agent with Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. The forest for the trees by Betsy Lerner. In her many years working for major New York publishing houses, Lerner has learned again and again that writers dont know what editors do with manuscripts. From blank page to first glowing (or gutting) review, Betsy Lerner is a knowing and sympathetic coach who helps writers discover how they can be more productive in the creative process and how they can better their odds of not only getting published, but getting published well. It’s easy, when one is far enough along in the “writing life,” to assume that a manual won’t have much to offer beyond technical guidance and fluffy prompts.

Betsy lerner forest for the trees