Creative Writing

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. I

A right-brain reference of puzzles, questions, checklists, and advice to help stimulate writers' creative thinking and problem-solving capabilities. Coverage encompasses critical elements, characters, scenes, word choice, style and writing mechanics, and revision, with material in question-and-answers.

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 will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher -- and more successful -- level.

The definitive handbook for the novelist who is ready to revise   This wise and friendly guide shows writers how to turn first-draft manuscripts into the novels of their dreams.

The Poet's Companion presents brief essays on the elements of poetry, technique, and suggested subjects for writing, each followed by distinctive writing exercises. The ups and downs of writing life--including self-doubt and writer's block--are here, along with tips about getting published and writing in the electronic age. On your own, this book can be your "teacher," while groups, in or out of the classroom, can profit from sharing weekly assignments.

Writers Workshop of Horror focuses solely on honing the craft of writing. It includes solid advice, from professionals of every publishing level, on how to improve one's writing skills.

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, and a model exercise.

Have you ever wanted to write a true story? Maybe you have an interesting experience to share from your life or from someone in your family. Or perhaps you'd like to write about a famous person or a fascinating moment in history. This book will help you craft notable narrative nonfiction--appealing true stories. After you discover a topic, you'll move on to collecting facts and charting your course. Once you've written a rough draft, you'll learn how to revise your work and polish it into a great piece of writing. This book also offers examples, quotes, and short writing exercises to inspire you. Whether your goal is to tell your own story or someone else's, this book will help you bring the details to life.

A special 10th anniversary edition of Roy Peter Clark's bestselling guide to writing, featuring five bonus tools. Ten years ago, Roy Peter Clark, America's most influential writing teacher, whittled down almost thirty years of experience in journalism, writing, and teaching into a series of fifty short essays on different aspects of writing. In the past decade, Writing Tools has become a classic guidebook for novices and experts alike and remains one of the best loved books on writing available.

It's easy for people to write about their feelings in a journal. It's more difficult, however, to convert personal experiences into stories worthy of publication--fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. Filled with engaging exercises, Write from Life guides writers in identifying story-worthy material and transforming their raw material into finished pieces, through conquering fears associated with personal exposure, determining a story's focus, shaping the material into a cohesive whole, and editing and revising as needed. Writers working in any form will find this book invaluable for supplying them with the inspiration and practical instruction they need to get their experiences and emotions into print.

Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, Stephen King's critically lauded, classic bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. "Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have.

This collection of essays by well-established professional writers explores how their notebooks serve as their studios and workshops--places to collect, to play, and to make new discoveries with language, passions, and curiosities. For these diverse writers, the journal also serves as an ideal forum to develop their writing voice, whether crafting fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Some entries include sample journal entries that have since developed into published pieces. Through their individual approaches to keeping a notebook, the contributors offer valuable advice, personal recollections, and a hardy endorsement of the value of using notebooks to document, develop, and nurture a writer's creative spark. Designed for writers of all genres and all levels of experience, Writers and Their Notebooks celebrates the notebook as a vital tool in a writer's personal and literary life.

The directory of the American book publishing industry with industry yellow pages

The most trusted guide to getting published! Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer's Market 2018 guide you with thousands of publishing opportunities--including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents.

This resource is specific to markets for short stories, novellas, and novels. This edition features hundreds of updated listings for book publishers, literary agents, fiction publications, contests, and more, and each listing includes contact information, submission guidelines, and other essential tips.

The most trusted guide to getting poetry published! The Poet's Market includes hundreds of publishing opportunities specifically for poets, including listings for book/chapbook publishers, poetry publications, contests, and more. These listings include contact information, submission preferences, insider tips on what specific editors want, and--when offered--payment information. In addition to the listings, Poet's Market offers articles on the Craft of Poetry, Business of Poetry, and Promotion of Poetry--not to mention new poems from contemporary poets. Learn how to navigate the social media landscape, submit your poems for publication, write various poetic forms, give a perfect reading, and more. You also gain access to: Lists of conferences, workshops, organizations, and grants. One-year access to the poetry-related information and listings on WritersMarket.com (print edition only) A free digital download of Writer's Yearbook featuring the 100 Best Markets Includes brand-new poems from today's best and brightest poets, including Amorak Huey, J.P. Dancing Bear, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Scott Owens, Martha Silano, Susan Rich, and more. "My grandmother bought my first Poet's Market when I was in college. I had just taken my first college creative writing class. Now, nearly 20 years later, as a writer who has had books published and as an editor of a 10-year-old magazine, Poet's Market is still an invaluable tool. Every poet and poetry student needs a copy on his or her bookshelf." --Shaindel Beers, author of A Brief History of Time and The Children's War and Other Poems, and Poetry Editor of Contrary

Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with words.

Every English-language writer knows Strunk and White's famous little writing manual, The Elements of Style. Many people between the ages of seventeen and seventy can recite the book's mantra--make every word tell--and still refer to their tattered grade school copy when in need of a hint on how to make a turn of phrase clearer, or a reminder on how to enliven prose with the active voice.

A fully revised and updated edition of the bible of the newspaper industry--also useful for fiction writers. With The AP Stylebook in hand, you can learn how to write and edit with the clarity and professionalism for which their writers and editors are famous. The AP Stylebook will help you master the AP's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, word and numeral usage, and when to use "more than" instead of "over." The AP Stylebook is the one reference that all writers, editors and students cannot afford to be without.

The best-selling college rhetoric guide for over 25 years, The St. Martin's Guide has achieved an unmatched record of success