The Ultimate Hero's Journey: 195 Essential Plot Stages Found in the Best Novels and Movies


Neal Soloponte - 2017
     Every great novel and movie follows a common narrative pattern known as the Hero’s Journey. In this book, for the first time at such level of detail, independent writers can have a look into the Hollywood’s manual on how to create a classic. Make no mistake about it: This is not just another popular take on the subject. This is it. All the 195 plot milestones found in the greatest stories of all times are outlined here—clearly, exactly, concisely. If you are writing a novel or a script, don’t run with disadvantage: Step into this mythical landscape and follow your favorite heroes along The Ultimate Hero’s Journey, as you discover the master structure of timeless storytelling.

500 More Ways To Be A Better Writer


Chuck Wendig - 2012
    Those with heart conditions or frail demeanors should not read* * *500 MORE WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER is the sequel to 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER (which is itself a sequel to 250 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WRITING).Nab this book and you’ll find within a series of lists geared toward enlightening you with the short sharp satori smack of dubious writing wisdom. The book contains a veritable avalanche of writing advice meant to help novelists, screenwriters and other storytellers better understand topics near and dear to the penmonkey existence. The book answers questions such as, “How do I find my voice? What should I know about procuring an agent? How do I find the proper story structure for my story? Where are my pants?”500 MORE WAYS contains the following:25 Financial F**k-Ups Writers Make 25 Mistakes To Look For In Your Writing 25 Reasons Readers Will Keep Reading Your Story 25 Reasons Readers Will Quit Reading Your Story 25 Reasons Writers Are Bug-F**k Nuts 25 Things I Want To Say To So-Called “Aspiring” Writers 25 Things Writers Should Know About Blogging 25 Things Writers Should Know About Agents 25 Things Writers Should Start Doing (As Soon As Possible) 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Starting Right Now) 25 Things You Should Know About Narrative Structure 25 Things You Should Know About Protagonists 25 Things You Should Know About Rejection 25 Things You Should Know About Setting 25 Things You Should Know About Suspense And Tension In Storytelling 25 Things You Should Know About Your Authorial Voice 25 Things You Should Know About Your “Finished” Novel 25 Ways For Writers To Help Other Writers Appendix I: 25 More Writing Challenges Appendix II: 25 Things You Should Know About Me

Writing the Blockbuster Novel


Albert Zuckerman - 1994
    Through clear, direct and decisive instruction, literary agent Al Zuckerman covers the essential elements of the best-selling novel, showing aspiring authors how to put them to work in their writing.

100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around The World (100 Great Ideas)


Andy Maslen - 2011
    

The Easy 9-Step System to Your First Book in 30 Days: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Become an Authority Author in Weeks!


Nuno Almeida - 2017
     By the way, because he has this delusion that you should always put your money where your mouth is, he actually shows you the video where you can see his 17 Amazon Best Sellers. Bananas! He’s no saint, though! If you get his FREE COURSE he will try to sell you his complete, over-the-shoulder, professional Course down the line! He offers it for a crazy affordable price and he doesn’t even try to upsell you anything. This lunatic believes in transparency and providing real value. These are the worst scumbags! The craziest part is that, even if you don’t buy anything else, this book ALONE will give you EVERYTHING you need to publish your book on Amazon from A to Z! This is what I’ll teach you: - Choosing the Right Topic: The best way to earn a lot of money while having a sense of purpose! - Market Research: Learn how to get inspiration and improve your own book by looking at the right places! - Title Creation: Learn how to get readers bursting with curiosity and lining to get your book first! - Writing Your Book: The fastest way to structure your book all the way to the end! - Outsourcing: If you don't want to write it, learn how to outsource it the right way and end up with a masterpiece! - Cover Creation: Do it yourself easily and for free OR Get a professional graphic designer to do it for $5! - Description, Categories & Keywords: Learn the AIDA Formula for magic descriptions and know all the secrets to stand out! - Formatting and Publishing your Kindle EBook: I will provide you with the same skeleton file I personally use (already formatted! ) and I will show you, step-by-step, how to publish your Kindle book the right way! - Formatting and Publishing your Paperback Book: Learn how to publish the paperback version for FREE! I will teach how to get an already formatted template and show you, step-by-step, how to publish your physical book the right way! - Free Promotions and Getting Reviews: I will teach you how to set up a free promotion so you can get up to thousands of downloads and honest reviews that will make your book stand miles apart from your competitors! - Important Resources: Make your author's page &lt

The Plot Machine: Design Better Stories Faster


Dale Kutzera - 2015
    In clear precise language, this guide discusses the various types of stories we tell, their specific parts, and how they are assembled. Say good-bye to staring at the blank page waiting for lightning to strike. Just put a few coins in the Plot Machine and design better stories faster.

