Virtual Book Displays

For a quarter century, more than a million readers have been inspired by Anne Lamott's hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne's father in the iconic passage that gives the book its title: "Thirty years ago my older brother was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Fourteen noted authors contribute essays on the technical aspects, purposes, constructs, and scientific and imaginative elements of science-fiction writing.

Gotham Writers' Workshop has mastered the art of teaching the craft of writing in a way that is practical, accessible, and entertaining. Now the techniques of this renowned school are available in this book. Here you'll find: The fundamental elements of fiction craft--character, plot, point of view, etc. explained clearly and completely. Key concepts are illustrated with passages from great works of fiction. The complete text of "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is analyzed throughout the book. And exercises that let you immediately apply what you learn to your own writing.

You've always dreamed of writing science fiction and fantasy tales that pull readers into extraordinary new worlds and fantastic conflicts. You'll learn how to utilize story elements that define the science fiction and fantasy genres; build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore; construct a compelling story by developing ideas, characters, and events that keep readers turning pages; find the markets for speculative fiction and get published. The boundaries of your imagination are infinite. Explore them with Orson Scott Card and create fiction that casts a spell over agents, publishers, and readers from every world.

The Making of a Story is a fresh and inspiring guide to the basics of creative writing fiction and creative nonfiction. Its hands-on, completely accessible approach walks writers through each stage of the creative process, from the initial triggering idea to the revision of the final manuscript. It is unique in combing the three main aspects of creative writing instruction: process, craft, and anthology. Succinct, clear definitions of basic terms of fiction are accompanied by examples, including excerpts from masterpieces of short fiction and essays as well as contemporary novels.

Forty outstanding, best-selling novelists share their ideas and experience on various aspects of writing book-lenght fiction in this excellent volume. They give helpful advice and practical answers to such questions as: Where do you get your ideas? What point of view should you use? How do you make the editor and the reader turn the page? Should you start writing from plot or character? Should you make an outline? Do you know how your novel is going to end before you begin? In this book, the aspiring novelist can find stimulation, inspiration, and instruction on the how-to's of novel writing and selling.

How does plot influence story structure? How do you revise a plot or structure that's gone off course? With Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, you'll discover the answers to these questions and more. Award-winning author James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including: Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and ends. Easy-to-understand plotting diagrams and charts. Brainstorming techniques for original plot ideas. And thought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapter. Filled with plot examples from popular novels, comprehensive checklists, and practical hands-on guidance.

The most widely used and respected text in its field, Writing Fiction by novelists Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French guides the novice story writer from first inspiration to final revision by providing practical writing techniques and concrete examples. Written in a tone that is personal and non-prescriptive, the text encourages students to develop proficiency through each step of the writing process, offering an abundance of exercises designed to spur writing and creativity. The text also integrates diverse contemporary short stories in every chapter in the belief that the reading of inspiring fiction goes hand-in-hand with the writing of fresh and exciting stories.

More than three dozen members of the Mystery Writers of America share insights and advice that can help make your writing dreams a reality. You'll learn how to: Develop unique ideas. Construct an airtight plot packed with intrigue and suspense. Create compelling characters and atmospheric settings. Develop a writing style all your own. Write convincing dialogue. Choose the appropriate point of view. Conduct accurate research and much, much more! You'll also find special guidelines for creating clues, dropping red herrings, and writing medical, legal, historical, true crime, and young adult mysteries. It's all the information you need to solve the mystery-writing riddle!

This anthology provides published and aspiring writers resources for sustaining, enhancing and evaluating their writing skills. The chapter themes focus on genre-based writing, creativity in writing, mechanics of writing, academic writing, and writing as a business. Assist writers with techniques on sustaining their writing talents in their chosen genre or various genres. Provide meaningful publishing resources related to non-traditional and traditional publication venues. Enhance writers understanding for marketing strategies in the 21st century.

