A Spectator Best Book of the Year `There are three rules for writing a novel,' Somerset Maugham once said. `Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.' So how to bring characters to life, find a voice, kill your darlings, avoid plagiarism (or choose not to), or run that most challenging of literary gauntlets-writing a good sex scene? Veteran editor and author Richard Cohen takes us on a fascinating excursion into the lives and minds of our greatest writers-from Balzac and Eliot to Woolf and Nabokov, through to Zadie Smith and Stephen King, with a few mischievous detours to Tolstoy along the way. In a glittering tour d'horizon, he lays bare their tricks, motivations, techniques, obsessions and flaws.

From one of America's most influential writing teachers, a collection of 50 of the best writing strategies distilled from 50 writing and language books -- from Aristotle to Strunk and White. 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 Donald Murray 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 for more than 30 years has been a beloved and revered writing teacher to children and Pulitzer prize-winners alike, has compiled a remarkable collection of 50 of the best writing tips from 50 of the best writing books of all time. With a chapter devoted to each piece of advice, 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 scribblers of all kinds, Murder Your Darlings is an inspiring and edifying ode to the craft of writing.

Combo Split editions include half of the Student's Book content and corresponding sections of the Workbook, with online access to student resources.

Marco Paolini: A Deep Map breaks new ground in the field of Italian political theatre by outlining the unique approach of one of Italy's most celebrated playwrights, Marco Paolini, whose work has hitherto remained inaccessible to English-speaking audiences. The book is the first substantial study of Paolini's corpus in English. Additionally, it offers an in-depth analysis of Paolini's unique methods by focusing on the recovery of collective cultural memory through theatre and in-depth historical and political context. The book engages critically with art and politics in Italy specifically, but has implications and relevance on a global scale. Perissinotto's multidisciplinary approach simultaneously draws upon memory studies, history, and poetry. She demonstrates how Paolini's plays evoke themes similar to ancient Greek theatre, which called for the engagement of actors in political commentary from the stage, connecting them directly with the public on social and ethical issues.

"Reliably insightful." - Publishers Weekly The first step to becoming a successful writer is to become a successful reader. Helping you develop your critical skills How to Read Like a Writer is an accessible and effective step-by-step guide to how careful reading can help you improve your craft as a creative writer, whatever genre you are writing in. Across 10 lessons - each pairing published readings with practical critical and creative exercises - this book helps writers master such key elements of their craft as: * Genre - from fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry to hybrid genres such as graphic narratives and online forms * Plot, conflict, theme and image * Developing characters - physical descriptions, psychological depths and actions * Narrators and points of view - 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narratives * Scenes and settings - time, space and place * Structure and form - length, organization and media * Language, subtext and style

Creative Writing Practice: reflections on form and process explores the craft of creative writing by illuminating the practices of writers and writer-educators. Demonstrating solutions to problems in different forms and genres, the contributors draw on their professional and personal experiences to examine specific and practical challenges that writers must confront and solve in order to write. This book discusses a range of approaches to writing, such as the early working out of projects, the idea of experimentation, of narrative time, and of failure. With its strong focus on process, Creative Writing Practice is a valuable guide for students, scholars and practitioners of creative writing.

Suspend your disbelief--you can make it as a screenwriter Behind every blockbuster film and binge-worthy show, there's a screenwriter--and that writer could be you! Turn your brainstorming sessions into dynamic scripts with the help of Screenwriting For Dummies. Create believable worlds with relatable characters, gripping dialogue, and narrative structures that will keep even the showbiz bigwigs on the edge of their seats. Once you've polished your product, it's time to bring it to market. This book is full of advice that will help you get eyes on your screenplays so you can sell your work and find success as a screenwriter. From web series to movie musicals to feature films, this book shows you how to develop and hone your craft. Learn to think like a screenwriter and turn story ideas into visually driven, relatable scripts that will get noticed Study the elements of a story, like plot structure (beginning, middle, and end) and characterization (wait, who's that, again?) Hop over the hurdle of writer's block, and tackle other obstacles that stand in the way of your scriptwriting career Get insider insight into finding an agent and meeting with studio execs, plus alternative markets for your finished work This updated edition covers the latest trends and opportunities--and there are lots of them--for today's writers. Let Dummies help you map out your story and put your script on the road to production. Thank us when your work goes viral!

