This Sell What You Write reading list may be for you, even if you’re not enrolled in this course. That’s why I’m releasing it from the paywall. If you know anyone who would benefit from the list, please text it to or otherwise share it with that person right now:
If you’re going to get the full experience of this class, read these texts before you watch the lectures and then interact in the comments with me and your fellow students. Again, I’m no John Grisham, Marilynne Robinson, Aristotle, Robert McKee, or John Milton. I’ve merely found some answers that have worked for me and friends and colleagues, so I’m putting them all in one spot. In the future, I want to be able to gesture vaguely towards this archive. It’s as much of a convenience for me as it is a class for the present cohort.
For those simply here for this booklist — I’m releasing both the required and non required booklist / blogroll because that costs me nothing and because it might actually lend itself to some cross pollination between various writing communities here and elsewhere online. If someone in the old guard, established core, or emerging voices learns of a new resource, that’s a win too. Comment below with anything that needs added to the list and I’ll evaluate it: it’s likely I’ll forget one of my own:
Above the paywall, the only free resource of my own that I’ll release today is the freelance writing guide. Why? To give you an idea of the various ways you can charge money for your writing and how those things compare. You’ll need to increase the pay rate for today’s pay scale — the point is the cross-sector comparison and the variety.
Many of the books below come well reviewed at my coconspirator Emily Munro’s Writing About Writing About Writing. Start there because she’s writing to analyze writers writing books about the art of writing. Before we get into non required reading books, in the same vein as Emily’s blog, I would recommend on the blog front that—
—you’ll want to browse around Junot Díaz’s StoryWorlds,
The Art of Fiction archive at The Paris Review,
Brandon Sanderson’s Writing Lectures.
Cool? Cool. Now onto the non-required books:
Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood. In this wise and irresistibly quotable book, one of the most intelligent writers now working in English addresses the riddle of her art: why people pursue it, how they view their calling, and what bargains they make with their audiences, both real and imagined. To these fascinating issues Margaret Atwood brings a candid appraisal of her own experience as well as a breadth of reading that encompasses everything from Dante to Elmore Leonard. An ambitious artistic inquiry conducted with unpretentious charm, Negotiating with the Dead is an invaluable insider’s view of the writer’s universe.
Editor to Author by Maxwell E. Perkins. A selection of nearly 200 letters from the 20th century's greatest editor, Max Perkins, that also take us into the hearts and minds of the famous authors--Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wolfe, Lardner, Rawlings and others--whom he edited.
Writing Place by William Zinsser. In Writing Places, William Zinsser—the author of On Writing Well, the bestseller that has inspired two generations of writers, journalists, and students—recalls the many colorful and instructive places where he has worked and taught. Gay Talese, author of A Writer’s Life, calls Writing Places, “Wonderful,” while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praises this unique memoir for possessing “all the qualities that Zinsser believes matter most in good writing—clarity, brevity, simplicity and humanity.”
Danse Macabre by Stephen King. From the author of dozens of #1 New York Times bestsellers and the creator of many unforgettable movies comes a vivid, intelligent, and nostalgic journey through three decades of horror as experienced through the eyes of the most popular writer in the genre. In 1981, years before he sat down to tackle On Writing, Stephen King decided to address the topic of what makes horror horrifying and what makes terror terrifying. Here, in ten brilliantly written chapters, King delivers one colorful observation after another about the great stories, books, and films that comprise the horror genre—from Frankenstein and Dracula to The Exorcist, The Twilight Zone, and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 by Dave Eggars (bit of a joke that, but it’s really helpful for internet writing). “For this year’s edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading, we wanted to expand the scope of the book to include shorter pieces, and fragments of stories, and transcripts, screenplays, television scripts -- lots of things that we hadn’t included before. Our publisher readily agreed, and so you’ll see that this year’s edition is far more eclectic in form than previous editions. Along the way to making the book, we also came across a variety of things that didn’t fit neatly anywhere, but which we felt should be included, so we conceived the front section, which is a loose Best American roundup of notable words and sentences from 2005. It is, like this book in general, obviously and completely incomplete, but might be interesting nevertheless.”
The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass. The essential guide to evoking emotional experiences in your readers
Writers might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, but none would argue this: If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel.
Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers. You'll learn:
• 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 moveReaders can simply read a novel...or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.
Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. Here is compassionate, practical, and often humorous advice about how to find time to write, how to discover your personal style, how to make sentences come alive, and how to overcome procrastination and writer's block—including more than thirty provocative “Try this” exercises to get your pen moving.
And here also is a larger vision of the writer’s task: balancing daily responsibilities with a commitment to writing; knowing when to take risks as a writer and a human being; coming to terms with success and failure and loss; and learning self-acceptance—both in life and art.
Crafting Story Movement by Kathryn Craft. As a writer, you want to move your readers-to tears, to laughter, to dread, to wonder. To usher them beyond their lived experience so they can view life from a new perspective. To make their heart leap and their soul dance.
CRAFTING STORY MOVEMENT: Techniques to Engage Readers and Drive Your Novel Forward is a writing craft guide that shows you how to create emotional storytelling, build reader immersion, and design a novel with irresistible momentum.
Guided by examples from masters across genres-and inspired by the author’s background as a dance critic and developmental editor-you’ll discover:Fiction pacing techniques that keep readers turning pages
Story movement strategies to sustain narrative momentum
Character-driven storytelling tools to make readers care
Ways to connect with readers on a visceral, emotional level
How to choreograph scene-to-scene flow so every beat matters
Whether you’re writing high-stakes suspense, tender romance, or thought-provoking literary fiction, this book offers the shift in perspective that will help you claim the power of movement in fiction-and write a novel that lingers in your readers’ hearts long after “The End.”
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title.
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. One of the world’s leading creative artists, choreographers, and creator of the smash-hit Broadway show, Movin’ Out, shares her secrets for developing and honing your creative talents—at once prescriptive and inspirational, a book to stand alongside The Artist’s Way and Bird by Bird.
All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and it is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career.
