I’m not a fiction writer, and I’m not usually drawn to “how to” books. But I have always been drawn to books about how to write, even when their focus is on writing fiction. This probably has something to do with the fact that the best books on writing tend to be well, if not beautifully, written. But I have also found great books about writing great fiction often contain truths that apply just as much to living.

If Eudora Welty is right when she says the “whole heart of fiction” is “morality as shown through human relationships”, and that no serious writer has ever dealt with anything else, it shouldn’t be surprising if studies on writing fiction are, to some degree, studies on how to live.