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    She investigates a specific element of craft - Image, Voice, Character, Setting and Story - from a perspective that crosses various genres.

    Wherever you are, whatever you've been called to make, you need to read this book...and everything else he has written." — Ryan Holiday, Bestselling Author of Ego Is the Enemy and The Obstacle Is the Way YOU ARE AN ARTIST ... AND YOU HAVE AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY I have a theory about the Hero’s Journey. We all have one. We have many, in fact. But our primary hero’s journey is the passage we live out, in real life, before we find our calling.The hero’s journey ends when, like Odysseus, we return home to Ithaca, to the place from which we started. What then? The passage that comes next is The Artist’s Journey.On our artist’s journey, we move past Resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create.You are an artist too—whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not—and you have an artist’s journey. Will you live it out? Will you follow your Muse and do the work you were born to do?Ready or not, you are called.

    

    His 1990 National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage is a modern classic, revered as much for its daring plot as its philosophical underpinnings. For thirty-three years, Johnson taught and mentored students in the art and craft of creative writing. The Way of the Writer is his record of those years, and the coda to a kaleidoscopic, boundary-shattering career. Organized into six accessible, easy-to-navigate sections, The Way of the Writer is both a literary reflection on the creative impulse and a utilitarian guide to the writing process. Johnson shares his lessons and exercises from the classroom, starting with word choice, sentence structure, and narrative voice, and delving into the mechanics of scene, dialogue, plot and storytelling before exploring the larger questions at stake for the serious writer. What separates literature from industrial fiction? What lies at the heart of the creative impulse? How does one navigate the literary world? And how are philosophy and fiction concomitant? Luminous, inspiring, and imminently accessible, The Way of the Writer is a revelatory glimpse into the mind of the writer and an essential guide for anyone with a story to tell.

    'Best Book in 'How To' Category 20165 Star award Winning Seal from Readers' Favorite.How to Write a Simple Book Review; it's easier than you think.By International Bestselling British Author Allyson R. AbbottHave you ever wondered how to write a book review? Where to begin or how long it needs to be?Has it ever occurred to you that even negative reviews may be helpful to authors?Are there different types of reviews? Where can you get tips for reviewing a book? Do you wish writing a review was easy?With this book it is. Sharing your opinion with people who want to hear it is fun. Your reviews help fellow readers find out if a book is worth their time and money. Authors appreciate the recognition of a review, no matter how long, and the insight of a review can show them where they need to improve. 'Writing a Simple Book Review; it's easier than you think!' holds these answers and more. You can start writing book reviews today; even if it is only a few words.What the buyers say (Verified Purchases)5 star"What Abbott does is teach you...yes, she teaches you to write a one-word review and proceed on to another word, a sentence, and then another sentence...until you have a full paragraph! Let's face it, no matter what you, the reader, is interested in, there is going to be a book about it to enjoy or learn from. Why not take a few minutes to thank the writer of that book as soon as you have finished reading." Glenda Amazon Reviewer January 30, 20165 star"How to Write a Simple Book Review is a wonderful, concise book to do just that, write a book review, for beginners or those wanting to improve their review skills. The book has formal, semi-formal, and informal guidelines. Templates are great! Star guide lines and how to vary it to suit yourself. Lots of tips and techniques. Lists of reviewer links and pages to encourage interaction. I thought it was a great book!" Kindle Customer December 31, 20155 starAbbott's book about providing book reviews motivated me to write this first Amazon book review. So mission accomplished! I rely heavily on book reviews to decide which books to invest my time due to a year 2016 resolution to not waste unnecessary time on books that I dislike. Therefore, writing book reviews is my way of paying the favour forward.I love that Abbott invested a great proportion of the book on reassuring that there is no fixed format for books. The persuasion is extremely subtle and plods the reader along in a non-intrusive manner. However for those readers who require further structure, she highlights further discrepancies between the different types of reviews (literary criticism, book report and book review). Further guidelines and template act as further handholds to ease the newbies into the role.Naturally, I recommend this to all readers who are beginners to reviewing books. However it might not be suitable for more experienced reviewers who are looking for something to distinguish their reviews from others. Bubbsykat August 1, 2016

    Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language book as full of life as it is of practical advice.Between You & Me features Norris's laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage—comma faults, danglers, "who" vs. "whom," "that" vs. "which," compound words, gender-neutral language—and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Down-to-earth and always open-minded, she draws on examples from Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, and the Lord's Prayer, as well as from The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, David Foster Wallace, and Gillian Flynn. She takes us to see a copy of Noah Webster's groundbreaking Blue-Back Speller, on a quest to find out who put the hyphen in Moby-Dick, on a pilgrimage to the world's only pencil-sharpener museum, and inside the hallowed halls of The New Yorker and her work with such celebrated writers as Pauline Kael, Philip Roth, and George Saunders.Readers—and writers—will find in Norris neither a scold nor a softie but a wise and witty new friend in love with language and alive to the glories of its use in America, even in the age of autocorrect and spell-check. As Norris writes, "The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around."

