The Portable Writer's Conference

The Portable Writer's Conference PDF

Author: Stephen Blake Mettee

Publisher: Quill Driver Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9781884956577

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Over 45 editors, authors, and agents provide insight on the writing craft and the business of getting published. Learn from the experts!--From publisher's description.

The Emotional Craft of Fiction

The Emotional Craft of Fiction PDF

Author: Donald Maass

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-12-30

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1440348375

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Engage Your Readers with Emotion While writers might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, none would argue this: If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader's experience must be an emotional journey of its own, one as involving as your characters' struggles, discoveries, and triumphs are for you. That's where The Emotional Craft of Fiction comes in. Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers. Topics covered include: • emotional modes of writing • beyond showing versus telling • your story's emotional world • moral stakes • connecting the inner and outer journeys • plot as emotional opportunities • invoking higher emotions, symbols, and emotional language • cascading change • story as emotional mirror • positive spirit and magnanimous writing • the hidden current that makes stories move Readers can simply read a novel...or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.

Story Genius

Story Genius PDF

Author: Lisa Cron

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1607748894

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Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story. It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.

Save the Cat!

Save the Cat! PDF

Author: Blake Snyder

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781615931712

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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!

Writing Irresistible Kidlit

Writing Irresistible Kidlit PDF

Author: Mary Kole

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-12-04

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1599635763

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Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.

Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters

Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters PDF

Author: Michael Tierno

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2012-10-30

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1401305563

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An insightful how-to guide for writing screenplays that uses Aristotle's great work as a guide. Long considered the bible for storytellers, Aristotle's Poetics is a fixture of college courses on everything from fiction writing to dramatic theory. Now Michael Tierno shows how this great work can be an invaluable resource to screenwriters or anyone interested in studying plot structure. In carefully organized chapters, Tierno breaks down the fundamentals of screenwriting, highlighting particular aspects of Aristotle's work. Then, using examples from some of the best movies ever made, he demonstrates how to apply these ancient insights to modern-day screenwriting. This user-friendly guide covers a multitude of topics, from plotting and subplotting to dialogue and dramatic unity. Writing in a highly readable, informal tone, Tierno makes Aristotle's monumental work accessible to beginners and pros alike in areas such as screenwriting, film theory, fiction, and playwriting.

The Seven Basic Plots

The Seven Basic Plots PDF

Author: Christopher Booker

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2005-11-11

Total Pages: 737

ISBN-13: 1441116516

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This remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of 'basic stories' in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it shows that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling. But this is only the prelude to an investigation into how and why we are 'programmed' to imagine stories in these ways, and how they relate to the inmost patterns of human psychology. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., Christopher Booker then leads us through the extraordinary changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have 'lost the plot' by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose. Booker analyses why evolution has given us the need to tell stories and illustrates how storytelling has provided a uniquely revealing mirror to mankind's psychological development over the past 5000 years. This seminal book opens up in an entirely new way our understanding of the real purpose storytelling plays in our lives, and will be a talking point for years to come.

Composition for the 21st 1⁄2 century, Vol 2

Composition for the 21st 1⁄2 century, Vol 2 PDF

Author: Thomas Paul Thesen

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2019-10-02

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1351727249

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Composition for the 21st 1⁄2 century: Characters in Animation focuses on characters and their application in animation, illustration, games, and films. It covers various technical aspects of character design and their artistic applicability. This book analyzes in detail the purpose of these character design features and provides examples of their impact. Emphasis is placed on each aspect and how it affects and is affected by the narrative. Additionally, complex case studies that assist in explaining the successful use of these concepts in films and animation are included. This book is geared toward students; however, it is also reader-friendly for professionals. Composition for the 21st 1⁄2 century: Characters in Animation’s goal is to comprehend composition as an artistic tool and as a significant part of the professional character design process. Key Features: Teaches the complexity of composition in the professional character design process. Closes the gap between praxis and theory in character design. Explains how to produce believable characters that express their narrative in the visuals. Discusses the need for artistic reasoning in character design. Presents case studies to assist readers in understanding the process as they progress through this book. Author Bio: For more than twenty years, Thomas Paul Thesen’s career has been about learning and understanding the complexities of art, animation, and image-making, both in still illustration, drawing, and photography and in the moving image. He has worked in the industry as a character animator and visual development artist for companies such as Pixar, DreamWorks, and Sprite Animation Studios. He has also taught for many years at universities across Asia, the USA, and the UK.

How to Write Like Tolstoy

How to Write Like Tolstoy PDF

Author: Richard Cohen

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Published: 2021-05-04

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 081298773X

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A thought-provoking journey inside the minds of the world’s most accomplished storytellers, from Shakespeare to Stephen King NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SPECTATOR • “Richard Cohen’s book acted as a tonic to me. It didn’t make me more Russian, but it fired up my imagination. I have never annotated a book so fiercely.”—Hilary Mantel “There are three rules for writing a novel,” Somerset Maugham is said to have said. “Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” How then to bring characters to life, find a voice, kill your darlings, or run that most challenging of literary gauntlets, writing a sex scene? What made Nabokov choose the name Lolita? Why did Fitzgerald use firstperson narration in The Great Gatsby ? How did Kerouac, who raged against revision, finally come to revise On the Road ? Veteran editor and author Richard Cohen takes us on an engrossing journey into the lives and minds of the world’s greatest writers, from Honoré de Balzac and George Eliot to Virginia Woolf and Zadie Smith—with a few mischievous detours to visit Tolstoy along the way. In a scintillating tour d’horizon, Cohen lays bare the tricks, motivations, and techniques of the literary greats, revealing their obsessions and flaws and how we can learn from them along the way.