With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot. "For a certain kind of person," Gardner writes, "nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist." But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer's workshops, explaining the role of the novelist's agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life-affirming handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession. "A miraculously detailed account of the creative process."—Anne Tyler, Baltimore Sun

    She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. Using examples from literature, history, neighborhood signage, and her own imagination, Truss shows how meaning is shaped by commas and apostrophes, and the hilarious consequences of punctuation gone awry.Featuring a foreword by Frank McCourt, and interspersed with a lively history of punctuation from the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes a powerful case for the preservation of proper punctuation.

    George combines clear, intelligent, and functional advice on fiction writing with anecdotes from her own life, the story of her journey to publication, and inside information on how she meticulously researches and writes her novels. George's solid understanding of craft is conveyed in the enticing manner of a true storyteller, making Write Away not only a marvelous, interesting, and informative book but also a glimpse inside the world of a beloved writer.

    Over the past seven years, I have created 19 award-winning romance novels for two international publishers and over 1.2 million copies have been sold in 28 countries around the world in 23 languages. The good news is that romance fiction is as popular as it has ever been. Just look at the Amazon Bestsellers top 100 paid list. It is dominated by romance titles. Writing short romance Kindle books is an ideal home-based business, with minimal start-up costs. You work where and when you choose, writing the kind of romance stories that you love to read –and then publish them for free! What’s more, short fiction is fast to both read and to write. No more procrastination! You can create passive income from day one with short romance stories that only took you a few hours to write. This eBook guides you through an intense Masterclass on the key techniques that you need to start writing short romance fiction, which you can then publish on the Amazon Kindle platform. As a professional romance author, I have broken down the process of writing romance fiction into: A complete nine-step plan packed with the essential information you need to write your own short romance fiction, from understanding the different types of romance categories through to advanced story structure. A proven six-layer character development technique to help you to create compelling three-dimensional characters readers will love! As a bonus, I have included a section with practical advice on how to transform your manuscript into an eBook. This detailed Fast-Track guide has been designed to be around 40 minutes long, which means that there is no filler, just quality information from the start. Your complete starter plan is written in straightforward language and each step has been tried and tested. I know that it works because this is the system that I use to create my own award-winning romance fiction! Take a risk and learn How to Write Short Romance Kindle Books today – it could be the key to a new career and a brilliant entrepreneurial small business. It is much easier than you think. Just take that first step! NEW SPECIAL OFFER! This eBook is part of the ROMANCE SELF-PUBLISHING BOOK BUNDLE (Books One to Three): All the Information you need to Write, Publish and Promote your Romance Kindle Book. Available now at a great sale price. http://amzn.to/1NpEGx2

    Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. This makes it all the more difficult to truly understand the range of roles they inhabit while shepherding a project from concept to publication. In What Editors Do, Peter Ginna gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children’s publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers—and readers—everywhere. Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to actually approach the work of editing. This book will serve as a compendium of professional advice and will be a resource both for those entering the profession (or already in it) and for those outside publishing who seek an understanding of it. It sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor’s vital role at each stage of the publishing process—a role that extends far beyond marking up the author’s text. This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing. What Editors Do shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever.

    An imprisoned man receives an unexpected caller, after which "everything changed..."And the reader is hooked. But whether or not readers will stay on for the entire wild ride will depend on how well the writer structures the story, scene by scene.This book is your game plan for success. Using dozens of examples from his own work - including "Dropshot," "Tiebreaker" and other popular novels - Jack M. Bickham will guide you in building a sturdy framework for your novel, whatever its form or length. You'll learn how to: -"worry" your readers into following your story to the end -prolong your main character's struggle while moving the story ahead -juggle cause and effect to serve your story action As you work on crafting compelling scenes that move the reader, moment by moment, toward the story's resolution, you'll see why believable fiction must make more sense than real life. Every scene should end in disastersome scenes should be condensed, and others built big. Whatever your story, this book can help you arrive at a happy ending in the company of satisfied readers.

    With Unless It Moves the Human Heart, the revered novelist, essayist, playwright, and respected writing teacher offers a guidebook for aspiring authors, a memoir, and an impassioned argument for the necessity of writing in our world. In the tradition of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, Rosenblatt’s Unless It Moves the Human Heart provides practical insights and advice on the craft, exquisitely presented by one of contemporary literature’s living treasures.

