🧲 Books like this
Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew
Ursula K. Le Guin · back to the book
What’s in it
Tap a tag: ❤ = this matters to me · tap again ✕ = don’t care · again to reset. The list below updates each time.
24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives
Lajos Egri · 310 pages
Among the many "how-to" playwriting books that have appeared over the years, there have been few that attempt to analyze the mysteries of play construction. Lajos Egri's classic does just that, with instruction that can be applied equally well to a short story, novel, or screenplay. Examining a play from the inside out, Egri starts with the heart of any drama: its characters. All good dramatic wri
The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know
Shawn Coyne · 344 pages
20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them
Ronald B. Tobias · 238 pages
Identifies and analyzes twenty common plots, including revenge, rivalry, adventure, maturation, and love, discusses physical and character plots, and offers advice for developing a story
Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction
Tracy Kidder, Richard Todd · 209 pages
From the inside flap: ...*Good Prose* explores three major nonfiction forms: narratives, essays, and memoirs. Kidder and Todd draw candidly, sometimes comically, on their own experience--their mistakes as well as accomplishments--to demonstrate the pragmatic ways in which creative problems get solved. They also turn to the works of a wide range of writers, novelists as well as nonfiction authors,
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
Renni Browne, Dave King · 226 pages
"Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories." "In this completely revised and updated second edition, Renni Browne and Dave King teach you, the writer, how to apply the editing techniques they have developed
A Short Guide to Writing about Film
Timothy Corrigan · 193 pages
This best-selling text is a succinct guide to thinking critically and writing precisely about film. Both an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces students to major film theories as well as film terminology, enabling them to write more thoughtfully and critically. With numerous student and professional examples, this engaging and practical guide progre
How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One
Stanley Fish · 165 pages
Some appreciate fine art; others appreciate fine wines. Stanley Fish appreciates fine sentences. The New York Times columnist and world-class professor has long been an aficionado of language: "I am always on the lookout for sentences that take your breath away, for sentences that make you say, 'Isn't that something?' or 'What a sentence!'" Like a seasoned sportscaster, Fish marvels at the adeptne
Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point
Elizabeth D. Samet · 272 pages
The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers
Ayn Rand, Robert Mayhew · 200 pages
A remarkable series of lectures on the art of creating effective nonfiction by one of the 20th century's most profound writers and thinkers--now available for the first time in print.Culled from sixteen informal lectures Ayn Rand delivered to a select audience in the late 1960s, this remarkable work offers indispensable guidance to the aspiring writer of nonfiction while providing readers with a f
Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays
David Ball · 96 pages
Using Hamlet as illustration, the author provides the tools for students and practitioners to use as they investigate plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, motivation/obstacle/conflict, theatricality, and the other crucial parts of the superstructure of a play.
Stein on Writing
Sol Stein · 308 pages
Whether you are a newcomer or an accomplished professional, a novelist, story writer, or a writer of nonfiction, you will find this book a wealth of immediately useful guidance not available anywhere else. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of useable solutions--how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
John Truby · 445 pages
"John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Scream, and Shrek. The Anatomy of Story is his long-awaited first book, and in it he shares all his secrets for writing a compelling script. Based on the lessons in his class, Great Screenwr
From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books
Kathleen T. Horning · 236 pages
The revised edition of From Cover to Cover offers a fresh, up-to-date look at some of the best examples of children's literature today and also includes practical advice on how to write clearly articulated, reasoned opinions so that others can learn about books they have not yet read.A brief, updated introduction explains how children's books evolve from manuscripts into bound books, the importanc
On Becoming a Novelist
John Gardner · 150 pages
Contains advice to young writers organized around three main questions: Am I talented enough? How should I educate myself? Can I make a living from writing fiction?
1984: George Orwell (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
SparkNotes · 75 pages
This volume provides a study guide for English author George Orwell's 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. It provides a plot overview, an analysis of major characters, and summaries & analysis of the themes, motifs & symbols found in the novel.
Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go
Les Edgerton · 256 pages
Agents and editors agree: improper story beginnings are the single biggest barrier to publication. Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It's just that simple. "Hooked" provides readers with a detailed understanding of what a beginning must include, (setup, backstory, the inciting incident, etc.); instruction on how to successfully develop the story pro
Bullies, Bastards And Bitches: How To Write The Bad Guys Of Fiction
Jessica Page Morrell
The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati
David S. Kidder, Noah D. Oppenheim · 378 pages
A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature
Roger Sutton, Martha V. Parravano
Literature--Structure, Sound, and Sense--Third Edition
Laurence Perrine, Albert Camus, Антон Павлович Чехов · 1,525 pages
The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets
Ted Kooser · 166 pages
Contains advice from United States poet laureate Ted Kooser on the art of writing poetry with insights and tools to help writing, revising, and practicing.