“In 1958, Ayn Rand… gave a private series of extemporaneous lectures in her own living room on the art of fiction…. The Art of Fiction offers invaluable lessons, in which Rand analyzes the four essential elements of fiction: theme, plot, characterization, and style. She demonstrates her ideas by dissecting her best-known works, as well as those of other famous authors, such as Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, and Victor Hugo.” “[Ayn Rand] maintains that writing is a rational sphere, governed by rationally identifiable principles. ‘Writing is no more difficult a skill than any other, such as engineering,’ she says. ‘Like every human activity, it requires practice and knowledge. But there is nothing mystical to it.’ ”