In “Where's Your Pencil?” Tharp reminds you to observe the world—and get it down on paper. In “Coins and Chaos,” she gives you an easy way to restore order and peace. In “Do a Verb,” she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In “Build a Bridge to the Next Day,” she shows you how to clean the clutter from your mind overnight.
Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin.
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. BJ FOGG is here to change your life—and revolutionize how we think about human behavior. Based on twenty years of research and Fogg’s experience coaching more than 40,000 people, Tiny Habits cracks the code of habit formation. With breakthrough discoveries in every chapter, you’ll learn the simplest proven ways to transform your life. Fogg shows you how to feel good about your successes instead of bad about your failures.
How to Write a Novel by Aaron Burch. A fun and thoughtful collection of previously unpublished essays about skateboarding, riding horses, gardening, delivering mail, shooting baskets, cooking, record collecting, knitting, stitching, running, and many more things that aren't writing, except that, put in the context of this collection, maybe they are?
Revisionaries by Kristopher Jansma. In Revisionaries, a writing expert takes you on an engrossing tour through the discarded drafts, false starts, and abandoned projects of influential writers. In the process, he dismantles some of our most deeply held--and most suffocating--ideas about what it takes to produce great creative work. You’ll learn that:
Franz Kafka lacked confidence
Octavia Butler had writer’s block
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote bad drafts
Ralph Ellison got overwhelmed
Louisa May Alcott got off to a bad start
And more deep, dark secrets about the authors you most admire
Written by an award-winning novelist and creative-writing professor, Revisionaries is a compelling peek behind the scenes of genius for writers and readers alike.
Sense of Style by Stephen Pinker. Hart hates this book. Why is so much writing so bad, and how can we make it better? Is the English language being corrupted by texting and social media? Do the kids today even care about good writing—and why should we care? From the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now.
In this entertaining and eminently practical book, the cognitive scientist, dictionary consultant, and New York Times–bestselling author Steven Pinker rethinks the usage guide for the twenty-first century. Using examples of great and gruesome modern prose while avoiding the scolding tone and Spartan tastes of the classic manuals, he shows how the art of writing can be a form of pleasurable mastery and a fascinating intellectual topic in its own right. The Sense of Style is for writers of all kinds, and for readers who are interested in letters and literature and are curious about the ways in which the sciences of mind can illuminate how language works at its best.
Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders. The world is on fire.
So tell your story.Things are scary right now. We’re all being swept along by a tidal wave of history, and it’s easy to feel helpless. But we’re not helpless: we have minds, and imaginations, and the ability to visualize other worlds and valiant struggles. And writing can be an act of resistance that reminds us that other futures and other ways of living are possible.
Full of memoir, personal anecdote, and insight about how to flourish during the present emergency, Never Say You Can’t Survive is the perfect manual for creativity in unprecedented times.
Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark. With so many excellent writing guides lining bookstore shelves, it can be hard to know where to look for the best advice. Should you go with Natalie Goldberg or Anne Lamott? Maybe William Zinsser or Stephen King would be more appropriate. Then again, what about the classics -- Strunk and White, or even Aristotle himself?
Thankfully, your search is over. In Murder Your Darlings, Roy Peter Clark, who has been a beloved and revered writing teacher to children and Pulitzer Prize winners alike for more than thirty years, has compiled a remarkable collection of more than 100 of the best writing tips from fifty of the best writing books of all time.
With a chapter devoted to each key strategy, Clark expands and contextualizes the original author's suggestions and offers anecdotes about how each one helped him or other writers sharpen their skills. An invaluable resource for writers of all kinds, Murder Your Darlings is an inspiring and edifying ode to the craft of writing.
Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig. Finally--a book of writing advice that accounts for all of the messy, perverse, practical, and inexplicable parts of being a human who writes
The truth is that all of the "writing rules" you've learned are bullshit. Sure, they work for some people, but the likelihood that they'll work for you--unique butterfly of a person that you are--is slim.
That doesn't mean you're out of luck! There is meaningful advice to be had in the writing world, and Chuck Wendig is here to deliver it. In this hilarious guide, Wendig will help you discover more about yourself as a writer, parse through your quirks and foibles, and help you figure out the best way for you to get words on the page--without destroying yourself along the way.
With behind-the-scenes stories of Wendig's own writing struggles, sections on debunking popular advice, self-care tips, and more footnotes than are strictly necessary (or legally recommended by scientists), Gentle Writing Advice will give the unvarnished truth about the writing process and remind you of what's actually important--taking care of the writer. (That's you, by the way.)Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig (the juxtaposition alone of those two titles^^). The journey to become a successful writer is long, fraught with peril, and filled with difficult questions: How do I write dialogue? How do I build suspense? What should I know about query letters? How do I start?
The best way to answer these questions is to ditch your uncertainty and transform yourself into a KICK-ASS writer. This new book from award-winning author Chuck Wendig combines the best of his eye-opening writing instruction--previously available in e-book form only--with all-new insights into writing and publishing. It's an explosive broadside of gritty advice that will destroy your fears, clear the path, and help you find your voice, your story, and your audience.
You'll explore the fundamentals of writing, learn how to obtain publication, and master the skills you need to build an army of dedicated fans. No task is too large or small for the kick-ass writer. With his trademark acerbic wit and gut-punch humor, Wendig will explain:
• How to build suspense, craft characters, and defeat writer's block.
• How to write a scene, an ending--even a sentence.
• Blogging techniques, social media skills, and crowdfunding.
• How to write a query letter, talk to agents, and deal with failure--and success!
Whether you're just starting out or you need one more push to get you over the top, two things are for certain--a kick-ass writer never quits, and chuck Wendig won't let you down in this high-octane guide to becoming the writer you were born to be.About Writing by Samuel R. Delany. Award-winning novelist Samuel R. Delany has written a book for creative writers to place alongside E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Lajos Egri's Art of Dramatic Writing. Taking up specifics (When do flashbacks work, and when should you avoid them? How do you make characters both vivid and sympathetic?) and generalities (How are novels structured? How do writers establish serious literary reputations today?), Delany also examines the condition of the contemporary creative writer and how it differs from that of the writer in the years of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the high Modernists. Like a private writing tutorial, About Writing treats each topic with clarity and insight. Here is an indispensable companion for serious writers everywhere.
