Are you unsure which series structure is best for you? Or are you several books into a series, but you’re stuck? Do you want to expand your literary universe but aren’t sure how to do it? Perhaps you have a series languishing in your backlist, and you need ideas on how to market it.  Get the knowledge you need to make smart decisions about your series with How to Write a Series.  You’ll learn:  The three basic types of series The benefits and drawbacks of writing each type of series Tips for extending your series beyond your original plan Ideas for creating spinoffs and expanding your literary universe How to know when it’s time to end a series How to save time writing your series and how to keep track of details How to deal with the problems that result from being locked into a story world  How to refresh your interest in a series if you’ve grown bored Creative ways to market your series I’ve been writing for fifteen years as both a hybrid and independent author. I’ve published over twenty-five fiction books in four different series. Everything I’ve learned about writing a series has been through trial and error. I hope my lessons-learned will give you a shortcut when it comes to writing your series plus tips for troubleshooting problems and ideas for promoting your series. Unlock the power of a series in your author career with How To Write a Series.

    Learning how to write a book that doesn't suck and can actually make you money -- and set you up for a full-time writing career is harder. But it's nowhere near impossible. And it's far more do-able than you can imagine. The trouble is, most books offering tips on how to write a book fail to address two key considersations: 1) Most self published non-fiction books suck 2) It's ALMOST impossible to make a living from ONE self-published non-fiction book Believe me, I tried. No one has more churned out more epic pieces of monumental Kindle crap than I have. But then, through making every mistake a writer can, I finally learned and honed a simple step-by-step approach to writing books that move readers, and allow me to have a full-time job as a writer. And it's that system I'd like to share with you in "How to Write a Book That Doesn't Suck and Will Actually Sell..." Here's a little glimpse of what I cover: In Chapter 1, I go over the "Super-Ninja Secrets to Making a Living With Your Books." I show you a simple, repeatable strategy you can use to build little silos of passive income awesomeness doing something you love. In Chapter 2, "Yeah, But What the Hell Am I Going to Write About?" I show you some quick and easy exercises to discover a book topic that's personal, meaningful and marketable. In Chapter 3, "3 Pillars to Finding a Kick-Ass Non-Fiction Book Idea" we give your book ideas the taste test, and figure out which book topic will the most effetive at building your brand, reaching your audience and making you a good chunk of change. In Chapter 4, "Research Tips for People Who Hate Research," I show you how to walk that fine line between too much research (procrastination) and not enough research (shallowness) and how to use what you find out to conquer cliches in your writing. In Chapter 5, "Ultimate Guide to a Kick-Ass and Super Marketable Book Title," we'll go over that most controversial of topics...the ever-important title of your book. In Chapter 6, "Building the Perfect Beast," I'll demonstrate a simple, easy way to outline your book -- without sucking the creativity out of it. In Chapter 7, "How to Write Books People Will Love," I lay out my personal framework for writing chapters that are easy to write -- and are loved by readers for their clarity and creativity. In Chapter 8, "6 Tips for Writing Your Damn Book," we go over some strategies to avoid writer's block and help you actually get the damn book finished. In Chapter 9, "5 Ways to Rewrite Your Book Into Super Awesomeness," I show how to actually have fun with rewriting. (Yes, it is possible.) So if you've always wanted to learn how to write a book, but you felt like the steps to writing a book were too complicated, or above your skill level, or just too difficult to complete... ...then please give "How to Write a Book That Doesn't Suck and Will Actually Sell" a chance. You just find that book -- and career -- you've always dreamed of.

    Book by Fay, Charles, Fay, Jim, Cline, Foster W.

    It’s great to know that – but while you’re reading about it you’re not writing your book.And what these books don’t tell you is how to use this learning and get the job done.Nail Your Novel is a writing buddy – and mentor - in a book.In 10 easy steps it will tell you:*how to shape your big idea and make a novel out of it*how to do your research and how to use it*how to organise your time*how to plot and build characters*when you’re going to hit problems and what to do about them*how to write on the days you don’t feel inspired*how to reread what you’ve written and polish it.Along the way, Thumbnail Notes give tutorials about storytelling and storycraft – strictly when you need them. The author has written nearly a dozen novels that have made it into print – and this is how she did it.You don’t even need to read the whole book before you get started. You read a section, then do as it says. And, once you’re finally satisfied, Nail Your Novel will tell you how to sell it to publishers and agents.

