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Writer of the Plains: A Story about Willa Cather
by Tom StreissguthA biography of the American author Willa Cather, emphasizing her youth and early career but covering all of her life.
Writer Tells All: Insider Secrets to Getting Your Book Published
by Robert MaselloA witty and candid firsthand account -- for writers by a writer -- on how to write, sell, publish, and promote a book.This invaluable book is written by a working writer -- not a professor, not a publisher, not an editor, not an agent. Robert Masello is a writer who speaks his mind with absolute candor on everything aspiring book authors need to know. He explains the publishing process step by step -what to expect, how it works, and what authors can do at each point to keep things going smoothly. Equally important, Masello has a lot of fun doing it. His book is filled with sometimes hilarious anecdotes from his own experiences in the trenches of publishing.Writer Tells All covers many topics along the way, both large and small, including the things every writer needs to know: choosing a book topic (fiction or nonfiction), writing the proposal, selecting an agent, understanding book contracts, finding an editor, losing an editor, following the production process from manuscript to bound book, using your own savvy and contacts to maximize the effect of marketing, and publicizing the finished product.
Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink
by Gail Carson LevineBestselling author of Ella Enchanted and fairy-tale master Gail Carson Levine shares her secrets of great writing in this companion to the popular Writing Magic.Have you ever wanted to captivate readers with a great opening, create spectacular and fantastical creatures, make up an entire country, realize a dastardly villain, write an epic love story, or make your characters leap off the page? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Gail Carson Levine can help you achieve your goals.Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine offers a behind-the-scenes take on writing and teaches you how to become a world-class author. Drawing from her popular blog, Gail answers readers' fiction- and poetry-writing questions and dives into how to make a story come alive. If you're interested in writing prose and poetry or just want to be a better and more rounded writer, this book will help you on your creative journey.With her trademark humor and vast writing knowledge, Gail Carson Levine reveals the tricks of her trade, writer to writer.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Writer to Writer: Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing
by Cecil MurpheyVeteran author Cecil (Cec) Murphey made a double commitment when he started writing professionally: (1) He would never stop learning and improving, and (2) He would do whatever he could to help other writers. This book is part of that commitment.In Writer to Writer, Cec shares valuable, bite-sized lessons he's learned on his journey, such as:* How to get beyond the amateur look;* Why writing articles is a good place to start;* The importance of showing and telling;* Choosing the best words and tenses;* Using dialog to move your story along;* Writing from the right perspective;* Keeping your reader happy;* Working with publishers, editors, and agents;* Making a living as a writer.It's possible to become an excellent writer, and the tips and advice provided in Writer to Writer from a master at his craft promise to guide you on the right path.Note: WRITER TO WRITER is a previously published work, and is not substantially different from the original edition.
The Writer Who Inhabits Your Body: Somatic Practices to Enhance Creativity and Inspiration
by Renée Gregorio• Provides a comprehensive, step-by-step program for writers to use their bodies to expand their creative capacity on the page and in their lives • Offers hands-on exercises, rooted in the disciplines of Aikido and somatics, to help writers center themselves and better access their authentic inner voice • Helps writers confront obstacles like fear, doubt, and difficult emotions, transforming such subject matter into opportunities for creative exploration Writing is one of our most fundamental means of spiritual expression, a powerful capacity that enables us to shape and share our deepest thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Yet the writing process can be challenging and imprecise, and both novice and experienced writers may struggle with accessing their innermost creative selves. Taking an embodied approach to writing, poet and Aikido practitioner Renée Gregorio offers a step-by-step experiential program to help you to center yourself in your body and, in so doing, expand your creative capacity on the page and in your life. Rather than provide a guide to writing, she helps you identify and give voice to the writer within. She shares hands-on exercises rooted in the martial art of Aikido and the practice of somatics—or body-centered learning—to provide direct and detailed ways to help facilitate personal growth and tap in to innate creative capacities, enabling you to fully immerse yourself in the creative process and discover immediate benefits. Drawing on her extensive martial arts training, the author emphasizes creating your own internal writing &“dojo&” to clear the mind and enable you to access the deeper currents of language. Exploring discomfort as a doorway to deeper experience and new writing territory, she reveals how to examine difficult topics, express the full range of emotions, and turn self-doubt, fear, and painful experience into courage. She also explores how to unearth the power and physicality in your own voice, using techniques like &“re-visioning&” to effectively edit your work, ultimately embodying your writing with complexity and fullness. Through immersive and physically focused experience, this book will help seasoned and aspiring writers alike work with the body as a wise teacher to better access, hone, and express their authentic inner voice.
