4 A.M. Breakthrough: Unconventional Writing Exercises That Transform Your Fiction

Realize All That Is Possible in Your Fiction

Writers have long turned to exercises for help with beginning—be it a new piece of fiction, a daily routine, or a serious writing life. Behind the theory of exercises is an attitude of curiosity and expectancy, a desire to ask questions of yourself and of the world, to boldly—or not so boldly—stick a toe into the waters of something fresh, provocative, and exhilarating. To create fiction on the verge.

In The 4 A.M. Breakthrough, companion to The 3 A.M. Epiphany, award-winning author and professor Brian Kiteley presents you with another 200 stimulating exercises, designed to help you expand your understanding of the problems and processes of more complex, satisfying fiction and to challenge you to produce works of which you never thought yourself capable.

You'll learn how to:

   • Train your writing instincts, so creation becomes a more organic, automatic process
   • Tackle challenging concepts and themes, such as Language Games, The Mind, Money & Class, and History, laying a foundation for larger, more significant writing projects
   • Make your writing process more fun and experimental, so you'll approach your fiction in the spirit of discovery, rather than with anxiety


Open the book. Choose an exercise. Surprise yourself.

Anything can happen—even at 4 a.m.

Brian Kiteley is a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Denver (one of the very few schools to offer a Ph.D. in creative writing); he teaches writing workshops to both undergrads and grads. He has published two novels, Still Life With Insects (Ticknor & Fields, 1989) and I Know Many Songs, But I Cannot Sing (Simon & Schuster, 1996). His novel The River Gods will be published in the fall of 2009 by FC2. Awards include the Whiting Writers Award; a Guggenheim; and a Writing Fellowship with the NEA, 1991–92. His work has been published in Best American Short Stories.