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

    The book will guide you through the process of researching publications, writing your story, editing, and submitting your work to literary magazines. It's also a primer in how to make a career in fiction writing. If you've ever wanted to be a writer, this book will help get you started. Why all the great writers started with short stories, and why you should, too. How to build a fiction platform with short stories rather than just another blog. How short stories are structured differently than novels. What theme to write about to give you a greater shot at being published. How to break through your writer's block when you get stuck. How to submit your short stories to literary magazines (and which ones you should submit to). Let's Write a Short Story! won't just give you the information you need. It will challenge you to take the next step in becoming a writer and help you get your writing published.

    Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone.With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Syntax covers grammar’s ground rules while revealing countless unconventional syntax secrets (such as how to use—Gasp!—interjections or when to pepper your prose with slang) that make for sinfully good writing. Discover how to:*Distinguish between words that are “pearls” and words that are “potatoes”* Avoid “couch potato thinking” and “commitment phobia” when choosing verbs* Use literary devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, and metaphor (and understand what you're doing)Everyone needs to know how to write stylish prose—students, professionals, and seasoned writers alike. Whether you’re writing to sell, shock, or just sing, Sin and Syntax is the guide you need to improve your command of the English language.

    At once a memoir, meditation on the artistic process, and advice on craft, Still Writing is an intimate and eloquent companion to living a creative life.Through a blend of deeply personal stories about what formed her as a writer, tales from other authors, and a searching look at her own creative process, Shapiro offers her gift to writers everywhere: an elegant guide of hard-won wisdom and advice for staying the course. "The writer's life requires courage, patience, empathy, openness. It requires the ability to be alone with oneself. Gentle with oneself. To be disciplined, and at the same time, take risks." Writers--and anyone with an artistic temperament--will find inspiration and comfort in these pages. Offering lessons learned over twenty years of teaching and writing, Shapiro brings her own revealing insights to weave an indispensable almanac for modern writers.Like Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Virginia Woolf's A Writer's Diary, and Stephen King's On Writing, Dani Shapiro's Still Writing is a lodestar for aspiring scribes and an eloquent memoir of the writing life.

    In From Where You Dream, Butler reimagines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual, and tells writers how to achieve the dreamspace necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction. Proposing that fiction is the exploration of the human condition with yearning as its compass, Butler reinterprets the traditional tools of the craft using the dynamics of desire. Offering a direct view into the mind and craft of a literary master, From Where You Dream is an invaluable tool for the novice and experienced writer alike.

    It’s the harmful debris of your education—a mixture of half-truths, myths, and false assumptions that prevents you from writing well. Drawing on years of experience as a writer and teacher of writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg offers an approach to writing that will change the way you work and think. There is no gospel, no orthodoxy, no dogma in this book. What you’ll find here isn’t the way to write. Instead, you’ll find a way to clear your mind of illusions about writing and discover how you write. Several Short Sentences About Writing is a book of first steps and experiments. They will revolutionize the way you think and perceive, and they will change forever the sense of your own authority as a writer. This is a book full of learning, but it’s also a book full of unlearning—a way to recover the vivid, rhythmic, poetic sense of language you once possessed. An indispensable and unique book that will give you a clear understanding of how to think about what you do when you write and how to improve the quality of your writing.

    This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!

    It should be carefully sewn into the fabric of the story to create tension-filled moments that will keep readers turning pages. In Writing with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict, you'll learn how to layer emotional moments and deep connections to create a tapestry filled with conflict, pathos, and genuine feeling.- Create emotional depth, conflict, and tension in your novel by carefully crafting your plot, characters, setting, word choice, and more. - Learn what makes readers "tick"--and what will elicit the strongest emotional responses. - Write believable, emotional scenes and dialogue--and trim away the sappiness.When writing a novel, your ultimate goal is to make readers smile, weep, rage, and laugh right along with your characters. Writing with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict will show you how to evoke a multitude of feelings in your readers--and keep them coming back for more.

    It gives the background, insights, and specific procedures needed by all beginning writers. Here one can learn how to group words into copy that moves, movement into scenes, and scenes into stories; how to develop characters, how to revise and polish, and finally, how to sell the product.No one can teach talent, but the practical skills of the professional writer's craft can certainly be taught. The correct and imaginative use of these kills can shorten any beginner's apprenticeship by years.This is the book for writers who want to turn rejection slips into cashable checks.

     There’s a better way. In How to Write Fast, Platt and Silver show you how to shift your approach to writing to dramatically increase your natural speed, while tapping into your inner storyteller and unleashing more of the stories you were born to tell. You will discover: * How to immediately improve your writing speed. * Why writing fast will result in better writing. * How to redesign your writing strategy to promote going faster. * The five simple hacks Platt, Silver and the entire story studio have used to repeatedly best themselves and move many of them to producing more than a million words a year. * Mental tricks to bypass your inner editor (and why using them will retrain your brain to write faster, while also creating the cleanest copy you’ve ever created). Isn't it time you did more than just write fast? Now you can. Start writing better words faster today!