    In this collection of correspondence—letters to publishers, editors, friends, and fellow writers—the writer shares his insights on the art of creation.On Writing reveals an artist brutally frank about the drudgery of work and canny and uncompromising about the absurdities of life—and of art. It illuminates the hard-edged, complex humanity of a true American legend and counterculture icon—the “laureate of American lowlife” (Time)—who stoically recorded society’s downtrodden and depraved. It exposes an artist grounded in the visceral, whose work reverberates with his central ideal: “Don't try.”Piercing, poignant, and often hilarious, On Writing is filled not only with memorable lines but also with Bukowski’s trademark toughness, leavened with moments of grace, pathos, and intimacy.

    As soon as you name an emotion, readers go into thinking mode. And when they think about an emotion, they distance themselves from feeling it. A great way to show anger, fear, indifference, and the whole range of emotions that characterize the human experience, is through beats. These action snippets that pepper dialogue can help describe a wide range of emotions while avoiding lazy writing. The power of beats lies in their innate ability to create richer, more immediate, deeper writing. This emotional thesaurus includes hundreds of examples that you can use for your inspiration, so that you, too, can harness this technique to easily convert your writing into palpable feelings. Genre fiction authors can use Emotional Beat as a feeling thesaurus and watch their writing take off! Emotional Beats was an award-winning Finalist in the IPA 2017 Awards.

    Complete with self-critique questions to help you assess your work, these exercises challenge you to experiment with the diverse writing styles as you clarify your own.Make the most of Josip Novakovich's insightful, mind-expanding workshop and come away with a stronger voice, a broader perspective and better fiction.

    Since then I have had three best sellers in the short romance category and am now making over $1,000 a month. I went from making $10.64 for January (my first month) to making $1297.72 for March (my third month). I am projected, by looking at sales, to make $1800+ for April (my fourth month). This book is a tell-all of exactly what I did and how I did it. This is a short book. I guarantee there is no fluff here. I get straight to the point and tell you exactly what I did. I truly want to help you become a bestselling author and help you make money writing books. Please, I encourage you to follow the steps outlined in this book. Happy Writing! #1 bestselling short romance author Hope Ford writes short, steamy, sweet romances. There is always an alpha male (because who doesn’t love an alpha male) and a woman he makes his queen. Sit back, grab a glass of wine, and get lost in this happily ever after story – that’s also a little naughty.

    Whether puncturing the lies of politicians, wittily dissecting the English character or telling unpalatable truths about war, Orwell's timeless, uncompromising essays are more relevant, entertaining and essential than ever in today's era of spin.Contents:"Why I Write", first published 1946"The Lion and the Unicorn", first published 1940"A Hanging", first published 1931"Politics and the English Language", first published 1946

    It includes: how to test your premise, some easy steps to develop your character and define your story question from that character, how to hit your major plot points, and how to write a scene outline. Concise, clear, and action-oriented, this book is all about plotting, simplified.

    It offers practical and inspiring advice on such subjects as structuring a plot and handling rejection. And it combines one of today's most successful fiction writers with a published non-fiction writer who teaches creative fiction. HOW I WRITE is the perfect reference for anyone looking to improve their writing, and for those fans who are hungry to find out more about just how Janet Evanovich ticks.

    This Live Wire Writer Guide presents a simple, effective technique to sharpen your hook, charge your scenes, and amplify your voice whether you're a beginner or an expert.Most writing manuals skirt craft questions with gimmicks and quick fixes rather than plugging directly into your story's power source. Energize your fiction and boost your career with a new characterization method that jumpstarts drafting, crafting, revision, and pitching.  skill-builders to intensify language, stakes, and emotion for your readers.  battle-tested solutions for common traps, crutches, and habits.  a dynamic story-planning strategy effective for plotters and pantsers.  ample examples and exercises to help you upgrade fiction in any genre.  Blast past overused tics and types with storycraft that busts your ruts and awes your audience. Whether you like to wing it or bring it, Verbalize offers a fresh set of user-friendly, language-based tools to populate your pages and lay the foundations of unforgettable genre fiction.