Meander, Spiral, Explode by Jane Alison. As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one we’re actually told to follow―and that’s the dramatic arc: a situation arises, grows tense, reaches a peak, subsides . . . But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculosexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?"
W. G. Sebald’s Emigrants was the first novel to show Alison how forward momentum can be created by way of pattern, rather than the traditional arc--or, in nature, wave. Other writers of nonlinear prose considered in her “museum of specimens” include Nicholson Baker, Anne Carson, Marguerite Duras, Gabriel García Márquez, Jamaica Kincaid, Clarice Lispector, Susan Minot, David Mitchell, Caryl Phillips, and Mary Robison.
Meander, Spiral, Explode is a singular and brilliant elucidation of literary strategies that also brings high spirits and wit to its original conclusions. It is a liberating manifesto that says, Let’s leave the outdated modes behind and, in thinking of new modes, bring feeling back to experimentation. It will appeal to serious readers and writers alike.
The Sound on the Page by Ben Yagoda. In writing, style matters. Our favorite writers often entertain, move, and inspire us less by what they say than by how they say it. In The Sound on the Page, acclaimed author, teacher, and critic Ben Yagoda offers practical and incisive help for writers on developing and discovering their own style and voice. This wonderfully rich and readable book features interviews with more than 40 of our most important authors discussing their literary style.
Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer. Jeff VanderMeer’s modern masterpiece of instruction exploits the visual nature of genre culture and employs bold, full-color drawings, maps, renderings, and visualizations to stimulate creative thinking.
A true objet d’art, this overstuffed, full-color illustrated book features glorious Lovecraftian artwork of all sorts of outrageous monsters, as well as a host of advice winding their ways around the edges of the pages like marginalia in an illuminated monk’s script. Yes, it’s practical advice, useful to writers, but it also deserves a place on your coffee table for visitors to flip through and for you to look at again and again.
Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin lays out ten chapters that address the most fundamental components of narrative writing, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view. Each chapter combines illustrative examples from the global canon with Le Guin’s own witty commentary and an exercise that the writer can do solo or in a group. She also offers a comprehensive guide to working in writing groups, both actual and online.
Masterly and concise, Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer’s shelf.
This celebrated guide to the art of storytelling focuses on the essentials:
The Elements of Craft: Ten focused chapters on the essential tools of narrative, from the music of language and sentence construction to the strategic use of adjectives and adverbs.
Point of View and Voice: A masterclass in choosing and maintaining a point of view, with witty commentary and clear examples that demystify narrative voice.
Practical Writing Exercises: Engaging exercises at the end of each chapter, designed to sharpen your skills whether you work alone or with a group.
Guidance for Writing Groups: An invaluable guide to participating in—and benefiting from—peer group workshops, both in-person and online.
Voice by James Scott Bell. What is the single greatest secret to a breakout writing career? What is it that every agent and editor wants to see, and every reader delights in?It's VOICE. Everyone talks about it, yet no one seems able to define it. Voice has therefore been the most elusive aspect of the entire writing craft to teach.Until now.In this book, #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell reveals the true source of voice, and what any writer in any genre can do to capture it for their own work. In VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing you'll learn: - An actual working definition of voice that is simple yet powerful- Bell's original method for turning that definition into book-length voice power- How to vary voice from genre to genre, book to book- How to enhance voice with emotion, flow, and attitude- How to create vivid word pictures - Exercises to expand your voice and style- Example after example of voice in actionDon't settle for good writing. Go for the unforgettable. The secret of voice will help you get there.
The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth. In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don’t need to have anything important to say—you simply need to say it well.
In an age unhealthily obsessed with the power of substance, this is a book that highlights the importance of style.
The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark Roy Peter Clark shows everyday readers and writers how mastering sentence craft and grammar can make their communication clearer, more persuasive, and more enjoyable.
Early in the history of English, the words “grammar” and “glamour” meant the same thing: the power to charm. Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools, aims to put the glamour back in grammar with this fun, engaging alternative to stuffy instructionals. In this practical guide, readers will learn everything from the different parts of speech to why effective writers prefer concrete nouns and active verbs.
The Glamour of Grammar gives readers all the tools they need to”live inside the language” -- to take advantage of grammar to perfect their use of English, to instill meaning, and to charm through their writing. With this indispensable book, readers will come to see just how glamorous grammar can be.
The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, offers writing lessons we can draw from 25 great texts.
Where do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate beyond the surface of a text to see how meaning is actually being made. In The Art of X-Ray Reading, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading glasses and join him on a guided tour through some of the most exquisite and masterful literary works of all time, from The Great Gatsby to Lolita to The Bluest Eye, and many more. Along the way, he shows you how to mine these masterpieces for invaluable writing strategies that you can add to your arsenal and apply in your own writing. Once you’ve experienced X-ray reading, your writing will never be the same again.
How Fiction Works by James Wood. Here one of the most prominent and stylish critics of our time looks into the machinery of storytelling to ask some fundamental questions: What do we mean when we say we "know" a fictional character? What constitutes a telling detail? When is a metaphor successful? Is Realism realistic? Why do some literary conventions become dated while others stay fresh?
James Wood ranges widely, from Homer to Make Way for Ducklings, from the Bible to John le Carré, and his book is both a study of the techniques of fiction-making and an alternative history of the novel. Playful and profound, How Fiction Works will be enlightening to writers, readers, and anyone else interested in what happens on the page.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.
The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors.A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.
The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton. In a radical departure from standard advice about creative success, effort, critique, and competition, The Way of the Fearless Writer will show you that there is another way to thrive—a writing path of ease, trust, wonder, and joy.
You are invited to embark on a sacred writing journey. Along the way, author Beth Kempton will teach you how to free your mind so your body can create, transform your relationship to fear, write anytime, anywhere, and share your words with confidence. Being a fearless writer has little to do with validation and accolades. Rather it is about ritual, commitment, developing an acute awareness of beauty, dancing with inspiration, listening to the world outside yourself and going deep within. The Way of the Fearless Writer is your guide to this creative, transformational journey.
