CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

NOTICE: Due to a power outage, Oshtemo Branch Library is closed Tuesday, July 21 until further notice.  

Book

Truth is the arrow, mercy is the bow : a DIY manual for the construction of stories

Call Number

  • 808.02 A452 (CEN)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Zando, 2024.

Physical Description

xx, 234 pages ; 21 cm

Summary

"In Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow, Steve Almond employs the radical empathy he displayed as co-host (with Cheryl Strayed) of the podcast Dear Sugars to explore the joys and trials of storytelling, and to explode the myths that hold us back from writing our deepest and truest work. The book includes chapters on plot, character, and chronology, but travels far beyond the earnest intentions of most craft books. It includes essays on humor, sex, writer's block, and the dividends of failure, as well as prompts to generate new work and a rollicking Frequently Asked Questions section. You'll never think about writing the same way again."--Back cover.

Contents

  • Part I. Demystifying the craft. Arranging incidents ; Make them round, make them deep ; A wrinkle in time ; Getting the reader in the car ; Every story needs a teller
  • Part II. Source materials. On the varieties of obsession and its necessity as an engine of literature ; Crushing it ; Funny is the new deep ; Run howling toward the doubt ; How to write sex scenes without shame
  • Part III. Meditations. Writer's block: a love story ; Adventures in workshop land ; The man at the top of the stairs ; The price of entitlement ; Truth is the arrow, mercy is the bow
  • Part IV. FAQ.

Subjects