McGraw-Hill's Proofreading Handbook


Laura Killen Anderson - 2005
    Veteran editor and proofreader Laura Anderson arms you with all the tools of the proofreader's trade and walks you step-by-step through the entire proofreading process.

Economical Writing


Deirdre Nansen McCloskey - 1999
    McCloskey s systematic treatment provides a range of insights and practical advice for better writing by scholars in every field.

The Awakener: A Memoir of Jack Kerouac and the Fifties


Helen Weaver - 2009
    . . [Weaver] paints a romantic picture of Greenwich Village in the 1950s and '60s, when she worked in publishing and hung out with Allen Ginsberg and the poet Richard Howard and was wild and loose, getting high and falling into bed almost immediately with her crushes, including Lenny Bruce. . . . Her descriptions of the Village are evocative, recalling a time when she wore long skirts, Capezio ballet shoes and black stockings,' and used to sit in the Bagatelle and have sweet vermouth on the rocks with a twist of lemon.' Early on, she quotes Pasternak: You in others: this is your soul.' Kerouac's soul lives on through many people -- Joyce Johnson, for one -- but few have been as adept as Weaver at capturing both him and the New York bohemia of the time. He was lucky to have met her." --Tara McKelvey, The New York Times Book Review“There is a tendency for memoirs written by women about The Great Man to be self-abnegating exercises in a kind of inverted narcissism—the author seeking to prove her worth as muse, as consort, as chosen one. Not so with Helen Weaver’s beautiful, plainspoken elegy for her time spent with Jack Kerouac, who suddenly appeared at her door in the West Village one white, frosty morning with Allen Ginsberg, who knew Weaver’s roommate, in tow.”—New York Post“Helen Weaver’s book was a revelation to me! . . . This is the most graphic, honest, shameless, and moving documentary of what the newly liberated women in cities got up to—how they lived, loved, and created. Who knew? It is time they did! And here’s how.”—Carolyn Cassady“The book recounts her affair with Kerouac in 1956 during the period when he signed his literary contract for On the Road, but

Master Class in Fiction Writing: Techniques from Austen, Hemingway, and Other Greats: Lessons from the All-Star Writer's Workshop


Adam Sexton - 2005
    For without first considering the experience of reading stories--seriously, thoroughly, the way Sexton does--you can't possibly write one worth reading. --Tara McCarthy, author of Love Will Tear Us ApartMany writers believe that if they just find the right teacher or workshop, their writing will reach new heights of skill. But why not learn from the best? In his popular workshops in New York City, creative writing instructor Adam Sexton has found that the most effective way for any writer to grasp on the elements of fiction is to study the great masters. Master Class in Fiction Writing is your personal crash course in creative writing, with the world's most accomplished fiction writers as your guides.You will learn:The art of characterization from Jane AustenStyle and voice from Ernest HemingwayDialogue from Iris MurdochDescription from Vladimir NabokovThe timeless techniques of plotting in the work of Joseph ConradThe ingenious structure of James JoycePoint of view from Toni MorrisonOver the course of just ten chapters you can master all the components of great short story and novel writing. These are the most important lessons any writer can learn--a truly novel approach to writing that will enrich, inform, and inspire.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling


James N. Frey - 1987
    Talent and inspiration can't be taught, but Frey does provide scores of helpful suggestions and sensible rules and principles.An international bestseller, How to Write a Damn Good Novel will enable all writers to face that intimidating first page, keep them on track when they falter, and help them recognize, analyze, and correct the problems in their own work.

Writing Without Teachers


Peter Elbow - 1973
    His approach is especially helpful to people who get stuck or blocked in their writing, and is equally useful for writing fiction, poetry, and essays, as well as reports, lectures, and memos. The core of Elbow's thinking is a challenge against traditional writing methods. Instead of editing and outlining material in the initial steps of the writing process, Elbow celebrates non-stop or free uncensored writing, without editorial checkpoints first, followed much later by the editorial process. This approach turns the focus towards encouraging ways of developing confidence and inspiration through free writing, multiple drafts, diaries, and notes. Elbow guides the reader through his metaphor of writing as cooking: his term for heating up the creative process where the subconscious bubbles up to the surface and the writing gets good. 1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Writing Without Teachers. In this edition, Elbow reexamines his program and the subsequent influence his techniques have had on writers, students, and teachers. This invaluable guide will benefit anyone, whether in the classroom, boardroom, or living room, who has ever had trouble writing.