This is not just a book about how to write better. It's a book about how to live better, with your heart as your compass and writing as your guide. Offering rare insight into the writing life and a host of fresh and original writing exercises, The Way of the Fearless Writer will reveal your true potential, and open your eyes to writing as a direct connection to life itself.
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. Originally an influential memo Vogler wrote for Walt Disney Animation executives regarding The Lion King, The Writer’s Journey details a twelve-stage, myth-inspired method that has galvanized Hollywood’s treatment of cinematic storytelling.
A format that once seldom deviated beyond a traditional three-act blueprint, Vogler’s comprehensive theory of story structure and character development has met with universal acclaim, and is detailed herein using examples from myths, fairy tales, and classic movies.
This book has changed the face of screenwriting worldwide over the last 25 years, and continues to do so.
The Hero with 1,000 Faces by Joseph Campbell. Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.
As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.
As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Facescontinues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists--including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers--and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. But we must try to find our True Conscience, our True Self, the very Center, for this is the only first-rate choice-making center. Here lies all originality, talent, honor, truthfulness, courage and cheerfulness. Here lies the ability to choose the good and the grand, the true and the beautiful.In her ninety-three remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn't want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her bestselling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired
thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book "the best book ever written about how to write." Yet Ueland reminds us that "whenever I say ‘writing' in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or make."The Writer on Her Work by Janet Sternburg. Seventeen novelists, poets, and writers of nonfiction explore how they have become writers, why they write, and what it means to be a woman and a writer.
The Quotable Guide to Punctuation by Stephen Spector. This book makes punctuation more fun and easier to learn than traditional approaches do. It teaches the natural way, by example: each lesson begins with quotes that exemplify good punctuation and sentence structure. Quotations are humorous and informative, drawn from the words of notable figures--Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lawrence, and many others. Short essays accompany each lesson, showing how each punctuation mark originated and how its use has altered over time.
Correct punctuation is vital for clear, accurate, and natural writing. Anyone preparing a course assignment, applying for a job or for college admission, or doing any other formal writing needs to know the standard conventions of punctuation. Yet many people have never been taught how to punctuate.
A necessary addition to any writer’s bookshelf, this enjoyable book will teach readers to punctuate effectively and confidently--through over 500 memorable quotes and clear explanations of the rules.
On the Art of Writing by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. First delivered as a series of celebrated lectures at Cambridge, Arthur Quiller-Couch’s On the Art of Writing remains a vital guide for anyone passionate about the craft of words. Known affectionately as “Q,” Quiller-Couch strips away the mystery of great writing with crisp, witty, and timeless advice. His famous exhortation to “murder your darlings”-to cut unnecessary or indulgent prose-continues to shape writers striving for clarity, power, and grace.
More than just technical guidance, this book is a lively invitation to see writing as a living, breathing art. With engaging examples from literary masters and practical encouragement to hone your own style, Quiller-Couch shows how great writing begins with clear thinking and careful expression.
Whether you are a student, a seasoned author, or simply a lover of language, On the Art of Writing offers essential tools to sharpen your voice, elevate your style, and ignite your passion for the written word. This enduring classic is a must-read for anyone ready to transform how they write-and how they think.
Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. 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.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost. The classic text on writing well, now refreshed and updated—an essential text for writers of all ages.
This is the one guide that anyone who writes—whether student, businessperson, or professional writer—should keep on his or her desk. Filled with professional tips and a wealth of instructive examples, 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing can help solve any writing problem.
In this compact, easy-to-use volume you'll find the eternal building blocks of good writing—from grammar and punctuation to topic sentences—as well as advice on challenges such as writer's block and creating a strong title. It is a must-have resource—perfect for reading cover to cover, or just for keeping on hand for instant reference—now updated and refreshed for the first time.
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. A distinguished novelist and critic inspires readers and writers with this inside look at how the professionals read—and write. Long before there were creative writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose.
As she takes us on a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters—Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov—Prose discovers why these writers endure. She takes pleasure in the signature elements of such outstanding writers as Philip Roth, Isaac Babel, John Le Carré, James Joyce, and Katherine Mansfield. Throughout, she champions the art of close reading, cautioning readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
In this indispensable guide for writers and book lovers, you’ll discover:
A Writer’s Toolkit: Unpack the signature tools and tricks of literary greats, from mastering narration and dialogue to crafting unforgettable characters.
Learn from the Masters: Go beyond standard creative writing workshops and learn directly from the sentences of Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Woolf, and Chekhov.
Word-by-Word Analysis: See how every word choice, every sentence, and every paragraph is a deliberate decision that brings a piece of literature to life.
Read with a Fresh Eye: Whether you’re an aspiring novelist or a passionate reader, find a new, more profound way to appreciate the books you love.
The Essential Don Murray by Don Murray. Don Murray's mission was to demystify writing by revealing as much as possible about the habits, processes, and practices of writers. This book carries on his work and shows the evolution of his thinking by collecting his most influential pieces as well as unpublished essays, entries from his daybook, drawings, and numerous examples of his famous handouts.
Draft No.4 by John McPhee. Draft No. 4 is a master class on the writer’s craft. In a series of playful, expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his career and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most esteemed writers of recent decades. McPhee offers definitive guidance in the decisions regarding arrangement, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces, and he presents extracts from his work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny. In one essay, he considers the delicate art of getting sources to tell you what they might not otherwise reveal. In another, he discusses how to use flashback to place a bear encounter in a travel narrative while observing that “readers are not supposed to notice the structure. It is meant to be about as visible as someone’s bones.” The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from reporting to drafting to revising—and revising, and revising.
Draft No. 4 is enriched by multiple diagrams and by personal anecdotes and charming reflections on the life of a writer. McPhee describes his enduring relationships with The New Yorker and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and recalls his early years at Time magazine. Throughout, Draft No. 4 is enlivened by his keen sense of writing as a way of being in the world.