Many writing instructors teach writing through autobiography. By considering the lives of others and then contemplating their own lives, aspiring writers discover a wellspring of material that can be used in their prose. While not explicitly for courses, this book follows a similar pedagogical line, focusing specifically on the philosophical and spiritual questions that every person faces in the course of meeting life's challenges. How the Light Gets In encourages readers to contemplate their lives through spiritual observation and exploratory writing. It guides readers through the process in 17 concise thematic chapters that include meditations on fear, freedom, silence, secrets, joy, prayer, tradition, forgiveness, service, social justice, aging, and death. Short poems by Schneider begin each chapter. Schneider's book is distinct from the many other books in the popular spirituality and creative writing genre by virtue of its approach, using one's lived experience, including the experience of writing, as a springboard for writing about beliefs and faith. As her many followers would attest, Schneider writes with particular clarity and immediacy about the writing process. Her belief that writing about one's life leads to greater consciousness, satisfaction, and wisdom energizes the book and carries the reader gracefully difficult topics.

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'If you want to write a novel or a script, read this book' Sunday Times 'The best book on the craft of storytelling I've ever read' Matt Haig 'Rarely has a book engrossed me more, and forced me to question everything I've ever read, seen or written. A masterpiece' Adam Rutherford Why stories make us human and how to tell them better. There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story - but few have used a scientific approach. In this incisive, thought-provoking book, award-winning writer Will Storr demonstrates how master storytellers manipulate and compel us. Applying dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to the foundations of our myths and archetypes, he shows how we can use these tools to tell better stories - and make sense of our chaotic modern world. INCLUDES NEW MATERIAL.

In New Dramaturgies: Strategies and Exercises for 21st Century Playwriting, Mark Bly offers a new playwriting book with nine unique play-generating exercises. These exercises offer dramaturgical strategies and tools for confronting and overcoming obstacles that all playwrights face. Each of the chapters features lively commentary and participation from Bly's former students. They are now acclaimed writers and producers for media such as House of Cards, Weeds, Friday Night Lights, Warrior, and The Affair, and their plays appear onstage in major venues such as the Roundabout Theatre, Yale Rep, and the Royal National Theatre. They share thoughts about their original response to an exercise and why it continues to have a major impact on their writing and mentoring today. Each chapter concludes with their original, inventive, and provocative scene generated in response to Bly's exercise, providing a vivid real-life example of what the exercises can create. Suitable for both students of playwriting and screenwriting, as well as professionals in the field, New Dramaturgies gives readers a rare combination of practical provocation and creative discussion.

This book provides an important and original way of understanding how journalists use emotion to communicate to readers, posing the deceptively simple question, 'how do journalists make us feel something when we read their work?'. Martin uses case-studies of award-winning magazine-style features to illuminate how some of the best writers of literary journalism give readers the gift of experiencing a range of perspectives and emotions in the telling of a single story. Part One of this book discusses the origins and development of narrative journalism and introduces a new theoretical framework, the Virtue Paradigm, and a new textual analysis tool, the Virtue Map. Part Two includes three case-studies of prize-winning journalism, demonstrating how the Virtue Paradigm and the Virtue Map provide fresh insight into narrative journalism and the ongoing conversation of what it means to live well together in community.

"Teaching Creative Writing" includes lively contributions from over two dozen leading practitioners in the field. Topics addressed include history of Creative Writing, workshops, undergraduate, postgraduate, reflective activities, assessment, critical theory, and information technology.

For two decades, first at Wellesley and then at Cornell, Nabokov introduced undergraduates to the delights of great fiction. Here, collected for the first time, are his famous lectures, which include Mansfield Park, Bleak House, and Ulysses. Edited and with a Foreword by Fredson Bowers; Introduction by John Updike; illustrations.

Grounded in craft, this book was composed on three premises: That the study and modeling of great poems is integral to understanding poetry and learning to write poems, that scaffolded learning builds a writer's and a reader's confidence and knowledge base and increases learning, and that teachers and facilitators of poetry can and should build learning environments we call "our hearts in a safe place." Each chapter contains an introduction to a main focus, new terms, a model poem, an explication, short prompts heuristic to each chapter's focus, and a model exercise. Student poem samples are included in each chapter. The last chapter discusses syllabi, portfolios and alternate grading. A Heart's Craft differs from other poetry" how to books" because it combines art with pedagogy in a unique and effective fashion.

Since the publication of his groundbreaking books Writing Without Teachers and Writing with Power, Peter Elbow has revolutionized the way we think about writing. As a theorist, teacher, and uncommonly engaging writer himself, he has long championed our innate ability to write effectively. Now, in Vernacular Eloquence, Elbow turns his attention to the role of the spoken word in writing. He begins by questioning the basic cultural assumption that speaking and writing are two very different, incompatible modes of expression, and that we should keep them separate. The book explores the many linguistic and rhetorical virtues of speech-spontaneity, naturalness of expression, fluidity of thought-to show that many of these virtues can usefully be brought to writing. Elbow suggests that we begin the writing process by "speaking " our words onto the page, letting the words and ideas flow without struggling to be "correct. " Speaking can help us at the later stages of writing, too, as we read drafts aloud and then revise until the language feels right in the mouth and sounds right in the ear. The result is stronger, clearer, more natural writing that avoids the stilted, worried-over quality that so often alienates (and bores) the reader. Elbow connects these practices to a larger theoretical discussion of literacy in our culture, arguing that our rules for correct writing make it harder than necessary to write well. In particular, our culture's conception of proper writing devalues the human voice, the body, and the linguistic power of people without privilege. Written with Elbow's customary verve and insight, Vernacular Eloquence shows how to bring the pleasures we all enjoy in speaking to the all-too-often needlessly arduous task of writing.