A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers


Kate L. Turabian - 1955
    Bellow. Strauss. Friedman. The University of Chicago has been the home of some of the most important thinkers of the modern age. But perhaps no name has been spoken with more respect than Turabian. The dissertation secretary at Chicago for decades, Kate Turabian literally wrote the book on the successful completion and submission of the student paper. Her Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, created from her years of experience with research projects across all fields, has sold more than seven million copies since it was first published in 1937.Now, with this seventh edition, Turabian’s Manual has undergone its most extensive revision, ensuring that it will remain the most valuable handbook for writers at every level—from first-year undergraduates, to dissertation writers apprehensively submitting final manuscripts, to senior scholars who may be old hands at research and writing but less familiar with new media citation styles. Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and the late Wayne C. Booth—the gifted team behind The Craft of Research—and the University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff combined their wide-ranging expertise to remake this classic resource. They preserve Turabian’s clear and practical advice while fully embracing the new modes of research, writing, and source citation brought about by the age of the Internet.Booth, Colomb, and Williams significantly expand the scope of previous editions by creating a guide, generous in length and tone, to the art of research and writing. Growing out of the authors’ best-selling Craft of Research, this new section provides students with an overview of every step of the research and writing process, from formulating the right questions to reading critically to building arguments and revising drafts. This leads naturally to the second part of the Manual for Writers, which offers an authoritative overview of citation practices in scholarly writing, as well as detailed information on the two main citation styles (“notes-bibliography” and “author-date”). This section has been fully revised to reflect the recommendations of the fifteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style and to present an expanded array of source types and updated examples, including guidance on citing electronic sources.The final section of the book treats issues of style—the details that go into making a strong paper. Here writers will find advice on a wide range of topics, including punctuation, table formatting, and use of quotations. The appendix draws together everything writers need to know about formatting research papers, theses, and dissertations and preparing them for submission. This material has been thoroughly vetted by dissertation officials at colleges and universities across the country.This seventh edition of Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is a classic reference revised for a new age. It is tailored to a new generation of writers using tools its original author could not have imagined—while retaining the clarity and authority that generations of scholars have come to associate with the name Turabian.

The Writer's Chapbook A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit, and Advice from the Twentieth Century's Preeminent Writers


George Plimpton - 1989
    M. Forster, perhaps the greatest living author of the time. Subsequent issues carried interviews with, among others, François Mauriac, Graham Greene, Irwin Shaw, William Styron, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner; in the intervening years, many of the world's most significant writers (Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, John Updike, and John Dos Passos) sat down with The Paris Review. Many of the interviews have been collected in a series of volumes entitled Writers at Work. From these interviews, The Paris Review's editor, George Plimpton, has selected the best and most illuminating insights that the writers have provided and arranged them by subject rather than by author. The book is divided into four parts: "The Writer: A Profile" (including the sections "On Reading," "On Work Habits," On the Audi-ence," etc.); Part II is "Technical Matters" ("On Style," "On Plot," etc.); Part III is "Different Forms" ("On Biography," "On Journalism"); and Part IV is "The Writer's Life," covering topics like conferences, courses, and teaching, along with a section in which writers provided portraits of other writers.         The Writer's Chapbook is a fund of observations by writers on writing. These range from marvel-ous one-liners (Eugene O'Neill on critics: "I love every bone in their heads"; T. S. Eliot on editors: "I suppose some editors are failed writers--but so are most writers") to expositions on plot, character, and the technical process of putting pen to paper and doing it for a living. "I don't even have a plot," says Norman Mailer; Paul Bowles describes writing in bed; Toni Morrison talks about inventing characters; and Edward Albee and Tom Wolfe explain where they discovered the titles for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Bonfire of the Vanities.        This book is a treasure. But beware: What is true for the Writers at Work series holds for The Writer's Chapbook even more--a reader who picks it up, intending just to dip into it, might not emerge for days.

Helpful Adjectives for Fiction Writers (Indie Author Resources Book 3)


Valerie Howard - 2019
    A LIST OF 1,000 ADJECTIVES Indie Author Resources Book 3 Are boring adjectives leaving your writing dull, bland, and yawn-inducing? If so, this book is for you! Broken down into easy-to-navigate categories like "texture," "height," and "brightness," these adjectives will help you pack your writing with descriptions that will leave your readers asking for more!