Writer with a Day Job: Inspiration & Exercises to Help You Craft a Writing Life Alongside Your Career
by Aine GreaneyDon't let the daily grind drain your creative energy!You can work full time and still have a productive writing life. Many writers waste time waiting for the day they can finally quit their day jobs and live the so-called writing dream. Don't wait. You can do both - and your writing will be the better for it.Balancing a full-time job and a productive writing life is no easy feat! This book offers writers advice, skill-building techniques, prompts, and exercises in every chapter, and strategies on how to get and keep writing while also working the 9 to 5 grind.Readers will discover tips and exercises for:Setting and protecting personal writing goalsCreating a schedule that complements their staminaGetting creative before and after work - and on their lunch hourFinding inspiration in the most unlikely of spots and at the most impromptu of timesWriting proficiently in multiple forms (long and short) so that they don't get bogged down writing one long projectBecoming an active participant in writing communities so they have a solid support system at the readyFiguring out how (if at all) to share their writing life with co-workers, friends, and family membersYou'll also get quick, practical tutorials to help you master scenes, point of view, characters, settings, dialogue, and more.Writer With a Day Job gives you the strategies and motivation you need to work 40 hours a week (or more!) and achieve writing success.
A Writer Writes: A Memoir
by Stephen BirminghamA memoir by the New York Times–bestselling author and longtime chronicler of America&’s wealthy elite. Born in Connecticut in 1929 and educated at Williams College, Stephen Birmingham went on to create a literary niche with his numerous nonfiction works about New York&’s—and the nation&’s—upper class, particularly focusing on Jewish, African American, and Irish communities, as well as old-money WASPs. He also drew on his &“intimate knowledge of the private lives of the rich and famous&” to write bestselling works of fiction such as The Auerbach Will (The New York Times Book Review). In this book, Birmingham&’s attention is turned to his own life, both personal and professional, allowing us to learn about the man who created such compelling portraits of glittering parties, exclusive addresses, and, in some cases, rags-to-riches sagas that epitomize the American dream—and the American struggle. In the end, his story is as fascinating as those of the aristocrats he documented. &“When it comes to the folkways of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged, Stephen Birmingham knows what he&’s talking about.&” —Los Angeles Times
The Writers
by Miranda J. BanksScreenwriters are storytellers and dream builders. They forge new worlds and beings, bringing them to life through storylines and idiosyncratic details. Yet up until now, no one has told the story of these creative and indispensable artists. The Writers is the only comprehensive qualitative analysis of the history of writers and writing in the film, television, and streaming media industries in America. Featuring in-depth interviews with over fifty writers--including Mel Brooks, Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, and Frank Pierson--The Writers delivers a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at the role and rights of writers in Hollywood and New York over the past century. Granted unprecedented access to the archives of the Writers Guild Foundation, Miranda J. Banks also mines over 100 never-before-published oral histories with legends such as Nora Ephron and Ring Lardner Jr., whose insight and humor provide a window onto the enduring priorities, policies, and practices of the Writers Guild.With an ear for the language of storytellers, Banks deftly analyzes watershed moments in the industry: the advent of sound, World War II, the blacklist, ascension of television, the American New Wave, the rise and fall of VHS and DVD, and the boom of streaming media. The Writers spans historical and contemporary moments, and draws upon American cultural history, film and television scholarship and the passionate politics of labor and management. Published on the sixtieth anniversary of the formation of the Writers Guild of America, this book tells the story of the triumphs and struggles of these vociferous and contentious hero-makers.