     Let me test my presumption with a preview of four these ‘old’ stories. If I told you there was once a west coast sex cult with dozens of young girls, single ladies, and married women, who all fornicated with one well-endowed “prophet,” and he occasionally found it necessary to carry-out bondage S&M sessions here and there, you may not be surprised at all. But what if that sex cult began in 1903 and ended in 1906 with a couple of murders and suicides, does that sound like anything you have read about before? Or, how about a cheater who murders his inconvenient wife, disassembles her over a fifteen hour period, then puts her bones in the same stove he cooks breakfast for his sons before sending them off to school? If that doesn’t surprise you, perhaps the ending will–but you’ll have to find out for yourself. In ‘The Dandy and the Squire,’ a smooth-talking peacock from Kentucky visits his northern ‘cousins,’ and charms three of the women into his bed. He’s a big time operator who talks fancy, dresses fancy, and tells great stories of his days as an adventurer, riverboat gambler, and sharp-minded deal maker. He’s so smooth, he’s able to murder the patriarch’s son, make him look like the bad guy, and marry the boy’s tender-hearted sister before the Yankees get wise to his lies. Good thing, too, because he had also talked the father into giving him the family farm. Chapter Five is the stranger-than-fiction story of ‘Shoebox Annie.’ During the early 20th Century, this trollish-looking woman introduced her freakish-looking son to a life of crime. Their decade’s long spree of lyin’, cheatin’, and stealin’ led them to become America’s first mother and son team of serial killers. They were so good at disposing of bodies, none of their four victims have ever been found. If ‘old’ stories sound boring to readers of contemporary true crime, I hope this book will change minds, and fully reveal just how wicked and decadent our ancestors were. And deadly. Volume II in the Vintage True Crime Stories series is a wrecking ball that smashes to pieces that phrase, “The Good Old Days.” Maybe you will believe me when you get to the last page.

    Literary Criticism and History. Reference. With its unprecedented gathering of 25 brief essays by experts in the field, THE ROSE METAL PRESS FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH FICTION meets the growing need for a concise yet creative exploration of the re-emerging genre popularly known as flash fiction. The book's introduction provides, for the first time, a comprehensive history of the short short story, from its early roots and hitherto unknown early publications and appearances, to its current state and practice. This guide is a must for anyone in the field of short fiction who teaches, writes, and is interested in its genesis and practice.

    The Writer's Portable Mentor helps writers understand and incorporate the regular practices of virtuoso creators; provides a guide to structuring literary, journalistic, or fictional pieces or entire books; opens the door to the sentence strategies of the masters; provides tools for developing a poet's ear for use in prose; trains writers in the observation skills of visual artists; and guides them toward more effective approaches to getting their work into the world. Says Maya Sonenberg, Director of the Creative Writing Program at University of Washington, "I have never seen anything quite like Priscilla Long's book. It presents a true alternative for the advanced writer."

    She believes you can too.

    From story concept to character development to scene construction and beyond, this title helps you learn the big picture of storytelling at a professional level through a fresh approach that shows how to combine six core competencies: the four elemental competencies of concept, character, theme, and story structure (plot).

    You’ve heard of “organic writing,” but that seems a bit squishy to you. Take a look at the wildly popular Snowflake Method—a battle-tested series of ten steps that jump-start your creativity and help you quickly map out your story. All around the world, novelists are using the Snowflake Method right now to ignite their imaginations and get their first drafts down on paper. In this book, you’ll follow the story of a fictitious novelist as she learns to tap into the amazing power of the Snowflake Method. Almost magically, she finds her story growing from a simple idea into a deep and powerful novel. And she finds her novel changing her—turning her into a stronger, more courageous person.Zany, Over the Top, and Just Plain FunHow to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is a “business parable”—a how-to guide written in story form. It’s zany. It’s over the top. It’s just plain fun. Most important, it’s effective, because it shows you, rather than telling you.You’ll learn by example how to grow your story idea into a sizzling first draft. You’ll discover:* How to define your “target audience” the right way, so you know exactly how your ideal readers think and feel. Forget what the experts tell you about “demographics.”* How to create a dynamite selling tool that will instantly tell people whether they’ll love your story or hate it. And you want them to either love it or hate it.* How to get inside the skin of every one of your characters—even your villain. Especially your villain.* How to find a deep, emotively powerful theme for your story. Do you know the one best point in your novel to unveil your theme—when your reader is most eager to hear it?* How to know when to backtrack, and why backtracking is essential to writing great fiction.* How to fire-test each scene to guarantee it’ll be high-impact—before you write it.Excerpt from Chapter 1:Goldilocks had always wanted to write a novel. She learned to read before she went to kindergarten. In grade school, she always had her nose in a book. In junior high, the other kids thought she was weird, because she actually liked reading those dusty old novels in literature class. All through high school, Goldilocks dreamed of writing a book of her own someday.But when she went to college, her parents persuaded her to study something practical. Goldilocks hated practical, and secretly she kept reading novels. But she was a very obedient girl, so she did what her parents told her. She got a very practical degree in marketing. After college, she got a job that bored her to tears—but at least it was practical.Then she got married, and within a few years, she had two children, a girl and then a boy. She quit her job to devote full time to them. As the children grew, Goldilocks took great joy in introducing them to the stories she had loved as a child. When her son went off to kindergarten, Goldilocks thought about looking for a job. But her resume now had a seven-year hole in it, and her practical skills were long out of date. The only jobs Goldilocks could qualify for were minimum wage.She suddenly realized that being practical had made her horribly unhappy. On a whim, Goldilocks decided to do the one thing she had always wanted more than anything else—she was finally going to write a novel.She didn’t care if it was impractical.She didn’t care if nobody would ever read her novel.She was going to do it just because she wanted to.For the first time in years, she was going to do something just for herself.And nobody was going to stop her.

