Using charts, examples, and movies, the author breaks these key elements down into understandable components and walks the reader through the process of laying this foundation in his or her own work.Learn what causes sagging middles and how to fix them, which goals are important, which aren’t and why, how to get your characters to do what they need for your plot in a believable manner, and how to use conflict to create a good story. GMC can be used not only in plotting, but in character development, sharpening scenes, pitching ideas to an editor, and evaluating whether an idea will work.Be confident your ideas will work before you write 200 pages.Plan a road map to keep your story on track.Discovery why your scenes aren’t working and what to do about it.Create characters that editors and readers will care about.

    Forster, John Gardner, and James Wood, Douglas Glover has produced a book on writing at once erudite, anecdotal, instructive, and amusing. Attack of the Copula Spiders represents the accumulated wisdom of a remarkable literary career: novelist, short story writer, essayist, teacher and mentor, Glover has for decades been asking the vital questions. How does the way we read influence the way we write? What do craft books fail to teach aspiring writers about theme, about plot and subplot, about constructing point of view? How can we maintain drama on the level of the sentence—and explain drama in the sentences of others? What is the relationship of form and art? How do you make words live?Whether his subject is Alice Munro, Cervantes, or the creative writing classroom, Glover’s take is frank and fresh, demonstrating again and again that graceful writers must first be strong readers. This collection is a call-to-arms for all lovers of English, and Attack of the Copula Spiders our best defense against the assaults of a post-literate age.Douglas Glover is the award-winning author of five story collections, four novels, and two works of non-fiction. He is currently on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing program.Praise for Douglas Glover"A master of narrative structure." - Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life, Wall Street Journal"So sharp, so evocative, that the reader sees well beyond the tissue of words into ... the author's poetic grace." - The New Yorker"Glover invents his own assembly of critical approaches and theories that is eclectic, personal, scholarly, and smart ... a direction for future literary criticism to take." - The Denver Quarterly"A ribald, raunchy wit with a talent for searing self-investigation." - The Globe and Mail"Knotty, intelligent, often raucously funny." - Maclean's"Passionately intricate." - The Chicago Tribune"Darkly humorous, simultaneously restless and relentless." - Kirkus Reviews

    Keep this ammo on your bookshelf if ever you find yourself in a lurch." ~ Sean Work, Director of Inbound Marketing, KISSmetrics "You could easily find 1,000 books and courses about blogging like a pro, but you won’t find a more useful and engaging one. Henneke’s book will answer every question you have, give you countless shortcuts, and light a fire under your butt to start cranking out hot blog posts. It’ll also make you hungry." ~ Barry Feldman, Feldman Creative "Henneke's book might be the most useful guide on business blogging ever written. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s blogging to promote their company." ~ Jon Morrow, CEO and Founder of Boost Blog Traffic LLC Would you like to win customers with your blog? Are your blog posts not as good as you’d like them to be? Or are you unsure what to blog about? Blog to Win Business teaches you how to write blog posts your customers love to read and share. This practical book takes you through the various elements of blog writing – from developing a unique voice to generating ideas and composing compelling headlines. This book doesn’t just explain how to write a blog, it also helps you decide what to write and how to position your blog as a must-read resource in your industry. It has been described as probably the most useful guide to business blogging. Your guide to writing a company blog This guide explains in simple steps how to write blog posts that engage readers and woo clients: Write lip-smackingly good headlines that entice people to read your posts Position your blog as a voice of authority Generate an endless stream of ideas for blog posts your customers crave to read Make your blog more engaging by describing your ideal reader Develop a unique voice to stand out in a sea of me-too blogs Captivate your readers with your blog opening Inspire your readers with your final paragraph Create a natural flow to hypnotize your readers Seduce Google to send you relevant traffic This guide is easy to read and fun. It includes straightforward advice on how to practice and improve your blog writing. Would you like to gain more readers and turn them into customers? Blog to Win Business also includes: The 5 mistakes you must avoid when defining your blog purpose How to get unstuck when your fountain of inspiration runs dry A complete editing checklist to make your blog posts more conversational The 4 rules for writing delicious sentences The 3-step formula for writing irresistible headlines This is NOT a stuffy, lengthy text book. All information is straightforward and written in plain English. Who this book is for Are you a freelancer or small business owner looking to promote your company with a blog? This book contains practical, down-to-earth advice that you can actually use.

    Esper’s first book, The Actor’s Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper’s second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper’s training builds on Sanford Meisner’s legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

    But as any writer can tell you, the blank page can be daunting. It's tough to know where to get started, what details to include in each scene, and how to move from the kernel of an idea to a completed manuscript. Writing great fiction isn't a gift reserved for the talented few. There is a craft to storytelling that can be learned, and studying writing techniques can be incredibly rewarding - both personally and professionally. Even if you don’t have ambitions of penning the next Moby-Dick, you'll find value in exploring all the elements of fiction. From evoking a scene to charting a plot to revising your drafts, Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques offers a master class in storytelling. Taught by award-winning novelist James Hynes, a former visiting professor at the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop, these 24 insightful lectures show you the ins and outs of the fiction writer's craft. Get tips for developing believable and memorable characters, explore how to craft plausible dialogue that serves the purposes of your narrative, compare the advantages of different points of view, and more. A wealth of exercises will inspire you to practice the many techniques you learn. Professor Hynes is an able guide, showing you what has worked for him and other novelists, and pointing out pitfalls to avoid. Writing Great Fiction is truly an exceptional course for anyone interested in storytelling.©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

    From story concept to character development to scene construction and beyond, this title helps you learn the big picture of storytelling at a professional level through a fresh approach that shows how to combine six core competencies: the four elemental competencies of concept, character, theme, and story structure (plot).