Writers: Their Lives and Works (DK History Changers)
by DKExplore the fascinating lives and loves of the greatest novelists, poets, and playwrights.From William Shakespeare and Jane Austen to Gabriel García Márquez and Toni Morrison, Writers explores more than 100 biographies of the world&’s greatest writers. Each featured novelist, playwright, or poet is introduced by a stunning portrait, followed by photography and illustrations of locations and artifacts important in their lives – along with pages from original manuscripts, first editions, and their correspondence. Trace the friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired each individual and affected their writing, revealing insights into the larger-than-life characters, plots, and evocative settings that they created. You will also uncover details each writer&’s most famous pieces and understand the times and cultures they lived in – see how the world influenced them and how their works influenced the world.Writers introduces key ideas, themes, and literary techniques of each figure, revealing the imaginations and personalities behind some of the world's greatest novels, short stories, poems, and plays. A diverse variety of authors are covered, from the Middle Ages to present day, providing a compelling glimpse into the lives of the people behind the page.
The Writer's ABC Checklist
by Lorraine MaceAn easy-to-use comprehensive guide for writers on preparing and presenting their work to agents, publishers and print media. Regardless of the writer's level or ability, there is something extremely daunting about putting together a submission. It doesn't matter if it is for an article for a magazine, or short story for a competition, a humorous anecdote, a play or TV script, a novel or non-fiction book, The Writer's ABC Checklist will provide answers to questions you didn't even know you should ask. With its A-Z format, references can be found quickly and effortlessly. Unfamiliar terms are explained and bullet points at the end of most sections provide a quick reminder of the main items covered. This unique book is packed with writing tips and is something no aspiring writer can afford to be without. Lorraine Mace is a columnist with Writing Magazine, a writing judge, a tutor for the Writers Bureau and winner of an international poetry award. Maureen Vincent-Northam gained first place in a national children's book competition. An online tutor in genealogical writing, she is also a writing-competition judge.
Writers and Politics in West Germany
by K. Stuart ParkesOriginally published in 1986, this book is an interpretative survey of the development of political writing in the former Federal Republic of Germany. It illustrates how intertwined writing is with politics, whether by the political commitment of writers like Grass or the analysis of Böll, by the exclusion of writers from political debate under Adenauer or their insistence on involvement in the years of the SPD. So many themes central to German life are themselves political – the division of the German state, the interpretation of the German character, the Green Movement. This wide-ranging and thorough study discusses a central issue of European politics and culture.
Writers and Social Thought in Africa
by Wale AdebanwiSocial theory and social theorizing about Africa has largely ignored African literature. However, because writers are some of the continent’s finest social thinkers, they have produced – and continue to produce – works which constitute potential sources for the analysis of social thought, and for constructing social theory, in and beyond the continent.This comprehensive collection examines the relationship between African literature and African social thought. It explores the evolution and aesthetics of social thought in African fiction, and African writers’ conceptions of power and authority, legitimacy, history and modernity, gender and sexuality, culture, epistemology, globalization, and change and continuity in Africa.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.
Writers and Their Mothers
by Dale SalwakIan McEwan, Margaret Drabble, Martin Amis, Rita Dove, Andrew Motion and Anthony Thwaite are among the twenty-two distinguished contributors of original essays to this landmark volume on the profound and frequently perplexing bond between writer and mother. In compelling detail they bring to life the thoughts, work, loves, friendships, passions and, above all, the influence of mothers upon their literary offspring from Shakespeare to the present. Many of the contributors evoke the ideal with fond and loving memories: understanding, selfless, spiritual, tender, protective, reassuring and self-assured mothers who created environments favorable to the development of their children’s gifts. At the opposite end of the parenting spectrum, however, we also see tortured mothers who ignored, interfered with, smothered or abandoned their children. Their early years were times of traumatic loss, unhappily dominated by death and human frailty. Elegantly assembled and presented, Writers and Their Mothers will appeal to everyone interested in biography, literature, and creativity in general.
Writers and Their Notebooks
by Diana M. RaabPersonal reflections on the vital role of the notebook in creative writing, from Dorianne Laux, Sue Grafton, John Dufresne, Kyoko Mori, and more.This collection of essays by 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 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 hearty endorsement of the value of using notebooks to document, develop, and nurture a writer’s creative spark.