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr. For thirty years Karr has also taught the form, winning teaching prizes at Syracuse. (The writing program there produced such acclaimed authors as Cheryl Strayed, Keith Gessen, and Koren Zailckas.) In The Art of Memoir, she synthesizes her expertise as professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and “black belt sinner,” providing a unique window into the mechanics and art of the form that is as irreverent, insightful, and entertaining as her own work in the genre.
Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers’ experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr’s own process. (Plus all those inside stories about how she dealt with family and friends get told— and the dark spaces in her own skull probed in depth.) As she breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, she breaks open our concepts of memory and identity, and illuminates the cathartic power of reflecting on the past; anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate.
Joining such classics as Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, The Art of Memoir is an elegant and accessible exploration of one of today’s most popular literary forms—a tour de force from an accomplished master pulling back the curtain on her craft.
Notebooks of the Mind by Vera John Steiner. How do creative people think? Do great works of the imagination originate in words or in images? Is there a rational explanation for the sudden appearance of geniuses like Mozart or Einstein? Such questions have fascinated people for centuries; only in recent years, however, has cognitive psychology been able to provide some clues to the mysterious process of creativity. In this revised edition of Notebooks of the Mind, Vera John-Steiner combines imaginative insight with scientific precision to produce a startling account of the human mind working at its highest potential.
To approach her subject John-Steiner goes directly to the source, assembling the thoughts of "experienced thinkers"--artists, philosophers, writers, and scientists able to reflect on their own imaginative patterns. More than fifty interviews (with figures ranging from Jessica Mitford to Aaron Copland), along with excerpts from the diaries, letters, and autobiographies of such gifted giants as Leo Tolstoy, Marie Curie, and Diego Rivera, among others, provide illuminating insights into creative activity. We read, for example, of Darwin's preoccupation with the image of nature as a branched tree while working on his concept of evolution. Mozart testifies to the vital influence on his mature art of the wondrous "bag of memories" he retained from childhood. Anais Nin describes her sense of words as oppressive, explaining how imagistic free association freed her as a writer.
Adding these personal accounts to laboratory studies of thought process, John-Steiner takes a refreshingly holistic approach to the question of creativity. What emerges is an intriguing demonstration of how specific sociocultural circumstances interact with certain personality traits to encourage the creative mind. Among the topics examined here are the importance of childhood mentor figures; the lengthy apprenticeship of the talented person; and the development of self- expression through highly individualistic languages, whether in images, movement or inner speech.
Now, with a new introduction, this award-winning book provides an uniquely broad-based study of the origins, development and fruits of human inspiration.The Way of the Writer by Charles Johnson. An award-winning novelist, philosopher, essayist, screenwriter, professor, and cartoonist, Charles Johnson has devoted his life to creative pursuit. His 1990 National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage is a modern classic, revered as much for its daring plot as its philosophical underpinnings. For thirty-three years, Johnson taught and mentored students in the art and craft of creative writing. The Way of the Writer is his record of those years, and the coda to a kaleidoscopic, boundary-shattering career.
Organized into six accessible, easy-to-navigate sections, The Way of the Writer is both a literary reflection on the creative impulse and a utilitarian guide to the writing process. Johnson shares his lessons and exercises from the classroom, starting with word choice, sentence structure, and narrative voice, and delving into the mechanics of scene, dialogue, plot and storytelling before exploring the larger questions at stake for the serious writer. What separates literature from industrial fiction? What lies at the heart of the creative impulse? How does one navigate the literary world? And how are philosophy and fiction concomitant?
Luminous, inspiring, and imminently accessible, The Way of the Writer is a revelatory glimpse into the mind of the writer and an essential guide for anyone with a story to tell.
The Art of the Novel by Henry James. This collection of prefaces, originally written for the 1909 multi-volume New York Edition of Henry James’s fiction, first appeared in book form in 1934 with an introduction by poet and critic R. P. Blackmur. In his prefaces, James tackles the great problems of fiction writing--character, plot, point of view, inspiration--and explains how he came to write novels such as The Portrait of a Lady and The American. As Blackmur puts it, “criticism has never been more ambitious, nor more useful.”
The latest edition of this influential work includes a foreword by bestselling author Colm Tóibín, whose critically acclaimed novel The Master is told from the point of view of Henry James. As a guide not only to James’s inspiration and execution, but also to his frustrations and triumphs, this volume will be valuable both to students of James’s fiction and to aspiring writers.
Language in Thought and Action by S.I. Hayakawa. Renowned professor and former U.S. Senator S. I. Hayakawa discusses the role of language in human life, the many functions of language, and how language—sometimes without our knowing—shapes our thinking in this engaging and highly respected book. Provocative and erudite, it examines the relationship between language and racial and religious prejudice; the nature and dangers of advertising from a linguistic point of view; and, in an additional chapter called “The Empty Eye,” the content, form, and hidden message of television, from situation comedies to news coverage to political advertising.
Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura. I happened to be at the book launch of this volume during my first couple of years in New York and it’s been rather wild to watch Mako’s continued growth in popularity, voice, vision, and wisdom. We live in an era of cultural war and combativeness. But we all have a responsibility to care for culture, to nurture it in ways that help people thrive. In this second edition of Culture Care, internationally recognized artist Makoto Fujimura issues a call to cultural stewardship in which we become generative and feed our culture’s soul with beauty, creativity, and generosity, serving others as cultural custodians of the future.
This is a book for anyone with a calling to create--from visual artists, musicians, writers, and actors to entrepreneurs, pastors, and business professionals--who wants to reach across boundaries with understanding, reconciliation, and healing. As creative catalysts, we can contribute to the shared culture that affects human thriving today and shapes the generations to come.
What’s New in the Second Edition
Carries forth the call to steward and restore culture so that people and communities may thrive
A new introduction and additional content addressing the significance of culture care in an era of culture wars
New material on generative thinking and culture care as public theology
Enhanced with 15% more new content including real life stories and fresh insights to help deepen your understanding
This book also includes a study guide for individual reflection or group discussion. Culture care is about shaping culture by fostering beauty, cultivating understanding, and offering hope. If you want to learn how to engage with culture in a more meaningful way, read Culture Care and discover how to become a hopeful, generative contributor to the world around you. CultureCare is your invitation into a vision of cultural engagement rooted in beauty, restoration, and spiritual depth.
