My writing partner and I have a running joke, based on a New Yorker cartoon. It shows two doors; one marked heaven with no waiting, and one with a long line and a sign reading books on heaven. The first time you stroll down the writing aisle at a reasonably well-stocked bookstore, you might be tempted to run screaming into the food court. So many books on heaven! How do you know where to begin? I’ve read a truckload of them, and in this new segment called “five minute reviews”, I’ll try to give a little insight into which ones I found most valuable. Today’s entry is one of my all-time favorites, A Writer’s Guide to Fiction (Writer’s Compass) by Elizabeth Lyon.

The book is subtitled A concise, practical guide for novelists and short-story writers. Ms. Lyon is nothing if not ambitious. Fortunately for the reader, she delivers. I’m assuming that anyone attempting to write fiction has already spent a great deal of time reading fiction. Based on that reading, you probably already know a lot of what Ms. Lyon has to say about how fiction is structured. But do you know you know it? You will after she’s done with you.

The chapters are laid out in a map-like orientation, with sections for the four cardinal directions. In North: Getting Your Bearings, she discusses the bedrock concepts of fiction; developing characters, mapping your story, the Hero and Heroine’s journey, and down to the nuts and bolts of narration, visuals, descriptions, and imagery. This first chapter is (rightfully) the majority of the book, taking up 184 of the 256 pages.

Chapter 1 is gold for anyone who is having trouble deciding where to begin with their writing. Of all the helpful advice presented, some bits stand out. I think any beginning novelist should have her Six Sherpas of storytelling tattooed on their foreheads:

• Scenes
• Subtext
• Sequels
• Shortcuts
• Segues
• Set Pieces

There you have it in one tidy, alliterative package: the basic building blocks of engaging fiction. Learning about each element and how they relate to the others will give the reader a firm underpinning as they put fingers to keys.

She doesn’t just stick with the theoretical, either. As the chapter progresses, she offers insight into a variety of different tools that successful writers employ to get their work done, from research to note-taking, storyline development, and more.

In South: Troubleshooting and Problem-Solving, she moves beyond the first draft and delves into what happens when things go wrong. As a professional editor, this is her home turf. She lays out common problems of story, characterization, dialog, and pace (among other things) and offers simple yet insightful instructions for how to overcome them and polish your writing in the process.

Next comes East: Your Rising Star, which centers on how to get that manuscript you burnished so brightly out into the world. This is the part that gives many a beginning writer stomach cramps, and I’m glad she included it. It could perhaps have been a bit more fleshed-out, but as a high-level overview goes, it’s thorough.

And finally we come to West: Refining Your Vision. The section can be summed up by two words: what next? She assumes that you have finished and begun to market your first opus. The book now shifts to the more intangible elements of staying motivated and finding inspiration for you next work. It’s brief, and by the time you get there you’ll probably be on to bigger things anyway, but it serves as a reminder that all is not settled when a manuscript is sold.

What Elizabeth Lyon has written is a handbook. It’s not a comprehensive survey of any of these topics, but a concise and efficient synopsis. She does two things in each section that I find particularly helpful; she includes a brief, scannable summary of what has been presented, and she lists other books that delve more deeply into each of the sub-sections. Armed with this book, any newcomer to fiction writing will be well prepared to take the triple-gainer into the bottomless pool of becoming an author.