Writers and Thinkers: Selected Literary Criticism
by Daniel FuchsThis is a collection of critical essays that integrate literature and ideas. Daniel Fuchs presents the writer's individuality as artist and thinker, focusing on the writer's interaction within a wide range of cultural, political, and historical periods and situations representative of the modern period. The essays reflect a progression that goes beyond chronology or historical survey in the consistency and interrelation of the literary and cultural themes explored and the references within them.The book is built around writers who are of central concern to the author. It does not pretend to be a comprehensive framework for analysing modernism. Fuchs first deals with high modernism, in discussions of Hemingway and Stevens, who in different ways critique tradition and collapsing values. The essays that follow deal with the "contemporary,"and here the focus is mainly on American Jewish writers and their cultural impact after modernism.The author's stance is in relation not only to these traditions but to others that might be thought antagonistic: the formalism of the New Critics and the deconstructionism that reduces the author to a replaceable variable in the dialects of cultural power relations. Fuchs pays tribute to the former, illustrating wider points in literary, socio-cultural, and political history. The overall emphasis on these "extrinsic" matters underscores the book's appeal to a wide audience.
The Writer's Art
by James J. Kilpatrick"Writing comes in grades of quality in the fashion of beer and baseball games," says James J. Kilpatrick, "good, better, and best." With the experience of a lifetime of writing, he tells us, he wants to make a few judgment calls. And Jack Kilpatrick, master of the art, is as good as his word. In the tradition of Theodore Bernstein, Edwin Newman, and William Safire, James J. Kilpatrick gives us a finely crafted, witty guide to writing well. Written for laymen and professionals alike, The Writer's Art highlights techniques and examples of good writing. A section of the book called "My Crotchets and Your Crotchets" comprises more than 200 personal judgment calls, often controversial, often funny, on word usage.
Writers as Public Intellectuals: Literature, Celebrity, Democracy (Palgrave Studies in Modern European Literature)
by Odile HeyndersThis book demonstrates how authors performing the role of a public intellectual discuss ideas and opinions regarding society while using literary strategies and devices in and beyond the text. Their assumed persona thereby reads the world as a book - interpreting it and offering alternative scenarios for understanding it.
Writers as Public Intellectuals: Literature, Celebrity, Democracy (Palgrave Studies in Modern European Literature)
by Odile HeyndersThis book demonstrates how authors performing the role of a public intellectual discuss ideas and opinions regarding society while using literary strategies and devices in and beyond the text. Their assumed persona thereby reads the world as a book - interpreting it and offering alternative scenarios for understanding it.
Writers as Readers: A Celebration of Virago Modern Classics (VMC Designer Collection)
by Virago PressMargaret Drabble | Beryl Bainbridge | Angela Carter | Maggie O'Farrell | Elizabeth Jane Howard | A. S. Byatt | Penelope Lively | Sarah Waters | Jonathan Coe | Diana Souhami | Jilly Cooper | Elizabeth Bowen | Mark Bostridge | Alexander McCall Smith | Sarah Dunant | Rachel Cooke | Zadie Smith | Anita Desai | Sophie Dahl | Clare Boylan | Paula McLain | Diana Athill | Marina Lewycka | Claire Messud | Michèle Roberts | Simon Russell Beale | Amanda Craig | Hilary Mantel | Elizabeth Taylor | Ali Smith | Linda Grant | Jane Gardam | Julie Burchill | Carmen Callil | Helen Oyeyemi | Marian Keyes | Nora Ephron | Sandi Toksvig | Kate SaundersWriters as Readers is a celebration of forty years of the Virago Modern Classics list. Started in 1978, Virago Modern Classics is dedicated to the rediscovery and championing of women writers, challenging the often narrow definition of 'classic'. In this collection, forty of the most significant writers of the past century tell us about one of their favourite writers by introducing books from the Virago Modern Classics collection, offering a glimpse at the treasures that have been published over the past four decades: they may be great works of literature; they may be wonderful period pieces; they may reveal particular aspects of women's lives; they may be classics of comedy, storytelling, diary-writing or autobiography.
