Kategoria BISAC: Language Arts & Disciplines >> Writing - Composition

Award winning essayist Scott Russell Sanders once compared the art of essay writing to "the pursuit of mental rabbits"--a rambling through thickets of thought in search of some brief glimmer of fuzzy truth. While some people persist in the belief that essays are stuffy and antiquated, the truth is that the personal essay is an ever-changing creative medium that provides an ideal vehicle for satisfying the human urge to document truths as we experience them and share them with others--to capture a bit of life on paper.

Crafting the Personal Essay is designed to help you explore...

What makes a good story or a screenplay great?

The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function and criteria of successful storytelling, sitting down and pounding out a first draft without planning is an ineffective way to begin.

Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling,...

There's more to writing a memoir than just writing your life story.

A memoir isn't one long diary entry. Rather, it's a well-crafted story about a crucial, often exceptionally difficult, time in someone's life. Writing & Selling Your Memoir talks readers through the process of telling their most personal stories in a compelling, relatable, and readable manner. Unlike other books dedicated to the art and craft of writing memoir, it teaches readers how to approach the genre with love, respect, and know-how without sentimentalizing it.

Drawing on her experience...

Get Your Readers' Attention--And Keep It--From the First World to the Final Page

Translating that initial flash of inspiration into a complete story requires careful crafting. So how do you keep your story from beginning slowly, floundering midway, and trailing off at the end? Nancy Kress shows you effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story--essential lessons for strong start-to-finish storytelling.

• Hook readers, agents, and editors in the first three paragraphs.
• Make and keep your story's implicit promise to the reader.
• Build...

Seeking writing success? Start at the beginning...

Whether you're looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor's attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

As a writer, what you do in your opening pages, and how you do it, is a matter that cannot be left to chance. The First 50 Pages is here to help you craft a strong beginning right from the start. You'll learn how to:

• introduce your main character
• establish your story...

Learn How to Create Stories That Captivate Agents, Editors, and Readers Alike

Inside you'll find the tools you need to build strong characters, keep your plots moving, master the art of dialogue, choose the right point of view, and more.

This comprehensive book on the art of novel and short story writing is packed with advice and instruction from best-selling authors and writing experts like Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Sims, Hallie Ephron, N.M. Kelby, Heather Sellers, and Donald Maass, plus a foreword by James Scott Bell. You'll learn invaluable skills...

The field of technical communication is rapidly expanding in both the academic world and the private sector, yet a problematic divide remains between theory and practice. Here Stuart A. Selber and Johndan Johnson-Eilola, both respected scholars and teachers of technical communication, effectively bridge that gap.

Hone Your Writing Skills for Success in College and in Life

Every student knows that writing a successful college paper is no small undertaking. To make the grade, you need to express your ideas clearly and concisely. So how do you do it? In Essential Writing Skills for College and Beyond, you'll learn down-to-earth strategies for organizing your thoughts, researching the right sources, getting it down on paper...and earning an A.

• Write any type of college paper: Techniques for writing term papers, essays, creative assignments, and more.
• Improve your writing:...

Ten years ago, Roy Peter Clark, America's most influential writing teacher, whittled down almost thirty years of experience in journalism, writing, and teaching into a series of fifty short essays on different aspects of writing. In the past decade, Writing Tools has become a classic guidebook for novices and experts alike and remains one of the best loved books on writing available.

Organized into four sections, "Nuts and Bolts," "Special Effects,"...

Life Writing offers the novice writer engaging and creative activities, making use of insightful, relevant readings from well-known authors to illustrate the techniques presented. This volume makes use of new versions of key chapters from the recent Routledge/Open University textbook, Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings for writers who are specializing in life writing.

Using their experience and expertise as teachers as well as authors, Derek Neale and Sara Haslam guide aspiring writers through such key writing skills as:

...

Video games is a lucrative new market for scriptwriters but writing for video games is complex and very different to traditional media (tv or film). This practical guide shows how you can adapt your writing skills to this exciting medium. Written by an award-winning games writer, the book gives you a realistic picture of how games companies work, how the writer fits into the development process, and the skills required: from storytelling, to developing interactive narrative, characters and viewpoints, dialogue comedy and professional practice. Illustrated with examples from games...

The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction is an essential guide to writing in a wide range of genres, from travel writing to feminist polemic and writing on nature, history, death, friendship and sexuality.

Part 1 explores the full range of genres and asks the question: what is literary non-fiction?

Part 2 includes tips by such bestselling literary non-fiction writers as: Lisa Appignanesi, Rosemary Bailey, Gillian Beer, Bidisha, Lizzie Collingham, William Dalrymple, Stevie Davies, Colin Grant, Rahila Gupta, Philip Hoare, Siri Hustvedt, Alice Kessler-Harris,...

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.

David Hewson, a highly productive and successful writer of popular fiction with more than sixteen...

Craft Compelling Dialogue

When should your character talk, what should (or shouldn't) he say, and when should he say it? How do you know when dialogue--or the lack thereof--is dragging down your scene? How do you fix a character who speaks without the laconic wit of the Terminator?

Write Great Fiction: Dialogue by successful author and instructor Gloria Kempton has the answers to all of these questions and more It's packed with innovative exercises and instruction designed to teach you how to:

• Create dialogue that drives the story
• Weave...

Get to Know Your Character's Sinister Side

A truly memorable antagonist is not a one-dimensional super villain bent on world domination for no particular reason. Realistic, credible bad guys create essential story complications, personalize conflict, add immediacy to a story line, and force the protagonist to evolve.

From mischief-makers to villains to arch nemeses, Bullies, Bastards & Bitches shows you how to create nuanced bad guys who are indispensable to the stories in which they appear. Through detailed instruction and examples from contemporary bestsellers...