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!

    The trick is staying a writer."New York Times bestselling author and British Academy Award nominee J. Michael Straczynski knew he wanted to be a writer ever since he was a child. What he didn't know was how to actually become, or stay, a writer. Now, he's giving fellow writers the comprehensive guide he wishes he had all along, personalized tips and techniques that can't be found in any other book on writing.Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer culls from Straczynski's more than thirty years of experience writing for film, television, books, and comics. Designed for writers in any stage of their career, this quirky, insightful and often humorous book provides an inside look at these industries with advice and wisdom covering such topics such as:What fledgling writers need to know to improve and sell their work—and avoid wasting valuable timeTips for experienced writers who want to get to the next levelStaying disciplined when writing is your day jobWhy writers should never wait for inspiration Story-planning strategies that don’t kill your spontaneityExpert techniques for effective, memorable world-buildingHow to get an agent and survive the writer’s journey in more personal relationshipsRevising and editing with precisionWhen and how to reinvent yourself as an artist Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer includes Straczynski’s unique, tried-and-true methodologies that will help storytellers sharpen their work so that it’s polished and ready for publication. Part toolbox and part survival guide, this book will be an indispensable guide throughout your entire writing career, offering fresh and practical insights every step of the way.

    As a child, he had to take a remedial reading and writing class because he could barely write a full sentence. One editor told him his book would never be published.And yet Bryan is now a bestselling author whose books have been read by over 100,000 people and the book the editor said would never be published has been praised publicly by the foremost experts in the field.All writers doubt their ability. But Bryan's story shows doubt doesn't have to define your writing future.

    I spent time looking for a book which would show me how a "raw" story was developed through drafts, with comments received and the changes made. Struggling to find such a work, I decided to create my own, being transparent and honest in the details. Using the story that gained me an offer of a place on a Master's in Creative Writing, SHORT STORY will take you through three drafts of the work.The book details not only the major revisions, feedback given by a professional novelist and an academic, but also has a bunch of tips from my writers toolbox condensed between the drafts. I hope that the process provides something useful for you, be it a tip from the writing toolbox, a look at the editing process, or motivation in knowing that you can do better than I did!

    (Gerard addresses such ethical and legal questions as libel, privacy, "off the record"); and revise your work in light of what you know now ... re-envision what the story really is. Throughout, you'll find examples, advice and inspiration from some of today's greatest nonfiction writers - such as Terry Tempest Williams, Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez and Ron Powers.

    Baxter's experience from decades as a career martial artist make this book a valuable resource for writers who want to understand what fighting is all about - what it really feels like and what does and doesn't work - and how to factor those things into their writing to make their fight scenes visceral, realistic page turners. Baxter won't tell you how to write, but he will tell you what makes a great fight scene.

    The theory itself may be simple — "Purpose opposed by Obstacle yields Conflict" — but Cook takes his "Plottoist" through hundreds of situations and scenarios, guiding the reader’s hand as a dizzying array of purposes and obstacles come to a head. Cook’s method is broken down into three stages: First, the master plot. This four-page chart distills the most basic plot points into a three-line sentence. Next, the conflict situation. Each master plot leads the reader to a list of circumstances, distributed among 20 different conflict groups (these range from “Love’s Beginning” to “Personal Limitations” to “Transgression”). There are over 2,000 unique conflict situations in the book, and each is cross-referenced with designs for how the situation might have started, or where it might go. Finally, there are character combinations — Cook offers an extensive index of protagonists, each cross-referenced with various supporting players — themselves tied to various conflict situations, for what appears to be an inexhaustible reservoir of suggestions and inspiration.

    But by this point in her startling book, Dangerous Doses, readers are already on a first-name basis with the five investigators involved in breaking the case. These five -- drug inspectors, Miami detectives, and a former cop -- had marshaled their forces to protect Floridians from adulterated, expired, or mishandled prescription drugs, and Eban spent two and a half years with them, weaving together her story of drug supply corruption, not merely in Florida but throughout the nation.Americans spend nearly $216 billion to fill over 3 billion prescriptions a year, and most believe that what they ingest, inject, or apply topically travels from the drug maker to their pharmacy through pristine labs and warehouses filled with men in white coats. But Eban discovered a different route, one driven by middlemen: wholesalers who sell diverted, degraded, and expired medicine traded by felons and accompanied by falsified paperwork. The truth is chilling and complex, but Eban's intelligent writing, careful plotting, and dogged reporting make for a suspenseful and shocking read, and she offers a battle-ready road map for combating the problem, including excellent practical advice for consumers. (Fall 2005 Selection)

    

    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

    It features eight great poets, with brief, accessible essays concerning their life and work and a selection of their poems, and it is accompanied by an 80-minute CD recorded live at the British Library: Ralph Fiennes reading Auden, Edward Fox reading Eliot, Roger Moore reading Kipling, Harold Pinter reading Larkin, and more.Whether you believe (like Robert Frost, who inspired the title) that poetry is a way of taking life by the throat or (like T. S. Eliot) that it is one person talking to another, nobody does it better than the poets featured in this book. For a novice discovering the rich heritage of English-language verse or a seasoned poetry reader, Catching Life by the Throat is an extraordinary introduction to eight iconic poets.

    With inspiring wit and wisdom he will not only teach you how to be a better writer, but a more observant person and a better student in any field. You'll find yourself uncontrollably thinking deep thoughts about writing, film or anything else you are passionate about in life. Foreword by Glen Keane. "Listen to Brian, he has the unique ability to articulate what makes good writing." - Al Higgins, Writer "News Radio," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Mike & Molly" "If you don't already have a mentor, here's one you'll love, in portable form." -- Steve Englehart novelist and writer of classic versions of dozen of comics series such as Batman and The Avengers "Brian's book is filled with insightful and useful gems for writers of any experience level. The only reason you'll want to put it down is to go start writing yourself." -- J. Elvis Weinstein writer/producer "Freaks and Geeks," "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "Cinematic Titanic" "Brian writes in clear, readily usable ways to improve your screenwriting. Like time-release story capsules they ignite and helped me over many movies and countless story bends. Give him a read, take a couple and repeat as needed." -- Ronnie del Carmen, story supervisor on UP and Finding Nemo, director and writer at Pixar Animation Studios. "I use Brian McDonald's books in my classes because I'm a student of his work. All teachers are students all the time. Brian hasn't forgotten that he occupies both a seat in the classroom and the spot in front of the classroom." -- Shawn Wong Professor, Department of English University of Washington

    Shimmering Images teaches the aspiring memoirist how to locate key memories using Lisa's technique for finding, linking, and fleshing out those vibrant recollections of important moments and situations.Shimmering Images will address:*the difference between memoir and autobiography*how to claim your voice*the art of storytelling*honesty, truth, and compassion in writing*authentic dialogue and the need for specificityReaders will learn how to craft a short piece of narrative nonfiction grounded in their core memories and master a technique they can use over and over again for writing other narratives.A must-have book for anyone who has treasured Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott or Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.

    From the author of Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide, comes a new book on the art of copywriting for descriptions.A typical description might convert one click in thirty into a new reader. After two years of research and hundreds of descriptions written, the data shows that properly written descriptions can get the job done in ten clicks.Would you rather pay for 10 or 30 clicks to get a conversion?With 40 descriptions across lots of genres, you'll find everything you need to understand and train yourself to write proper copy.* Powerful hooks* Engaging copy* Visually Appealing formatting.

    The authors' comprehensive experience in legal practice, banking and teaching have enabled them to provide a condensed and easy to understand coverage of business law principles and areas of interest related thereto.