Writers at War: Exploring the Prose of Ford Madox Ford, May Sinclair, Siegfried Sassoon and Mary Borden (Among the Victorians and Modernists)
by Isabelle BrasmeWriters at War addresses the most immediate representations of the First World War in the prose of Ford Madox Ford, May Sinclair, Siegfried Sassoon and Mary Borden; it interrogates the various ways in which these writers contended with conveying their war experience from the temporal and spatial proximity of the warzone and investigates the multifarious impact of the war on the (re)development of their aesthetics. It also interrogates to what extent these texts aligned with or challenged existing social, cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic norms. While this book is concerned with literary technique, the rich scholarship on questions of gender, trauma, and cultural studies on WWI literature serves as a foundation. This book does not oppose these perspectives but offers a complementary approach based on close critical reading. The distinctiveness of this study stems from its focus on the question of representation and form and on the specific role of the war in the four authors’ literary careers. This is the first scholarly work concerned exclusively with theorising writing produced from the immediacy of the war. This book is intended for academics, researchers, PhD candidates, postgraduates and anyone interested in war literature.
Writers at Work: The Short Composition Student's Book
by Ann O. StrauchThe Writers at Work series prepares ESL students to tackle academic essay writing. Writers at Work: The Short Composition teaches low-intermediate to intermediate-level students how to compose multi-paragraph short compositions. Students tap into their personal experience to organize their writing, using academic modes of organization such as exemplification and cause and effect. In addition, students learn how to write about works of fiction and nonfiction by summarizing and citing sources.
Writers at Work: The Essay
by Dorothy E. Zemach Lynn Stafford-YilmazThe Writers at Work series takes beginning to high intermediate-level writing students through a process approach to writing. The series is intended primarily for adults whose first language is not English, but it may also prove effective for younger writers or for native speakers of English who are developing their competence as independent writers in English.
A Writer's Book of Days
by Judy ReevesFirst published a decade ago, A Writer's Book of Days has become the ideal writing coach for thousands of writers. Newly revised, with new prompts, up-to-date Web resources, and more useful information than ever, this invaluable guide offers something for everyone looking to put pen to paper -- a treasure trove of practical suggestions, expert advice, and powerful inspiration. Judy Reeves meets you wherever you may be on a given day with: * get-going prompts and exercises * insight into writing blocks * tips and techniques for finding time and creating space * ways to find images and inspiration * advice on working in writing groups * suggestions, quips, and trivia from accomplished practitioners Reeves's holistic approach addresses every aspect of what makes creativity possible (and joyful) -- the physical, emotional, and spiritual. And like a smart, empathetic inner mentor, she will help you make every day a writing day.
A Writer's Book of Days
by Judy Reeves"A Writer's Book of Days is a holistic approach to being a writer that encompasses the physical, emotional, and spiritual as well as the creative aspects of writing." The book includes daily writing prompts, quotes from writers about writing, and habits of established writers as well as other suggestions for becoming a write. Some comma faults, other punctuation faults like possessives, and some grammatical errors are in the book itself and were not changed.
The Writer's Book of Hope: Encouragement and Advice from an Expert
by Ralph KeyesIn 1889, the editor of the San Francisco Examiner, having accepted an article from Rudyard Kipling, informed the author that he should not bother to submit any more. "This isn't a kindergarten for amateur writers," the editor wrote. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language." A century later, John Grisham was turned down by sixteen agents before he found representation-and it was only after Hollywood showed an interest in The Firm that publishers began to take him seriously. The anxiety of rejection is an inevitable part of any writer's development. In this book, Ralph Keyes turns his attention from the difficulty of putting pen to paper-the subject of his acclaimed The Courage to Write -to the frustration of getting the product to the public. Inspiration isn't nearly as important to the successful writer, he argues, as tenacity, and he offers concrete ways to manage the struggle to publish. Drawing on his long experience as a writer and teacher of writing, Keyes provides new insight into the mind-set of publishers, the value of an agent, and the importance of encouragement and hope to the act of authorial creation.