    Using Virginia Woolf's own words, this inspiring, instructive, and entertaining guide will delight fans, students, and teachers alike--and at last give Woolf a classroom of her own. "Imagine what it might be like if Virginia Woolf were teaching a writers' workshop. What would she say? What elements of her own experience would writers today find valuable?" Now one need only to look within these pages to delight in her magic. For here, perched at the podium of a classroom, Woolf is ready to discuss the advice for writers that she scattered throughout her work. From nurturing ideas and dealing with self-doubt to creating a completed work and getting published, here is a wellspring of practical advice, invaluable insights on the creative life, and dozens of "writing sparks"-- exercises for writers of all levels-- inspired by Woolf's most well-known works. Take your seat in class as she shares her wisdom, wit, and expertise on a range of matters, including: -The value of experimentation -How to use a journal for inspiration -The importance of reading, walking, and practicing -Methods for learning from great writers Also provided are recommendations for further reading as well as the original sources of all of Woolf's quotes For deeper exploration. Let Woolf's utterly unique vision guide you to your own distinct voice at the same time that you deepen your appreciation and knowledge of her as a revolutionary writer and thinker.

    Trouble is, plot is where most writers fall down--but you don't have to be one of them. With this book, you'll learn how to create stories that build suspense, reveal character, and engage readers--one scene at a time.Celebrated writing teacher and author Martha Alderson has devised a plotting system that's as innovative as it is easy to implement. With her foolproof blueprint, you'll learn to devise a successful storyline for any genre. She shows how to:Use the power of the Universal StoryCreate plot lines and subplots that work togetherEffectively use a scene tracker for maximum impactInsert energetic markers at the right points in your storyShow character transformation at the book's climaxThis is the ultimate guide for you to write page-turners that sell!

    With true insight, a master teacher of screenwriting pinpoints the story structure reasons most new spec scripts don't sell; then uses scores of examples from popular hit movies to present, step by step, his revolutionary Hero Goal Sequences blueprint for writing blockbuster movies.

    Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It's just that simple. Hooked provides readers with a detailed understanding of what a beginning must include (setup, backstory, the inciting incident, etc.); instruction on how to successfully develop the story problem; tips on how to correct common beginning mistakes; exclusive insider advice from agents, acquiring book editors, and literary journal editors; and much more.

    For well over two centuries now, Americans of all stripes--presidents and activists, writers and soldiers--have turned to Shakespeare's works to address the nation's political fault lines, such as manifest destiny, race, gender, immigration, and free speech. In a narrative arching across the centuries, James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare's 400-year-old tragedies and comedies in making sense of so many of these issues on which American identity has turned. Reflecting on how Shakespeare has been invoked--and at times weaponized--at pivotal moments in our past, Shapiro takes us from President John Quincy Adams's disgust with Desdemona's interracial marriage to Othello, to Abraham Lincoln's and his assassin John Wilkes Booth's competing obsessions with the plays, up through the fraught debates over marriage and same-sex love at the heart of the celebrated adaptations Kiss Me Kate and Shakespeare in Love. His narrative culminates in the 2017 controversy over the staging of Julius Caesar in Central Park, in which a Trump-like leader is assassinated.Extraordinarily researched, Shakespeare in a Divided America shows that no writer has been more closely embraced by Americans, or has shed more light on the hot-button issues in our history. Indeed, it is by better understanding Shakespeare's role in American life, Shapiro argues, that we might begin to mend our bitterly divided land.

    The ups and downs of writing life—including self-doubt and writer's block—are here, along with tips about getting published and writing in the electronic age. On your own, this book can be your "teacher," while groups, in or out of the classroom, can profit from sharing weekly assignments.

    Get ready to laugh while you learn because the speaker is a natural storyteller and a witty observer of life.

    Brande believed passionately that although people have varying amounts of talent, anyone can write. It's just a question of finding the "writer's magic"--a degree of which is in us all. She also insists that writing can be both taught and learned. So she is enraged by the pessimistic authors of so many writing books who rejoice in trying to put off the aspiring writer by constantly stressing how difficult it all is.With close reference to the great writers of her day--Wolfe, Forster, Wharton and so on--Brande gives practical but inspirational advice about finding the right time of day to write and being very self disciplined about it--"You have decided to write at four o'clock, and at four o'clock you must write." She's strong on confidence building and there's a lot about cheating your unconscious which will constantly try to stop you writing by coming up with excuses. Then there are exercises to help you get into the right frame of mind and to build up writing stamina. She also shows how to harness the unconscious, how to fall into the "artistic coma," then how to re-emerge and be your own critic.This is Dorothea Brande's legacy to all those who have ever wanted to express their ideas in written form. A sound, practical, inspirational and charming approach to writing, it fulfills on finding "the writer's magic."

    It's easy to see why Mr. Martin, who wrote the film...was moved to reinvent this role...Mr. Martin's screenplay is bighearted and funny.' The New York Times