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick. All narrative writing must pull from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver a bit of wisdom. In a story or a novel the "I" who tells this tale can be, and often is, an unreliable narrator but in nonfiction the reader must always be persuaded that the narrator is speaking truth.
How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the truth-speaker who will tell the story a personal narrative needs to tell? That is the question The Situation and the Storyasks--and answers. Taking us on a reading tour of some of the best memoirs and essays of the past hundred years, Gornick traces the changing idea of self that has dominated the century, and demonstrates the enduring truth-speaker to be found in the work of writers as diverse as Edmund Gosse, Joan Didion, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, or Marguerite Duras.
This book, which grew out of fifteen years teaching in MFA programs, is itself a model of the lucid inteligence that has made Gornick one of our most admired writers of ninfiction. In it, she teaches us to write by teaching us how to read: how to recognize truth when we hear it in the writing of others and in our own.
Writing Well by Donald Hall. Co-authored by two esteemed writers, Writing Well, is a beautifully-written and thoroughly readable guide to the craft of writing prose.
To the Point by Robert Hartwell Fiske. Who doesn’t hate wading through wordy paragraphs? Unfortunately, many writers don’t realize when they are padding their sentences and obscuring their meaning. Enter To the Point, the essential guide to writing succinctly. Featuring hundreds of new entries, this freshly updated edition is complete with:
- A guide to the basics of writing concisely, including how to reduce the number of words in a phrase, substitute a single word for a phrase, and delete extraneous words and phrases.
- The “Dictionary of Concise Writing,” which gives concise alternatives to thousands of wordy phrases. Language expert Robert Hartwell Fiske uses each wordy phrase in a sentence and then rewrites or deletes the phrase entirely to show how the sentence can be improved.
- The brand new “Guide to Obfuscation: A Reverse Dictionary,” which helps writers build a more pithy vocabulary.
To the Point is the perfect reference book for anyone who wants to communicate more effectively through clear and beautiful writing.
How to Write a Sentence by Stanley Fish. Like a seasoned sportscaster, Fish marvels at the adeptness of finely crafted sentences and breaks them down into digestible morsels, giving readers an instant play-by-play. Drawing on a wide range of great writers, from Philip Roth to Antonin Scalia to Jane Austen, How to Write a Sentence is much more than a writing manual—it is a spirited love letter to the written word, and a key to understanding how great writing works. It is a book that will stand the test of time.
Writing with Power by Peter Elbow. A classic handbook for anyone who needs to write, Writing With Power speaks to everyone who has wrestled with words while seeking to gain power with them. Here, Peter Elbow emphasizes that the essential activities underlying good writing and the essential exercises promoting it are really not difficult at all.
Employing a cookbook approach, Elbow provides the reader (and writer) with various recipes: for getting words down on paper, for revising, for dealing with an audience, for getting feedback on a piece of writing, and still other recipes for approaching the mystery of power in writing. In a new introduction, he offers his reflections on the original edition, discusses the responses from people who have followed his techniques, how his methods may differ from other processes, and how his original topics are still pertinent to today’s writer. By taking risks and embracing mistakes, Elbow hopes the writer may somehow find a hold on the creative process and be able to heighten two mentalities--the production of writing and the revision of it.
From students and teachers to novelists and poets, Writing with Power reminds us that we can celebrate the uses of mystery, chaos, nonplanning, and magic, while achieving analysis, conscious control, explicitness, and care in whatever it is we set down on paper.
Novelist as Vocation by Haruki Murakami. Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this engaging book from the internationally best-selling author. Haruki Murakami now shares with readers his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.
Here are the personal details of a life devoted to craft: the initial moment at a Yakult Swallows baseball game, when he suddenly knew he could write a novel; the importance of memory, what he calls a writer’s “mental chest of drawers”; the necessity of loneliness, patience, and his daily running routine; the seminal role a carrier pigeon played in his career and more.
Writing without Teachers by Peter Elbow. In Writing Without Teachers, well-known advocate of innovative teaching methods Peter Elbow outlines a practical program for learning how to write. His approach is especially helpful to people who get "stuck" or blocked in their writing, and is equally useful for writing fiction, poetry, and essays, as well as reports, lectures, and memos.
The core of Elbow's thinking is a challenge against traditional writing methods. Instead of editing and outlining material in the initial steps of the writing process, Elbow celebrates non-stop or free uncensored writing, without editorial checkpoints first, followed much later by the editorial process. This approach turns the focus towards encouraging ways of developing confidence and inspiration through free writing, multiple drafts, diaries, and notes. Elbow guides the reader through his metaphor of writing as "cooking: " his term for heating up the creative process where the subconscious bubbles up to the surface and the writing gets good.
1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Writing Without Teachers. In this edition, Elbow reexamines his program and the subsequent influence his techniques have had on writers, students, and teachers. This invaluable guide will benefit anyone, whether in the classroom, boardroom, or living room, who has ever had trouble writing.Starting from Scratch by Rita Mae Brown. From the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo, here is a writers’ manual as provocative, frank, and funny as her fiction.
Unlike most writers’ guides, this one had as much to do with how writers live as with mastering the tools of their trade. Rita Mae Brown begins with a very personal account of her own career, from her days as a young poet who had written a novel no publisher wanted to take a chance on, right up to her recent adventures as a Hollywood screenwriter. In a sassy style that makes her outspoken advice as entertaining as it is useful, she provides straight talk about paying the rent while maintaining the energy to write; and dealing with agents, publishers, critics, and the publicity circus; about pursuing journalisim, academia, or screen-writing; and about rejecting the Hemingway myth of the hard-living, hard-drinking genius.
In addition Brown, a former teacher or writing, offers a serious examination of the writer’s tool--language, plotting, characters, symbolism--plus exercises to sharpen the ear for dialogue, and a fascinating, annoted reading list of important works from the seventh century to the late twentieth.
Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. Dorothea Brande’s ‘Becoming a Writer’ remains evergreen decades after it was first written.
Brande believed passionately that although people have varying amounts of talent, anyone can write.
She also insists that writing can be both taught and learned.
This is Dorothea Brande’s legacy to all those who have ever wanted to express their ideas in written form.
A sound, practical, inspirational and charming approach to writing, it fulfills on finding ‘the writer’s magic.
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. With insight, humor, and practicality, Natalie Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers to take the leap into writing skillfully and creatively. She offers suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on many aspects of the writer's craft: on writing from "first thoughts" (keep your hand moving, don't cross out, just get it on paper), on listening (writing is ninety percent listening; the deeper you listen, the better you write), on using verbs (verbs provide the energy of the sentence), on overcoming doubts (doubt is torture; don't listen to it)—even on choosing a restaurant in which to write. Goldberg sees writing as a practice that helps writers comprehend the value of their lives. The advice in her book, provided in short, easy-to-read chapters with titles that reflect the author's witty approach ("Writing Is Not a McDonald's Hamburger," "Man Eats Car," "Be an Animal"), will inspire anyone who writes—or who longs to.
20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias. The best stories linger in the hearts and minds of readers for decades. These tales gain their power through plots that connect with the audience on both an emotional and intellectual level.
Inside Ronald B. Tobias details these 20 time-tested plots. Each is discussed and analyzed, illustrating how a successful plot integrates all the elements of a story. Tobias then shows you how to use these plots effectively in your own work.
Tobias then goes to the next level, showing you how to choose and develop plot in fiction. He shows you how to craft plot for any subject matter, so that you develop your work evenly and effectively. As a result, your fiction will be more cohesive and convincing, making your story unforgettable for readers everywhere.
Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. E. M. Forster's guide sparkles with wit and insight for contemporary writers and readers. With lively language and excerpts from well-known classics, Forster (author of A Passage to India, Howards End, and A Room With a View) takes on the seven elements vital to a novel: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. He not only defines and explains such terms as “round” versus “flat” characters (and why both are needed for an effective novel), but also provides examples of writing from such literary greats as Dickens and Austen. Forster's original commentary illuminates and entertains without lapsing into complicated, scholarly rhetoric, coming together in a key volume on writing."Forster's casual and wittily acute guidance...transmutes the dull stuff of He-Said and She-Said into characters, stories, and intimations of truth."—Harper's
Dialog by Robert McKee. The long-awaited follow-up to the perennially bestselling writers’ guide Story, from the most sought-after expert in the art of storytelling.
“Dialogue is a masterwork. There’s nothing harder to teach. Now this book exists. McKee has written an essential book akin to The Elements of Style for all writers.” --Margaret Nagle, winner of the Writer’s Guild Award, Emmy, NAACP, Golden Globe, and Pen
Robert McKee’s popular writing workshops have earned him an international reputation. The list of alumni with Oscars runs off the page. The cornerstone of his program is his singular book, Story, which has defined how we talk about the art of story creation.
"Now, in Dialogue, McKee offers the same in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbethto Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.
Character by Robert McKee. The long-awaited third volume of Robert McKee’s trilogy on the art of fiction.
Following up his perennially bestselling writers’ guide Story and his inspiring exploration of the art of verbal action in Dialogue, the most sought-after expert in the storytelling brings his insights to the creation of compelling characters and the design of their casts.
CHARACTER explores the design of a character universe: The dimensionality, complexity and arcing of a protagonist, the invention of orbiting major characters, all encircled by a cast of service and supporting roles.
Action by Robert McKee. From the master of Story, Dialogue, and Character, ACTION offers writers the keys to propulsive storytelling.
ACTION explores the ways that a modern-day writer can successfully tell an action story that not only stands apart, but wins the war on clichés. Teaming up with the former co-host of The Story Toolkit, Bassim El-Wakil, legendary story lecturer Robert McKee guides writers to award-winning originality by deconstructing the action genre, illuminating the challenges, and, more importantly, demonstrating how to master the demands of plot with surprising beats of innovation and ingenuity.
Topics include:
Understanding the Four Core Elements of Action
Creating the Action Cast
Hook, Hold, Pay Off: Design in Action
The Action Macguffin
Action Set Pieces
The Sixteen Action Subgenres
A must-add to the McKee storytelling library, ACTION illustrates the principles of narrative drive with precision and clarity by referencing the most popular action movies of our time including: Die Hard, The Star Wars Saga, Dark Knight, The Matrix, and Avengers: Endgame.
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. Here’s what started the phenomenon: the best seller, for over 15 years, that’s been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny and candid look inside the movie business.
Save the Cat! is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying, including: The four elements of every winning logline The seven immutable laws of screenplay physics The 10 genres that every movie ever made can be categorized by -- and why they’re important to your script Why your Hero must serve your Idea Mastering the 15 Beats Creating the “Perfect Beast” by using The Board to map 40 scenes with conflict and emotional change How to get back on track with proven rules for script repair This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a showbiz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat.
Save the Cat Strikes Back by Blake Snyder. Screenwriter Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat!(R) and Save the Cat!(R) Goes to the Movies, has delivered the book countless readers and students have clamored for. Inspired by questions from his workshops, lectures, and emails, Blake listened and provides new tips, tactics, and techniques to solve your writing problems and create stories that resonate:
- The 7 warning signs you might have a great idea ─ or not
- The sure-fire template for can’t-miss loglines
- The difference between structure and formula
- The Transformation Machine that allows you to track your hero’s growth step-by-step
- The 5 questions to keep your story’s spine straight
- The 5-Point Finale to finish any story
- The Save the Cat!(R) Greenlight Checklist that gets to the heart of every development issue
- The right way to hear notes, deal with problematic producers, and dive into the rewrite with the right attitude
- Why and when an agent will appear
- How to discover the potential for greatness in any story
- How to avoid panic, doubt, and self-recrimination... and what it takes to succeed and dare to achieve your dreams
Get ready to face trouble like a pro... and strike back!Save the Cat Writes for TV by Jamie Nash. Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat!(R), the world’s top-selling story method for filmmakers and novelists, introduces The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content You’ll Ever Need.
