IF YOU'RE TIRED OF REJECTION, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.

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.

The First Five Pages reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as

* A weak opening hook
* Overuse of adjectives and adverbs
* Flat or forced metaphors or similes
* Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue
* Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings
* Uneven pacing and lack of progression

With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher -- and more successful -- level.

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or short story but didn't know where to start? If so, this is the book for you. It's the book for anyone, in fact, who wants to write to their full potential. Practical and jargon-free, rejecting prescriptive templates and formulae, it's a storehouse of ideas and advice on a range of relevant subjects, from boosting self-motivation and confidence to approaching agents and publishers. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience as successful writers and inspiring teachers, it will guide you through such essentials as the interplay of memory and imagination; plotting your story; the creation of convincing characters; the uses of description; the pleasures and pitfalls of research; and the editing process. The book's primary aim is simple: to help its readers to become better writers.

The world is an amazing place. Get up close with Look, a seven-level series for young learners of English. See something real with amazing photography, authentic stories and video, and inspiring National Geographic Explorers. Help learners make connections in English between their lives and the world they live in through high-interest, global topics that encourage them to learn and express themselves. With short, fresh lessons that excite students and make teaching a joy, Look gives young learners the core language, balanced skills foundation and confidence-boosting exam support they need to use English successfully in the 21st century.

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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.

In "Reading Like a Writer," Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers&#8212Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov&#8212and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's "Middlemarch." She looks to John Le Carre for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions 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.

Provides consolidation and extension for language, grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, and fluency

"I would urge other writers, at whatever point in their careers, to take the time to read this indispensable handbook....Telling Lies for Fun & Profit should be a permanent part of every writer's library."

-- From the Introduction by Sue Grafton

Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block takes an inside look at writing as a craft and as a career.

From studying the market, to mastering self-discipline and "creative procrastination," through coping with rejections, Telling Lies for Fun & Profit is an invaluable sourcebook of information. It is a must read for anyone serious about writing or understanding how the process works.

A trusted and engaging collection of 65 short essays, both classic and contemporary. All are arranged by rhetorical pattern, with practical instruction on how to write an essay. The Ninth Edition has a brand-new design, 22 NEW readings, a NEW chapter on the elements of the essay, and the most easy-to-use organization of any reader of its kind.

Now available as an ebook for the first time
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay. Says columnist Liz Smith, "You'll be fascinated.

A book about creativity for anyone who's ever looked at a blank sheet of paper and felt bad. Like you, syndicated cartoonist Dana Maier wants a creativity shortcut-a magical fairy who will both come up with brilliant ideas and grant the energy and discipline to churn them out. This book is not that magical shortcut-you won't find stirring literary quotes or a foolproof system for sparking inspiration here-but it does provide commiseration, jokes, and comics about the often-painful act of creating something. Skip to the Fun Parts is a book for those of us who ever wanted a shortcut to being creative and realized, sadly, that there was none, but decided to give it a try anyway.

'A definitive guide, in here you'll find everything you need' S. J. Watson With over 4,000 industry contacts and over eighty articles from a wide range of leading authors and publishing industry professionals, the latest edition of this bestselling Yearbook is packed with all of the practical information, inspiration and guidance you need at every stage of your writing and publishing journey. Designed for authors and illustrators across all genres and markets, it is relevant for those looking for a traditional, hybrid or self-publishing route to publication; writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets and playwrights, writers for TV, radio and videogames. If you want to find a literary or illustration agent or publisher, would like to self-publish or crowdfund your creative idea then this Yearbook will help you. As well as sections on publishers and agents, newspapers and magazines, illustration and photography, theatre and screen, there is a wealth of detail on the legal and financial aspects of being a writer or illustrator. Includes advice from writers such as Peter James, Cathy Rentzenbrink, S.J. Watson, Kerry Hudson, and Samantha Shannon. Additional articles, free advice, events information and editorial services at www.writersandartists.co.uk

Provides consolidation and extension for language, grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, and fluency

What can you expect from a creative writing course? What skills do you need to develop? How can you make the most of your degree course - and the opportunities it can create? This book is designed to answer those questions. It explains how to: * learn from other writers, workshops, and online study; * develop ideas and edit your own work; * present your writing and reflect on it; * understand and meet assessment requirements; * apply your learning to life after the course.

This book provides a sustained exploration of creativity. Philip Gross provides a poem, 'Cave diver in the deep reach', and an extended commentary on how the poem was written. These are followed by contributions from typographer Jeremy Tankard, whose unique 'Redisturbed' typeface is used throughout this book, and artist Rika Newcombe, who provides the cover image. Caves of making offers the textual equivalent of a creative festival - a festival on the page. It brings together the work of three remarkable creatives and offers, in their own words, insights into their creative process. Philip Gross is a writer of many parts - spanning poetry, thought-provoking fiction for young people, schools opera libretti, radio short stories and plays. Collaboration with the visual arts, dance, music and other art forms has been one of the sources of energy in his writing life. Jeremy Tankard has built a worldwide reputation for the high quality and unique designs of his typefaces. In the development of the Redisturbed typeface chosen for Caves of making, he wanted to take the idea of a unicase alphabet much further than previous experiments and treat it as a conventional text type.Rika Newcombe's paintings have an uncanny sympathy with the world of creative writing. Images from her work grace the covers of all books in the Creative Writing Studies series.

This book gives students an answer to the question, "What does my professor want from this essay?" Using a single poem by William Carlos Williams as the basis for the process of writing a paper, it walks students through the processes of reading, brainstorming, researching secondary sources, gathering evidence, and composing and editing the paper. Writing Essays About Literature is designed to strengthen argumentation skills and deepen understanding of the relationships between the reader, the author, the text, and critical interpretations. Its lessons about clarity, precision, and the importance of providing evidence will have wide relevance for student writers. The second edition has been updated throughout and provides three new complete sample essays showing varying approaches to the final essay.

In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. The first thing a writer should be is - excited Author of the iconic FAHRENHEIT 451, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Ray Bradbury is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Part memoir, part masterclass, ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING offers a vivid and exuberant insight into the craft of writing. Bradbury reveals how writers can each find their own unique path to developing their voice and style. ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING offers a celebration of the act of writing that will delight, impassion, and inspire.