    This set includes Singing And Swinging And Getting Merry, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou: Poems and Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now.

    She believes that anyone can be a writer and has set out to prove it. For the past decade, Barry has run a highly popular writing workshop for nonwriters called Writing the Unthinkable, which was featured in The New York Times Magazine. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor is the first book to make her innovative lesson plans and writing exercises available to the public for home or classroom use. Barry teaches a method of writing that focuses on the relationship between the hand, the brain, and spontaneous images, both written and visual. It has been embraced by people across North America—prison inmates, postal workers, university students, high-school teachers, and hairdressers—for opening pathways to creativity.Syllabus's takes the course plan for Barry’s workshop and runs wild with it in her densely detailed signature style. Collaged texts, ballpoint-pen doodles, and watercolor washes adorn Syllabus’s yellow lined pages, which offer advice on finding a creative voice and using memories to inspire the writing process. Throughout it all, Barry’s voice (as an author and as a teacher-mentor) rings clear, inspiring, and honest.

    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.

    Sometimes a writer needs something with a little more expressive power; a word or phrase that helps the reader visualize the tonal quality or mood of the character doing the talking.For many years, writers have been eagerly awaiting the publication of a resource to help them with this dilemma. Thankfully, that wait is finally over. Now there's a way for any writer, regardless of their experience, to craft dialogue tags that add emotion and vibrancy to their storytelling; all while avoiding tired and worn out cliches.Dahlia Evans has compiled a dialogue thesaurus unlike anything ever published. This unique sourcebook is filled to the brim with words and phrases gathered from hundreds of bestselling novels. Finally, you will be able to open up vistas of endless inspiration and bring your dialogue to life.Inside You'll Discover:# Over 500 dialogue and action tags you can use instead of 'said'.# More than 2900 adverbs that can be used to describe speech.# Thousands of emotion and feeling words in adjective and noun form.# A thousand phrases to describe body language and movement.# Tons of example sentences to help solidify your understanding.# And best of all, words are sorted in alphabetical order, as well as by category.'The Dialogue Thesaurus' is the first book of its kind; a thesaurus geared towards writers who want to frame their dialogue with compelling and expressive words and phrases.

    David Morrell, bestselling author of First Blood, The Brotherhood of the Rose, and The Fifth Profession, tackles everything from the craft of writing and dealing with writer's block to the psychology of being a fiction writer and how to market a book. By reading this book, you'll learn how to overcome common obstacles standing in your way of becoming a successful novelist and creating better fiction in the process. Plus, it's great reference guide if you're participating in NaNoWriMo!Topics covered include: Novel plottingStory structureCharacter developmentHow to write dialogueBook researchViewpoint/POVWriting descriptionsSucceeding in publishingAnd more!Praise for The Successful Novelist: "Like listening to a beloved brother. I found the acute observations and his narrative philosophy more valuable for the new writer than the contents of any 100 other texts."--Dean Koontz, international bestselling author whose books have sold over 500 million copies"This is the best guidebook to both writing and the business of writing that I've ever read."--Peter Straub, award-winning novelist and poet"The Successful Novelist is the vehicle you want if you plan to drive your way to successful fiction."--Joe R. Lansdale, award-winning author of 45 novels