Cause and Effect in Fiction

This book explores and defends George Saunders’ causal thesis that successful stories are those that establish causation well. The book includes an in-depth discussion of causation’s role in several different key craft elements of fiction writing and examines different theories of causation and their implications for causation in fiction. Other discussions include the role of causation in building suspense, character and causation, causation in dialogue and connections between fiction and counterfactuals (or hypotheticals). The book also considers a number of objections to the causal thesis and offers a reply. Frances Howard-Snyder is a Philosophy Professor at Western Washington University and has co-authored a logic textbook. She has also published numerous articles on ethics and philosophy of religion. She has an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop, and has published stories in The Magnolia Review, Silver Pen, Halfway Down the Stairs, as well as other publications. For more information, see franceshowardsnyder.com.