This book explores the pedagogical applications of critical thinking in art education and scholarship. In the first part of the book, the author delves into the ways that arts-based educational research has incorporated critical thinking in order to illuminate the context for the subsequent study. The second half of the book focuses on the essay as a genre used in creative nonfiction and film in order to enact the concept of critical thinking in art education. In this way, the book sheds light on a new landscape of thinking arts education and thinking scholarship through the essay that is practiced in creative nonfiction and cinema.

"Brecher is the most influential writer you've never heard of in Hollywood. He wrote At the Circus and Go West for the Marx brothers and classics such as Du Barry Was a Lady and Meet Me in St. Louis for MGM. He wrote stand-up for Milton Berle and created the radio and television program The Life of Riley. Now in his nineties, the man is still a comedic genius with wit and timing that can't be beat. Incredibly, his career covers the entire spectrum of 20th-century entertainment, beginning with vaudeville and encompassing movies, radio, plays, television, and even the web (in impassioned support for the writers' strike of 2007). Brecher's story is presented as a series of interviews, which allows his voice to come through in its witty splendor. Rosenfeld does a fine job as chronicler, selector, and muse for these interviews, and his genuine friendship with Brecher is the reason that this book exists. Altogether delightful, this is an incredible reminiscence by a remarkable man." -- Library Journal starred review

Have a haiku momentwhen your mind stops and your heart moves.

Writing haiku offers the chance to honor, hold, and fully experience a fleeting moment that takes you out of yourself, a moment that hints at the deeper unity that lies beneath the surface of things. from Chapter One

In this encouraging guide for both beginning and experienced haiku writers, Margaret D. McGee shows how writing haiku can be a consciously spiritual practice for seekers of any faith tradition or no tradition.

Drawing from her experience as a spiritual retreat leader and published haiku writer, McGee takes the mystery and intimidation out of beginning to write haiku. For those already on their way, she provides helpful hints and exercises to broaden and deepen both your haiku artistry and your appreciation of haiku as part of your spiritual life. With humor and encouragement, she offers step-by-step exercises for both individuals and writing groups, and shows how haiku can help you: Pay attention to the world around you to connect with sacred moments Overcome fear and self-doubt to access your innate creativity Explore and use haiku together with spiritual practices in your own faith tradition Make haiku a spiritual part of your daily routine

In this specially-commissioned anthology, sixty accomplished authors share secrets and insights into their writing lives: on their inspirations, methods, wild ideas and daily routines; on the pleasure and the pain in achieving their literary goals; on how they started out and how they hope to continue. They outline some golden rules for staying on track and talk candidly about what goes wrong as well as right. We hear from novelists, poets, biographers, and children's writers; illustrators, campaigners, teachers, mothers, husbands, an entrepreneur turned surfboard shaper, a quantum physicist, an opera librettist, and a Laureate who loves dragons. All writers. We have emerging talents in our team alongside much-loved authors whose books have sold in millions. Each reflects in their own way on the creative process and the compulsion to write. How to find inspiration? How to get the words right? How to cope with writer's block? How to handle bad reviews? How to become a better reader? Pencil or computer? Inside or out? And where do the good ideas really come from? Swallowed by a Whale includes contributions from: Kwame Alexander, Anthony Browne, Cressida Cowell, Isabelle Dupuy, Inua Ellams, Lev Grossman, Joanne Harris, Catherine Johnson, Thomas Keneally, Neal Layton, David Mitchell, Beverley Naidoo, Chibundu Onuzo, Chris Riddell, Francesca Simon, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, Raynor Winn and many more.

This unusually diverse collection of ten essays, devoted to British and Irish writers and poets from 1895 to the present, explores many aspects of the creative process, from inspiration to publication and beyond. The volume shows how writers' manuscripts and revisions give us a better understanding of their published work by drawing on unpublished archival sources to unveil, across genre and gender, the intricacies of their craft. It examines how the paper medium and writing implements influence the act of composition; reveals the latest developments in such fields as life writing and digital humanities-especially how modern scholars, through the filter of hypertext, revisit modernist texts, or respond to newly-found material; and analyzes the hidden handwork, be it throughout the writer's exhaustive self-editing process or the writer-editor collaboration. Finally, it captures an award-winning poet and a living novelist reflecting upon their craft and work in progress.