A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction

by Elizabeth McCracken

Overview

From bestselling and award-winning author and professor Elizabeth McCracken comes an irresistible look at the art of writing.

Writing can feel like an endless series of decisions. How does one face the blank page? Move a character around a room? Deal with time? Undertake revision? The good and bad news is that in fiction writing, there are no definitive answers to such questions: writers must come up with their own. Elizabeth McCracken, author of bestselling novels, National Book Award long-listed story collections, and a highly praised memoir, has been teaching for more than thirty-five years, guiding her many students through their own answers. In A Long Game, she shares insights gleaned along the way, offering practical tips and incisive thoughts about her own work as an artist. “Writing is a long game,” she notes. “What matters is that you learn to get work done in the way that is possible for you, through consistency or panic. Through self-recrimination or self-delusion or self-forgiveness: every life needs all three.”

As much a book about the life of a working artist as it is a guide to thinking about fiction, A Long Game is a revelatory and indispensable resource for any writer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063375291
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/02/2025
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of eight books, including The Hero of This Book, The Souvenir Museum (long-listed for the National Book Award), Bowlaway, Thunderstruck & Other Stories (winner of the 2014 Story Prize and long-listed for the National Book Award), and The Giant’s House (a National Book Award finalist). Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories five times, and have won three Pushcart Prizes, two National Magazine Awards, and an O. Henry Prize. She has served on the faculty at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently holds the James A. Michener Chair in Fiction at the University of Texas at Austin.

Editorial Reviews

"Elizabeth McCracken is that rarest of combinations - a world class writer and a world class writing teacher. With A Long Game she has distilled the electric, inspiring genius, enthusiasm, and wit that she has brought to the classroom for more than three decades and put it into a book that's practically a masters program in itself." — Paul Harding, author of This Other Eden

"Elizabeth McCracken, one of the greatest, wisest, funniest, and most humane writers you will ever encounter, has written one of the greatest, wisest, funniest, and most humane books about writing you will ever read. Have a pen ready. You'll want to underline sentences on every page that make you stop and think or inwardly cheer or nod in recognition. Most importantly, you'll want to run to your desk and write. A Long Game is an absolute gift." — Cristina Henríquez, author of The Great Divide

“Elizabeth McCracken was my teacher, and it’s a joy to know that now more people will have access to her brilliance through A Long Game. The book is intellectually rigorous with its philosophical and artistic deliberations on the art of fiction writing, and it is also full of tender humor, understanding, and respect for writers at any stage of their careers. It's a treasure box for any teacher of creative writing, a guidebook for any fiction writer, and a problem-solving and cheering companion that makes writing a less lonely business.” — Yiyun Li, author of Things in Nature Merely Grow

"On the one hand, as a superfan of Elizabeth McCracken, I am cranky that others will benefit from her wisdom. On the other hand, any excuse to spend time with McCracken’s intelligent and unpretentious voice is a gift. This is not just an indispensable craft book but a writer's argument with herself about what, in fact, constitutes craft." — Karan Mahajan, author of The Association of Small Bombs

“A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction is a deeply practical book that is also beautifully written, that is also somehow a page turner. It is, like McCracken’s fiction, a crystalline distillation of her warm, funny and no-nonsense voice. When I finished reading it, I couldn’t decide if what I wanted to do immediately was write fiction or just turn back to page one and read it again.” — Asali Solomon, author of The Days of Afrekete

“A Long Game is the most generous, idiosyncratic, useful, and companionable book on writing I’ve ever read. It’s basically a portable Elizabeth McCracken. How did we get so lucky?" — Antoine Wilson, author of Mouth to Mouth

From the Publisher