Showing titles in Writing & Publishing

Writing and finishing a novel can feel overwhelming. Especially because if you're like most writers, you need to fit writing around other responsibilities and goals. Maybe you're working at a separate job or profession, raising a family, or pursuing a degree (or all of the above). But there's good news. No matter what else is happening in your life, you can write a novel in a year.

Meet the man behind the biggest persona either side of the Mississippi, in this audio companion to the Ken Burns film of the same name. Burns, Geoffrey Ward, and Dayton Duncan pull together a treasure trove of information on the man formerly known as Samuel Clemens, using published and unpublished sources. Also, browse all Mark Twain titles.

Even the most unique and interesting characters will not engage readers if their journey - the plot - fails. In this audiobook, best-selling author William Bernhardt reveals the secrets that will keep readers riveted to the page. He explains the importance of matching character to plot and the key distinction between surprise and coincidence. Bernhardt discusses how to enrich your story by layering three levels of conflict and, in the final chapter, analyzes the primary plot structures that delight readers.

Ninety crime writers from the world’s oldest and most famous crime writing network give tips and insights into successful crime and thriller fiction. Howdunit! offers a fresh perspective on the craft of crime writing from leading exponents of the genre, past and present. The book offers invaluable advice to people interested in writing crime fiction, but it also provides a fascinating picture of the way that the best crime writers have honed their skills over the years.

From drawing a map of a remembered neighborhood to signing a form releasing yourself to take risks in your work, Roorbach offers innovative techniques that will trigger ideas for all writers. Writing Life Stories is a classic text that appears on countless creative nonfiction and composition syllabi the world over. This updated 10th anniversary edition gives you the same friendly instruction and stimulating exercises along with updated information on current memoir writing trends, ethics, internet research, and even marketing ideas.

Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages.

Art-Write:The Writing Guide for Visual Artists has a single intention: to teach artists how to write about their own artwork. This concise and current career resource is filled with achievable advice on how to write for art promotion and sales. The audiobook offers a step-by-step approach to create a professional artist statement, with thinking and writing exercises to ease the process and develop authentic and clear content.

Elizabeth George offers a master class in the art and science of crafting a novel, sharing her wealth of experience with would-be novelists. Using her actual work to illustrate the various steps of novel writing that she explores in this audiobook, she illustrates her points about plotting, characterisation and technique with great clarity and generosity. Mastering the Process provides writers with practical, prescriptive, and achievable tools for creating a novel, editing a novel and problem-solving.

An indispensable guide to the craft of writing and business of publishing from one of our best-selling and most versatile authors. Onetime teacher and best-selling novelist Joanne Harris has been advising and corresponding with aspirational writers for over six years. This collection of pithy and funny lists of advice provides both hard-won wisdom and insider industry help. All aspects of the writing process and story development are covered - as is the thorny issue of how and where to find readers.

Theme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left to chance. Some writers even insist theme should not be purposefully implemented. This is unfortunate, because in many ways theme is story. Theme is the heart, the meaning, the point. Nothing that important should be overlooked. Powerful themes are never incidental. They emerge from the conjunction of strong plots and resonant character arcs.

Improv instructor and writer Jorjeana Marie presents the first book to harness the creative power of improvisation exercises to help both aspiring and seasoned authors defeat writer's block and generate new ideas. Introducing the rules and techniques of improvisation as they apply to fiction writing, improv instructor and writer Jorjeana Marie addresses each major element of storytelling by applying writer's-block-busting games and inner-critic-quieting exercises to get the creative ideas flowing.

How to Write a Romance Novel is a revolutionary writing guide from New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Judy Angelo. Instead, in this discussion on writing a novel, we gain insight into the winning presentation and writing techniques that have made Judy's stories resonate with romance readers around the world, making them keep coming back for more. It is a guide that will help you create a winning writing war chest of your own.

Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.

If you're an entrepreneur with a message and you want to reach your best clients, raise your credibility as an expert and become an authority in your industry, then writing your book and getting it published is vital. Now it's easier than ever to get published, it's even more important that the book you write is not just good, but exceptional. "How To Write Your Book Without The Fuss" will show you exactly how to write for maximum impact, influence and income, so that you will have a book that brings business.

In this book, experienced nonfiction writer Stephen Haunts shares his journey of writing his debut novel, Diary of a Martian, and offers essential insights into how to successfully plan, write, and prepare a novel for publication.

Failure is a topic discussed in every creative writing department in the world, but this is the book every beginning writer should have on their shelf to prepare them. Less a guide to writing and more a guide to what you need to continue existing as a writer, On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer describes the defining role played by rejection in literary endeavors and contemplates failure as the essence of the writer’s life.

Terrified of speaking in front of a group? Or simply looking to polish your skills? No matter where you are on the spectrum, this guide will give you the confidence and the tools you need to get results.

Can you learn how to write comedy? Absolutely - anyone can. Scott Dikkers will tell you how. He's co-founder and longest-serving editor-in-chief of The Onion, the world's most popular humor publication, and founder of The Onion Training Center at the Second City in Chicago. He's also a number one best-selling humor author and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. In How to Write Funnier, he tells you everything you need to know to start writing funny stories, how to write funny scenes, and how to write funny sketches.

Have you ever said, "I've always wanted to write a book for kids!" but then never got around to it? Maybe you didn't know where to start, or how to get a good idea. Now you can start to write your book for children when you listen to How to Write a Children's Book, brought to you by the Institute of Children's Literature. Whether you want to have a full-blown career writing children's books, be traditionally published, self-published, or simply want one book to hand down to your own children and grandkids, How to Write a Children's Book will help you.

On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb outside government buildings in central Oslo, killing eight people. He then proceeded to a youth camp on the island of Utøya, where he killed 69 more, most of them teenage members of Norway's governing Labour Party. In One of Us, the journalist Åsne Seierstad tells the story of this terrible day and what led up to it. What made Breivik, a gifted child from an affluent neighborhood in Oslo, become a terrorist?