    From keeping your story simple to staying in the character's head, Elizabeth and Mark will take you through the essential steps to creating propulsive and entertaining fiction. Also includes an additional book: 'Musings From the Writer's Desk'

    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!

    You can jump-start your plot and bring your characters and scenes vibrantly alive on the page - by watching your favorite movies and learning from the storytelling tricks of great filmmakers.With this workbook you'll learn how to use techniques of film writing such as:- the High Concept Premise- the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure- the Storyboard Grid- the Index Card Method of Plotting- as well as tricks of film pacing and suspense, character arc and drive, visual storytelling, creating setpieces, and building image systems - to structure and color your novel for maximum emotional impact, suspense, and pacing, no matter what genre you're writing in.Contains all the general story structure lessons of STFA I and much more, but with special attention to key story elements, techniques and examples from romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and romantic adventure, including ten full story breakdowns.TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionPART ONE: STORY STRUCTURE1. The Master List2. What's Your Premise?3. First, You Need an Idea4. What KIND of Story Is It?5. The Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure6. The Index Card Method7. Story Elements Checklist8. Elements of Act I9. Plan, Central Question, Central Story Action10. What's The Plan?11. Hero/ine, Protagonist, Main Character12. Hero and Heroine, Lover and Loved One13. What Makes A Great Villain?14. Elements of Act Two15. Elements of Act Two, Part 216. Elements of Act Three17. Top Ten Endings18. What Makes a Great Climax?19. Act Climaxes Overview and Examples20. Expanding on the Key Story Elements21. Expanded Story Elements Checklist22. Love Story Elements23. Fairy Tale Structure24. Meta Structure25. What is "High Concept"?26. The Rule of Three27. Voice28. First Chapters29. Theme and Thematic Image Systems30. Visual Storytelling31. Creating Suspense32. Plants and Payoffs33. The Big Twist34. Character Introductions35. Using Character Clusters36. Your First Draft is Always Going to Suck37. Top Ten Things I Know About Editing38. A Process for WritingPART TWO: STORY BREAKDOWNS39. The Breakdowns40. Leap Year41. While You Were Sleeping42. Notting Hill43. Four Weddings and a Funeral44. The Proposal45. New in Town46. Groundhog Day47. Sense and Sensibility48. Romancing the Stone49. Sea of LovePART THREE: THE BUSINESS50. Life is a Pitch Meeting51. How Do I Get a Literary Agent?52. Internet Resources for Writers53. So You Want to Know About Screenwriting54. Recommended ReadingFigure 1: Story Grid

    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.

    If an editor or agent (or reader) loses interest after a page or two, you've lost him or her completely, even if the middle of your novel is brilliant and the ending phenomenal. Noah Lukeman, an agent in Manhattan, has taken this advice and created a book that examines just what this means, and I have to tell you, it's one of the best I've read. I've written (and seen published) pretty close to a dozen novels in as many years -- some are still to be published and will be out shortly; others are already out of print after four years. But I wish I had read Lukeman's book, The First Five Pages, when I began writing fiction. I'm glad I did now. It has helped, immediately. I'm already embarrassed about some of the goofs I made in my writing -- and I've been revising recent prose with his advice in mind. First off, Lukeman is a literary agent who once was an editor, and his editorial eye is sharp. If every novelist and short story writer in this country had Lukeman as an editor, we'd have a lot more readable prose out there. He writes: Many writers spend the majority of their time devising their plot. What they don't seem to understand is that if their execution -- if their prose -- isn't up to par, their plot may not even be considered.This bears repeating, because in all the books I've read on writing, this is an element that is most often forgotten in the rush to come up with snappy ideas and sharp plot progressions. You can always send a hero on a journey, after all, but if no reader wants to follow him, you've wasted your time. In a tone that can be a bit professorial at times, Lukeman brings what prose is -- and how it reads to others -- into sharp focus. He deals with dialogue, style, and, most importantly, sound. Sound. How does prose sound? It must have rhythm, its own kind of music, in order to draw the reader into the fictive dream. Lukeman's tips and pointers are genuinely helpful, and even important with regard to the sound of the prose itself. Lukeman also brings in on-target exercises for writers of prose and the wonderful advice for novelists to read poetry -- and often. Those first five pages are crucial, for all concerned. But forget the editor and agent and reader. They are important for you, the writer, because they determine the sharpness of your focus, the completeness of your vision, the confidence you, as a writer, need to plunge into a three- or four- or five-hundred-page story. The First Five Pages should be on every writer's shelf. This is the real thing.P#151;Douglas Clegg Douglas Clegg is the author of numerous novels and stories, including The Halloween Man and the collection The Nightmare Chronicles. In addition, Clegg is the author of the world's first publisher-sponsored Internet email novel, Naomi.