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Books > Language & Literature > Literary & linguistic reference works > Creative writing & creative writing guides
Technical Writing for Today and Tomorrow offers students a
comprehensive approach to the process and products of technical
writing. In addition to grounding scientific and industrial writing
in rhetorical practice and compositional models, the text tackles
contemporary issues related to technical writing, including
scientific literacy, intellectual property, collaborative writing,
emerging media, and more. The book offers an integrated approach to
communications in science and industry, teaching students the
complete process of planning, researching, designing, and refining
message in content, as well as modeling their successful outcomes.
Part I explores the essential principles of technical writing,
including the development of sound rhetorical strategy, appropriate
phrasing and tone, and solid reasoning and arguments. In Part II,
students learn about the critical nature of readability and design
in technical writing. They examine sentence structure, flow,
document design, and more. The final part focuses on the various
documents and contexts of technical writing, discussing practical
applications, reports, public documents, presentations, and press.
Written to provide students with a complete foundational
introduction, Technical Writing for Today and Tomorrow is an ideal
resource for courses in technical writing.
"The Psychology of Screenwriting "is more than an interesting book
on the theory and practice of screenwriting. It is also a
philosophical analysis of predetermination and freewill in the
context of writing and human life in our mediated world of
technology. Drawing on humanism, existentialism, Buddhism,
postmodernism and transhumanism, and diverse thinkers from Meister
Eckhart to Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida,
Jean Baudrillard and Gilles Deleuze, "The Psychology of
Screenwriting" will be of use to screenwriters, film students,
philosophers and all those interested in contemporary theory. This
book combines in-depth critical and cultural analysis with an
elaboration on practice in an innovative fashion. It explores how
people, such as those in the Dogme 95 movement, have tried to
overcome traditional screenwriting, looking in detail at the
psychology of writing and the practicalities of how to write well
for the screen. This is the first book to include high-theory with
screenwriting practice whilst incorporating the Enneagram for
character development. Numerous filmmakers and writers, including
David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg, Pedro Almodovar,
Darren Aronofsky, Sally Potter and Charlie Kaufman are explored.
"The Psychology of Screenwriting "is invaluable for those who want
to delve deeper into writingfor the screen.
THE LEGENDARY TEACHER OF STORY . . . Robert McKee's new book
CHARACTER: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage and
Screen is an excellent companion volume to his hugely successful
STORY: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of
Screenwriting and DIALOGUE: The Art of Verbal Action for Page,
Stage and Screen. Divided into four parts (In praise of Character,
Character Creation, The Character Universe and Character
Relationships) CHARACTER has a primary purpose of enriching the
reader's insight into the nature of a fictional character and
sharpens the creative techniques necessary to invent a complex cast
of personalities, starting with the protagonist then adding the
cast of supporting roles. McKee uses scenes from classic films and
television programmes, Sex and the City, Casablanca, The Sopranos,
Breaking Bad and Fawlty Towers, and the works of classical
dramatists, Homer, Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, to demonstrate how
characters are constructed and developed for page, stage and
screen. Robert McKee is an author, lecturer and story consultant
whose popular writing workshops have brought him international
fame. His book STORY, is the basis for his programme and it has
defined how we regard the art of story creation. In STORY's
companion volume, DIALOGUE, McKee offers the same in-depth analysis
of how actors speak on the screen, on the stage and on the page.
CHARACTER is a masterly work with a primary purpose of enriching
the reader's insight into the nature of a fictional character and
sharpening the creative techniques necessary to invent a complex
cast of personalities, starting with the protagonist then adding
the first, second and third tiers of supporting roles. CHARACTER is
a brilliant addition to the genre and is essential reading for all
aspiring writers.
Andre and Madeleine have been in love for over fifty years. This
weekend, as their daughters visit, something feels unusual. A bunch
of flowers arrive, but who sent them? A woman from the past turns
up, but who is she? And why does Andre feel like he isn't there at
all? Christopher Hampton's translation of Florian Zeller's The
Height of the Storm was first performed at Richmond Theatre,
London, and opened in the West End at Wyndham's Theatre in October
2018.
"The Pleasures of Structure "starts from the premise that the
ability to develop a well understood and articulated story
structure is the most important skill a screenwriter can develop.
For example, good structure requires a great premise and rigorous
character development. Without clear character motivations and
goals--which are themselves indicative of key structural
beats--your story is going exactly nowhere. Using the simple and
flexible 'W' model of screenplay structure developed in the prequel
"Write What You Don't Know," Hoxter sets this out as its starting
point. This model is tested against a range of examples which are
chosen to explore the flexibility not only of that model but of
movie storytelling more generally. Writers and students often worry
that they are asked to work 'to formula'. This book will test that
formula to breaking point. For example, the first case study will
offer the example of a well written, professional, mainstream movie
against which our later and more adventurous examples can be
compared. So the lessons we learn examining the animated family
adventure movie "How To Train Your Dragon "lead us directly to ask
questions of our second case study, the acclaimed Swedish vampire
movie "Lat den Ratte Komma In "("Let The Right One In"). Both
movies have protagonists with the same basic problem, the same
goal, and they use the same basic structure to tell their stories.
Of course they are very different films and they work on their
audiences in very different ways. Our linked case studies will
expose how simple choices, like reversing the order of elements of
the protagonist's transformational arc and shifting ownership of
key story beats, has an enormous impact on how we respond to a
structural model that is otherwise functionally identical.
Special Effects: Short Takes on Stylish Prose tackles the dilemma
dedicated writers have faced for generations: how to make words on
the page as compelling as images on the screen. Perfect for film
buffs and TV enthusiasts who want to improve their writing, this
innovative handbook reveals how cinematics can transform
syntactics. Packed with 40 proven strategies designed to make
serious and scholarly texts "read" as seamlessly and enjoyably as
great movies, and accompanied by nearly 100 writing prompts perfect
for use in college courses, writers' workshops, and workplace
conference rooms, this one-of-a-kind guide shows how to make the
daring leaps action heroes and dauntless authors make routine. What
do James Bond flicks and Dante's Divine Comedy say about the art of
attention-getting beginnings? What does a thorough credit roll have
in common with effective scholarly citation? How can film set
gaffers and film noir writers show us how to "light" our prose? How
are passive verbs like guys on the lam in old black-and-white spy
thrillers? How do Black Panther films and Wonder Woman comics
inspire us to flip our scripts, diversifying the characters, real
and imagined, about whom we write? Special Effects addresses
writing's most persistent craft questions by boldly going where no
prose style guide has gone before: to a front row seat at the movie
theater.
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