    It's the unique worldview that intrigues readers–persuading them to empathize with your characters and invest in their tale. It's the masterful concealing and revealing of detail that keeps pages turning and plots fresh. It's the hidden agenda that makes narrators complicated and compelling.It's also something most writers struggle to understand. In The Power of Point of View, RITA Award-winning author Alicia Rasley first teaches you the fundamentals of point of view (POV)–who is speaking, why, and what options work best within the conventions of your chosen genre. Then, she takes you deeper to explain how POV functions as a crucial piece of your story–something that ultimately shapes and drives character, plot, and every other component of your fiction.Through comprehensive instruction and engaging exercises, you'll learn how to:choose a point of view that enhances your characters and plots and encourages reader involvementnavigate the levels of a character's point of view, from objective viewing to action to emotioncraft unusual perspectives, including children, animal narrators, and villainsA story changes depending on who's telling it, and The Power of Point of View will help you determine which of your characters can make your story come to life.

    Foreword by James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief Midwest Book Review Winner, ForeWord Magazine 2008 Book of the Year Award in the category of Writing

    On the contrary, the authors show how each mark of punctuation--no matter how seemingly arcane--can be effortlessly associated with a great American icon: the underrated yet powerful period with Seabiscuit; the jazzy semicolon with Duke Ellington; even the rebel apostrophe with famed outlaw Jesse James. But this book is way more than a flight of whimsy. When you've finished "Comma Sense, "you'll not only have mastered everything you need to know about punctuation through Lederer and Shore's simple, clear, and right-on-the-mark rules, you'll have had fun doing so. When you're done laughing and learning, you'll be a veritable punctuation whiz, ready to make your marks accurately, sensitively, and effectively.

    For scholars frustrated with disciplinary conventions, and for specialists who want to write for a larger audience but are unsure where to begin, here are imaginative, practical, witty pointers that show how to make articles and books a pleasure to read and to write.Dispelling the myth that you cannot get published without writing wordy, impersonal prose, Sword shows how much journal editors and readers welcome work that avoids excessive jargon and abstraction. Sword s analysis of more than a thousand peer-reviewed articles across a wide range of fields documents a startling gap between how academics typically describe good writing and the turgid prose they regularly produce."Stylish Academic Writing" showcases a range of scholars from the sciences, humanities, and social sciences who write with vividness and panache. Individual chapters take up specific elements of style, such as titles and headings, chapter openings, and structure, and close with examples of transferable techniques that any writer can master.

    What form should the narrator take? An omniscient, invisible force, or one--or more--of the characters? But in what voice, and from what vantage point? How to decide? Avoiding prescriptive instructions or arbitrary rules, Christopher Castellani brilliantly examines the various ways writers have solved the crucial point-of-view problem. By unpacking the narrative strategies at play in the work of writers as different as E. M. Forster, Grace Paley, and Tayeb Salih, among many others, he illustrates how the author's careful manipulation of distance between narrator and character drives the story. An insightful work by an award-winning novelist and the artistic director of GrubStreet, The Art of Perspective is a fascinating discussion on a subject of perpetual interest to any writer.

    In a highly competitive publishing world, today’s writers need to stay ahead of the competition and make every sentence count. This book will help new writers who need an understanding of the writing process and it's also for seasoned writers who need inspiration. It’s a powerful tool.“I can honestly say that Shelly Lowenkopf wrote the book onfiction.” —Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay It Forward and Jumpstart the World“Shelly Lowenkopf has cooked up literary gumbo for all writers. Once you’ve sampled it, you won’t be able to stop coming back for more.” —Ehrich Van Lowe, producer of The Cosby Show and author of Boyfriend from Hell.

    Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, it’s not a post-face."In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Saller’s own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "It’s how I know things."Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors.Saller’s emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and don’ts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.

    Stet is a must-read for the literarily curious, who will revel in Athill's portraits of such great literary figures as Jean Rhys, V. S. Naipaul, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Mordecai Richler, and others. Spiced with candid observations about the type of people who make brilliant writers and ingenious publishers (and the idiosyncrasies of both), Stet is an invaluable contribution to the literature of literature, and in the words of the Sunday Telegraph, "all would-be authors and editors should have a copy."