Download or read book Great Stories Don t Write Themselves written by Larry Brooks and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most common questions new writers ask professionals is how they wrote their book—what was their process for storytelling? Did they use an outline to plan the book, or write it from the seat of their pants? But really the question should be about the general principles and nature of storycraft—does every part of a story have what it needs to keep readers turning the pages? Bestselling author and creator of StoryFix.com Larry Brooks changes the sound of the writing conversation by introducing a series of detailed criteria for novelists of every level and genre to refer to while writing, regardless of their preferred writing method. Beginning with the broadest part of the story, the early checklists help writers to ensure that their novel is based on a premise rather than an idea, and gradually hones in on other elements to keep the story moving forward including: · dramatic tension · narrative strategy · scene construction Readers won't know or care about the process. But what Brooks offers here is a chance for readers to make the most of whichever process they choose, and in doing so cut years off their learning curve.

Download or read book MONSTER HUNGRY PHONE written by Sean Taylor and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-20 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monster is HUNGRY. He wants PIZZA. And he's got a PHONE! But uh oh . . . who is he going to call? Hold the line – Monster is in for a wild ride! WARNING: This book may make you laugh your socks off! A hilarious picture book that's perfect for anyone who's ever REALLY wanted PIZZA. With bold, bright illustrations by the talented Fred Benaglia, it's an unmissable treat, and perfect for fans of Oi Frog!

Download or read book Telling True Stories written by Mark Kramer and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-01-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interested in journalism and creative writing and want to write a book? Read inspiring stories and practical advice from America’s most respected journalists. The country’s most prominent journalists and nonfiction authors gather each year at Harvard’s Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. Telling True Stories presents their best advice—covering everything from finding a good topic, to structuring narrative stories, to writing and selling your first book. More than fifty well-known writers offer their most powerful tips, including: • Tom Wolfe on the emotional core of the story • Gay Talese on writing about private lives • Malcolm Gladwell on the limits of profiles • Nora Ephron on narrative writing and screenwriters • Alma Guillermoprieto on telling the story and telling the truth • Dozens of Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists from the Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and more . . . The essays contain important counsel for new and career journalists, as well as for freelance writers, radio producers, and memoirists. Packed with refreshingly candid and insightful recommendations, Telling True Stories will show anyone fascinated by the art of writing nonfiction how to bring people, scenes, and ideas to life on the page.

Download or read book All the Comfort Sin Can Provide written by Grant Faulkner and published by . This book was released on 2021-07-15 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fiction. With raw, lyrical ferocity, ALL THE COMFORT SIN CAN PROVIDE delves into the beguiling salve that sin can promise--tracing those hidden places most of us are afraid to acknowledge. In this collection of brutally unsentimental short stories, Grant Faulkner chronicles dreamers, addicts, and lost souls who have trusted too much in wayward love, the perilous balm of substances, or the unchecked hungers of others, but who are determined to find salvation in their odd definitions of transcendence. Taking us from hot Arizona highways to cold Iowa hotel rooms, from the freedoms of the backwoods of New Mexico to the damnations of slick New York City law firms, Faulkner creates a shard-sharp mosaic of desire that careens off the page--honest, cutting, and wise.

Download or read book Story Engineering written by Larry Brooks and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What makes a good story or a screenplay great? The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function and criteria of successful storytelling, sitting down and pounding out a first draft without planning is an ineffective way to begin. Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling, the engineering and design of a story--and uses it as the basis for narrative. The greatest potential of any story is found in the way six specific aspects of storytelling combine and empower each other on the page. When rendered artfully, they become a sum in excess of their parts. You'll learn to wrap your head around the big pictures of storytelling at a professional level through a new approach that shows how to combine these six core competencies which include: • Four elemental competencies of concept, character, theme, and story structure (plot) • Two executional competencies of scene construction and writing voice The true magic of storytelling happens when these six core competencies work together in perfect harmony. And the best part? Anyone can do it!

Download or read book Pep Talks for Writers written by Grant Faulkner and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Will leave you feeling happier, bolder, and ridiculously excited about diving back into your writing projects.” —Chris Baty, author of No Plot? No Problem! and founder of NaNoWriMo Every writer knows that as rewarding as the creative process is, it can often be a bumpy road. Have hope and keep at it! Designed to kick-start creativity, this handbook from the executive director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) gathers a wide range of insights and advice for writers at any stage of their career. From tips about how to finally start that story to helpful ideas about what to do when the words just aren’t quite coming out right, Pep Talks for Writers provides motivation, encouragement, and helpful exercises for writers of all stripes.

Download or read book The Orchid Thief written by Susan Orlean and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Orchid Thief “Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times “Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.”—The Washington Post Book World “Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.”—The Wall Street Journal

Download or read book Wild Summer written by Sean Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this follow-up to Winter Sleep and Busy Spring, Wild Summer celebrates nature during the warm summer months. The beautifully-told story follows a young girl and her grandpa as they walk down a wild path towards the coast. They spot amazing plants and animals, and she is enchanted by the vibrancy of life around her. "The plants and animals must wish it was summer forever, don't they?" This nature-filled book shows a touching relationship between grandfather and grandchild as he teaches her about the wonders of the natural world around her. They pass through several habitats and the girl's grandfather teaches her how summer affects each of them and their wildlife: a meadow, a stream, sandy heathland, pine woods, fossil-rich cliffs and a rocky cove. Filled with facts as well as beautiful and gentle illustrations, this book is a great way to teach children about nature and the seasons.