Screenwriter Jamie Nash takes up Snyder’s torch to lay out a step-by-step approach using Blake’s principles so that both new and experienced writers can learn how to:
-Use all the nuances, tricks, and techniques of pilot-writing (The Opening Pitch, The Guided Tour, The Whiff of Change) with examples from today’s hottest series
-Discover the Super-Secret Keep It On The Downlow TV Pitch Template that combines all the critical points of your amazing TV series into one easy-to-read-over-lunch high-level document
-Define the 9 TV Franchise Types
-Crack your story using the Save the Cat! beat sheet
-Devise high-level series concepts with multi-season potential
-Map out and organize TV pilots and multi-season shows
-Break down the best and most diverse TV series using examples from Atlanta, Barry, Ozark, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, What We Do in the Shadows, Black-ish, The Mandalorian, Law and Order: SVU and more
-Create layered characters who are driven by complex internal strugglesIt’s time for Save the Cat! Writes for TV to help you create your binge-worthy TV series!
Save the Cat Writes Horror by Jamie Nash. “It’s he-e-e-re”... the most heart-pounding, jump-out-of-your-seat, scream-worthy book in the Save the Cat! series.
Veteran horror screenwriter and novelist Jamie Nash leads us into the shadows of Blake Snyder’s legendary Monster in the House genre--and sheds light over the secrets to crafting truly terrifying tales.
Save the Cat! Writes Horror is your guide to writing and delivering blood-chilling films and novels using the world’s most successful storytelling method, including:
- A deep dive into horror’s core ingredients--Monster, House, and Sin--with subtypes, examples, and tools to help you design your own uniquely terrifying tale
- The mad science of turning Save the Cat!’s 15 beats into a horror story that builds tension, sharpens scares, and leaves your audience squirming
- How to balance Scares, Gross-outs, and Dread to torment your audience just right
- Why knowing your horror’s heartbeat--Slow Burn vs. Relentless--changes everything
- How to use the Dread-O-Meter to engineer terrifying scenes with precision
- How to build memorable horror characters--from first-to-die victims to final girls and guys--while exploring how their flaws, choices, and arcs mirror deeper fears and social truths
- Plus: real case studies, scarecraft tools, career advice, and a deep dive into what makes the genre tick (and bleed)
Whether you’re a screenwriter, novelist, or seasoned horrorhound, Save the Cat! Writes Horror will help you write the kind of story that lingers long after the lights go out.
Save the Cat Beatsheet Workbook by Jamie Nash
Save the Cat Writes a Young Adult Novel by Jessica Brody. An indispensable guide in the bestselling Save the Cat! story structure series that reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any young adult novel a success, from an accomplished novelist and the author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.
In Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel, prolific author and story coach Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story structure guide for anyone who wants to write a young adult novel by applying the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of YA fiction. In this book, you will learn:
• The fifteen “beats” (or plot points) that are necessary for crafting a successful story with a compelling character arc—including the Opening Image, Catalyst, Fun and Games, Bad Guys Close In, Dark Night of the Soul, and Finale
• The ten universal story genres that will help you drill into what makes your type of story work, including those most commonly found in young adult novels like Rites of Passage, Superhero, Buddy Love, Institutionalized, and Golden Fleece
• Quirky, original insights and writing tips like “Save the Cat,” the “Shard of Glass,” and the “Dark Night Epiphany,” that help you craft a story that will thrill and captivate teen readersFilled with practical advice, easy-to-follow templates, and “beat sheets” analyzing the structure of popular young adult novels such as Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, and Lois Lowry’s The Giver, this book is the ultimate reference for anyone who’s ever dreamed of writing their own young adult bestseller.
Save the Cat Goes to the Movies by Blake Snyder. In the long-awaited sequel to his surprise bestseller, Save the Cat!, author and screenwriter Blake Snyder returns to form in a fast-paced follow-up that proves why his is the most talked-about approach to screenwriting in years.
In the perfect companion piece to his first book, Snyder delivers even more insider’s information gleaned from a 20-year track record as ?one of Hollywood’s most successful spec screenwriters, ?
giving you the clues to write your movie.
Designed for screenwriters, novelists, and movie fans, this book gives readers the key breakdowns of the 50 most instructional movies from the past 30 years.From M*A*S*H to Crash, from Alien to Saw, from 10 to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Snyder reveals how screenwriters who came before you tackled the same challenges you are facing with the film you want to write ?
or the one you are currently working on.
Save the Cat Goes to the Indies by Salva Rubio. In his best-selling book, Save the Cat!(R) Goes to the Movies, Blake Snyder provided 50 “beat sheets” to 50 films, mostly studio-made. Now his student, Salva Rubio, applies Blake’s principles to 50 celebrated non-studio films (again with 5 beat sheets for each of Blake’s 10 genres).
From international sensations like The Blair Witch Project topromising debuts like Pi, from small films that acquired cult status like Texas Chain Saw Massacre to Euro-blockbusters like The Full Monty, from unexpected gems like Before Sunrise to textbook classics such as The 400 Blows, from Dogville to Drive and Boogie Nights to Cinema Paradiso, here are 50 movies that fit both the “independent” label and Blake Snyder’s 15 beats.
You’ll find beat sheets for works from Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch, Roman Polanski, Danny Boyle, David Mamet, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Frears, David Hare, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, and the Coen Brothers, among other renowned writers and directors.
You’ll see how “hitting the beats” creates a story that resonates for audiences the world over.
Why is this important? Because it gives both writers and moviegoers a language to analyze film and understand how filmmakers can effectively reach audiences.
And especially if you are a writer, this book reveals how screenwriters who came before you tackled the same challenges you are facing with the film you want to write -- or the one you are currently working on.
Resources for Writing Alliterative Meter by Alliteration / Forgotten Ground Regained (the alliterative revival poets, yours truly included)
(I’m certain I’ll add to this as I remember more and am recommended others).
Note to the uncommitted curious — I’ll be releasing several dozen free resources with the course, but many of these are already included in the welcome email for those who subscribe:
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