Engine Books presents And Then Something Happened: Essays on Fiction Writing by Debra Spark

DEBRA SPARK is the author of five books of fiction, including Unknown Caller, The Pretty Girl, and Good for the Jews. Other books include Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing, and the anthology Twenty Under Thirty. A graduate of Yale University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she is a professor at Colby College and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She lives with her husband and son in North Yarmouth, Maine.

Debra Spark’s Curious Attractions remains a hugely popular fiction writing guide thirteen years after its publication. Now, she tackles the thorniest aspects of literary fiction craft: plot, humor, research, scope, and more. In And Then Something Happened, Spark brings her widely-loved wisdom, wit, and care to these nuanced essays, full of examples, anecdotes, and analysis of your favorite writers’ approaches to crafting stories and novels, plus a moving essay about the danger many of us face as we face the blank page.

Praise for Debra sPark’s Curious AttrACtions “Spark is so adept at avoiding the typical pitfalls of this genre, she could write a book about writing a book on fiction writing.”
—Time Out Chicago

“Erudite and entertaining.”—Foreword Reviews

“Readers may ask, how much fun can a book about writing fiction be? The answer: a whole lot with Spark as your guide.”—Booklist

PRAISE FOR DEBRA SPARK

"We fans of Debra Spark’s work love her dearly for her rich characters, dazzlingly complex emotional landscapes, and gentle irony." ―Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies

"Spark is a writer both to admire and to enjoy." ―Jane Hamilton, author of A Map of the World

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