Download or read book The Tattooist of Auschwitz written by Heather Morris and published by Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved. Lale Sokolov is well-dressed, a charmer, a ladies' man. He is also a Jew. On the first transport of men from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942, Lale immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for, and put to work in the privileged position of Tatowierer - the tattooist - to mark his fellow prisoners, forever. One of them is a young woman, Gita, who steals his heart at first glance. His life given new purpose, Lale does his best through the struggle and suffering to use his position for good. This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. It is heart-wrenching, illuminating, and unforgettable. 'Morris climbs into the dark miasma of war and emerges with an extraordinary tale of the power of love' - Leah Kaminsky

Download or read book Story Physics written by Larry Brooks and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to make your story soar! In the physical world, gravity, force, and other elements of physics govern your abilities and can be utilized to enhance your every movement. In the world of writing, story physics can be harnessed in much the same way to make your novel or screenplay the best it can be. In Story Physics, best-selling author Larry Brooks introduces you to six key literary forces that, when leveraged in just the right way, enable you to craft a story that's primed for success--and publication. Inside Story Physics, you'll learn how to: • Understand and harness the six storytelling forces that are constantly at work in your fiction. • Transform your story idea into a dramatically compelling concept. • Optimize the choices you make in terms of character, conflict, subplot, subtext, and more to render the best possible outcome. These literary forces will elevate your story above the competition and help you avoid the rejection pile. With Story Physics, you won't just give your story wings--you'll teach it how to fly. "Larry Brooks speaks my kind of language about story. Any writer, even those trucking in the world of nonfiction, will benefit from going deeper into the physics of storytelling as Brooks explains in these pages." - James Scott Bell, best-selling author of Plot & Structure "Larry Brooks has done it again! If you liked Story Engineering, I suspect you're going to love Story Physics, which dives even deeper into the essence of story. Story Physics is an essential addition to every novelist's bookshelf." - Randy Ingermanson, author of Writing Fiction for Dummies

Download or read book The Library Book written by Susan Orlean and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Susan Orlean’s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post). On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. “A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.

Download or read book Be a Writing Machine written by M.L. Ronn and published by Author Level Up LLC. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The no-nonsense, no BS guide to becoming a prolific author--available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook! Do you want to write a lot of novels, but can't improve your writing speed? Writing fast is the most important skill you can develop as a writer. While it seems hard to hit high word counts, the secrets are easier than you think. In this writer's guide, prolific author M.L. Ronn pulls back the curtain on the process that he uses to write 6-8 novels a year. He has kept this pace while juggling responsibilities as a husband, father, manager at a Fortune 100 company, and a law school student. The result is a catalogue of over 40 books and counting. Create a writing habit that suits your lifestyle Use writing apps on your phone to double your word count Learn strategies to beat writer's block forever Discover how to write smarter by using unorthodox strategies used by the masters This book is the only thing standing between you and your writing dreams. Write faster, write smarter, beat writer's block, and be the prolific author you've always wanted to be! V1.0

Download or read book The Land of Stories An Author s Odyssey written by Chris Colfer and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fifth book in Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories! The Masked Man has captured all the royal families from the Land of Stories with the help of his army of literature's greatest villains, including the Wicked Witch of the West, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook. With his sinister plan finally in motion, he is eager to destroy the families and take his place as emperor. Alex and Conner know they are no match against the Masked Man's legion of villains, but they realize that they may be in possession of the greatest weapon of all: their own imaginations! So begins the twins' journey into Conner's very own stories to gather an army of pirates, cyborgs, superheroes, and mummies as they band together for the ultimate fight against the Masked Man. Meanwhile, an even more dangerous plan is brewing--one that could change the fates of both the fairy-tale world and the Otherworld forever. Conner's tales come alive in the thrilling fifth adventure in the #1 New York Times bestselling Land of Stories series.

Download or read book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain written by George Saunders and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Time, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Town & Country, The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Thrillist, BookPage • “[A] worship song to writers and readers.”—Oprah Daily For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

Download or read book Writing Life Stories written by Bill Roorbach and published by Story Press. This book was released on 1998-07-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to writing stories, memoirs, and personal essays that includes information on remembering distant memories; making real people into characters; using public records, interviews, and diaries to create a believable story; and other related topics.

Download or read book The Land of Stories The Wishing Spell written by Chris Colfer and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book in Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories about two siblings who fall into a fairy-tale world! Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change forever, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales. The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

Download or read book Lincoln in the Bardo written by George Saunders and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Maureen Corrigan, NPR • One of Time’s Ten Best Novels of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book • One of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of the Year February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul. Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end? “A luminous feat of generosity and humanism.”—Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review “A masterpiece.”—Zadie Smith