Barbara Turner-Vesselago's first book, Writing Without a Parachute, showed writers how to fall in love with writing. This new book builds on this experience and encourages writers to pursue their work with intention and without inhibition. Freefall into Fiction is designed to help writers, step-by-step, to create publishable short stories, novels and memoirs by finding their own unique balance between the exploration offered by Freefall Writing and the requirements of each particular genre. This book penetrates deep inside the writing process where that balancing act takes place.

The good thing about being my age is that if you haven't grown up already, you don't have to.What do you do when you start talking to yourself on the bus? If you're the writer Brigid Lowry, you change tack and write a book about what it means to be an ageing woman in the 21st century.In Still Life with Teapot Lowry offers advice, observations, hope and reality checks in equal measure. She drops us straight into the writer's world into the nuts and bolts of writing practice and into the art of life and ways to write about it.Still Life with Teapot is an essential brew for people who love to make lists, for people who love to write and for people who love to read about writing.

In this book, Douglas Bauer shares the secrets of his trade. Talent, as Bauer acknowledges, is the most crucial element for a writer and cannot be taught. But without a regular habit of work, and a perseverance of effort, no amount of talent can come forward and be recognized. His lively and candid essays on subjects critical to the fiction writer’s success demystify the essential elements of fiction writing, how they work, and work together. Bauer’s focus is on the building blocks of successful fiction: dialogue, characters, and dramatic events. The Stuff of Fiction speaks to writers of all ages in a pleasurable yet practical voice.

Telling Stories is intended for anyone interested in thinking more about the elements of storytelling in short stories, novels, and memoirs. Martin clearly delineates helpful and practical techniques for demystifying the writing process and provides tools for perfecting the art of the scene, characterization, detail, point of view, language, and revision--in short, the art of writing. His discussion of the craft in his own life draws from experiences, memories, and stories to provide a more personal perspective on the elements of writing. Martin provides encouragement by sharing what he's learned from his journey through frustrations, challenges, and successes.

You are a writer and you have a killer book idea. When your project starts to take off you will find yourself managing a writhing tangle of ideas, possibilities and potential potholes. How do you turn your inspiration into a finished novel? Writing a User's Manual offers practical insight into the processes that go into writing a novel, from planning to story development, research to revision and, finally, delivery in a form which will catch the eye of an agent or publisher. Writers will learn how to get the best out of software and novel writing packages such as Scrivener, which help you view your novel not as one piece of text, but as individual linked scenes, each with their own statistics, notes and place within the novel structure.

Writing by Ear examines the explicit articulation of listening-in-writing found in the work of Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector. The terms "writing by ear," the "aural novel," and "echopoetics" rethink fiction as a poetics of listening to the world.

In nine entertaining and instructive essays, novelist and master teacher Debra Spark pursues key questions that face both aspiring and accomplished writers. Spark brings a keen critical eye to Curious Attractions, discussing a broad range of authors from multiple genres and generations. A collection of essays in the belles-lettres tradition, Curious Attractions offers lively and instructive discussions of craft flavored with autobiographical reflections and commentary on world events. Throughout, Spark's voice is warm, articulate, and engaging as it provides valuable insights to readers and writers alike.

Dreaming Out Loud brings together essays by many of the most well-known and respected African American writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, discussing various aspects of the vocation, craft, and art of writing fiction. This collection and the essays it contains focuses on the novel as a genre and an art form. Some essays explore the challenges of being an African American writer in the United States, broadly addressing aesthetic and racial prejudice in American publishing and literature and its changing face over the decades. Others are more specific and personal, recounting how the authors came to be a reader and writer in a culture that did not always encourage them to do so.

Today's most celebrated, prominent, and promising authors of gay fiction in English explore the literary influences and themes of their work in these revealing interviews with Richard Canning. Though the interviews touch upon a wide range of issues--including gay culture, AIDS, politics, art, and activism--what truly distinguishes them is the extent to which Canning encourages the authors to reflect on their writing practices, published work, literary forebears, and their writing peers--gay and straight.