Storytelling—how to catch and hold a reader’s interest through artful narration of factual materialWilliam E. Blundell, one of the best writers on one of America's best-written papers—The Wall Street Journal—has put his famous Journal Feature-Writing Seminars into this step-by-step guide for turning out great articles. Filled with expert instruction on a complex art, it provides beginners with a systematic approach to feature writing and deftly teaches old...

Grammar has finally let its hair down! Unlike uptight grammar books that overwhelm us with every single grammar rule, Kiss My Asterisk is like a bikini: it’s fun, flirty, and covers only the most important bits. Its lessons, which are 100 percent free of complicated grammar jargon, have been carefully selected to include today’s most common, noticeable errors-the ones that confuse our readers or make them wonder if we are, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader. What is the proper u...

Do you feel overwhelmed trying to revise your novel? Faced with a hot mess of rough draft, maybe you feel confused, unsure of what to fix -- or rather, what to fix first! Editing fiction takes a slightly different mindset than writing the first rough pass of a novel. There are a lot of moving parts in a work of fiction. The trick is to not try and tackle everything at once. ROCK YOUR REVISIONS: A Simple System for Revising Your Novel

Many writers have heard of hooks, and have heard we should use them in our manuscripts as a tool to engage readers and keep them engaged, but what we’re not told is how to identify what a hook is or where to use them to maximize them other than in that key opening line.In this book we’ll look at five specific types of hooks. There are more, but these are the most common, and the most universal, which means by understanding how to craft them, most readers will respon...

Professional editor and author Elizabeth Lyon offers aspiring novelists the guidance and instruction they need to write and edit well-crafted and compelling stories that will stand out from the competition and attract the attention of agents and publishers, including:- Stand-out style techniques, from accessing an authentic voice to applying techniques of "wordsmithing" that transform prose- How to rewrite characterization for dimensionality, a universal need, and theme

Not your same old boring grammar guide! This book is fun, fast, and focused on writing amazing fiction.The world of grammar is huge, but fiction writers don’t need to know all the nuances to write well. In fact, some of the rules you were taught in English class will actually hurt your fiction writing, not help it.Grammar for Fiction Writers won’t teach you things you don’t need to know. It’s all about the grammar that’s relevant to you as you writ...

A revised and updated copy editor's guide to surviving the publishing industry, with practical advice on working with writers, colleagues, and yourself.Longtime manuscript editor and Chicago Manual of Style guru Carol Fisher Saller has negotiated many a standoff between a writer and editor refusing to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling. Saller realized that when these sides squared off, it was often the reader who lost. In her search f...

Do you want readers to be so caught up in your book that they forget they’re reading?Then you need deep POV.Deep POV takes the reader and places them inside of our characters—hearing their thoughts, feeling their emotions, and living the story through them. Compared to other writing styles, it builds a stronger emotional connection between the reader and our characters, creates the feeling of a faster pace, and helps avoid point-of-view errors and telling rather than showin...

Many dreams of writing a novel, but the competition is fierce. The proportion of non-fiction to fiction books is at least five or six to one. So, which one would you choose to write?This no-nonsense guide will show you how to convert your knowledge into a non-fiction book proposal – from working up the basic idea to finding an interested publisher and presenting it well, all the way to agreeing royalty rates and signing contracts.Separate chapters cover key topics like how ...

Knowing what's wrong with your book's first draft is one thing. Having a process to fix it is another. The PAPER method is a complete system for editing a novel that allows creativity to flourish while taking control of your project. Lose fear and panic, meet your deadlines, know what to do, where to do it, and when you'll be finished.

Are you looking for a way to add new depth and re-readability to your writing?Are you tired of description being “the boring part that people skip”?Are you a writer who’s struggled with making their story world feel believable and three-dimensional?Description in fiction shouldn’t be boring for the reader or for the writer.Description: A Busy Writer’s Guide will help you take your writing to the next level by exchanging ho-hum description for descri...

Do you struggle with show, don't tell? You don't have to.Award-winning author Janice Hardy (and founder of the popular writing site, Fiction University) takes you deep into one of the most frustrating aspects of writing--showing, and not telling. She'll help you understand what show, don't tell means, teach you how to spot told prose in your writing, and reveal why common advice on how to fix it doesn't always work.With in-depth analysis, Understanding ...