"What do you think of my fiction book writing?" the aspiring novelist extorted. "Darn," the editor hectored, in turn. "I can not publish your novel! It is full of what we in the business call 'really awful writing.'" "But how shall I absolve this dilemma? I have already read every tome available on how to write well and get published!" The writer tossed his head about, wildly. "It might help," opined the blonde editor, helpfully, "to ponder how...

"An essay collection exploring how we form our identities in life, in politics, and in art"--

Writing coach, James N. Frey, showed tens of thousands of writers how- starting with rounded, living, breathing, dynamic characters- to structure a novel that sustains its tension and development and ends in a satisfying, dramatic climax. Now, in The Key, Frey takes his no-nonsense, "Damn Good" approach and applies it to Joseph Campbell's insights into the universal structure of myths. Myths, says Frey, are the basis of all storytelling, and their...

Unlock Your Novel's Full Potential with More Popcorn Principles: The Sequel! John Gaspard's "More Popcorn Principles: The Sequel! (Further Cinematic Storytelling Strategies for Novelists)" is an illuminating guide that takes you on a cinematic journey, revealing the secrets to crafting compelling narratives and characters that resonate. This book is an invaluable tool for any aspiring or seasoned novelist, blending Gaspard's deep understanding of...

"The Elements of Style", was first written by William Strunk in 1918 for private use at Cornell University, where Strunk was a professor of English, and republished by Harcourt in 1920 for the public. The concise handbook remains one of the most important and influential English writing style guides ever published. The original edition of the guide is organized into eight elementary rules of usage (such as using the active voice rather than the passive),...

"Silvia Ferrara leads a code cracking mission to decipher the hidden truths and histories of our greatest invention-the art of writing"-- Ferrara takes a profound look at how-- and how many times-- human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language around the world. Readers will examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts; study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions, and venture to the cutting...

"In 2012, after the overthrow of Qaddafi, the acclaimed novelist Hisham Matar journeys to his native Libya after an absence of thirty years. When he was twelve, Matar and his family went into political exile. Eight years later Matar's father, a former diplomat and military man turned brave political dissident, was kidnapped from the streets of Cairo by the Libyan government and is believed to have been held in the regime's most notorious prison. Now,...

A charming and indispensable tour of two thousand years of the written word, Shady Characters weaves a fascinating trail across the parallel histories of language and typography. Whether investigating the asterisk (*) and dagger (†)-which alternately illuminated and skewered heretical verses of the early Bible-or the at sign (@), which languished in obscurity for centuries until rescued by the Internet, Keith Houston draws on myriad sources to...

Everyone has a story to tell, whether it's a memoir of an exciting life or fictional characters in your head trying to get out. Perhaps you've thought it might be cool to write a book but always believed it was beyond your reach and ability. It's not. To be more precise, it doesn't have to be. All you lack is the motivation to get started, the tenacity to stay with it, and the expertise to get it finished. I can help you with the first two. In...