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The book you need to read to write the book you want to write : a handbook for fiction writers
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Online
- Physical
- Summary
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"This is an indispensable handbook for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the process of writing a novel or short story. Rather than prescribing restrictive templates or formulae, Sa...
"This is an indispensable handbook for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the process of writing a novel or short story. Rather than prescribing restrictive templates or formulae, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster draw on their extensive experience as both successful writers and expert teachers to open up exciting possibilities. Intelligent and jargon-free, their guide thoughtfully navigates some of the most important and challenging aspects of creating fiction, such as the interplay of memory and imagination, the plotting of stories, the creation of convincing characters, the uses of description, and the pleasures and pitfalls of research. A storehouse of ideas and practical advice, from boosting self- motivation, to editing, to ultimately approaching agents and publishers, it will inspire confidence in developing authors. The book's primary aim is simple: to help its readers to become better writers"--
Details
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- Creator
- Sarah Burton and Jem Poster
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Contributors
- Publication
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- Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2022
- ©2022
- Physical Details
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- 1 online resource (xiv, 283 pages)
- data file
- ISBNs
- 1316513440, 1009073737, 9781009075558, 1009072579, 1009075551, 9781009072571, 9781009073738, 9781316513446
- OCLC
- on1284921210, on1284918938
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Cover -- Reviews -- Half-title page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Getting started -- 2 Memory and imagination -- 3 Character -- Introducing characters -- Character and plot -- Characters are individuals -- Character and narrative voice -- How many characters? -- Minor characters -- Character isn't fixed -- Planning characters -- 4 Plot and structure I -- Getting to grips with plot -- Telling it slant -- 5 Plot and structure II -- The patterns of plot -- Hiding plot -- putting doors in alleyways -- Narrative time
- 6 Form and length -- Definitions -- Novels -- Short stories -- Flash fiction -- 7 Dialogue -- Dialogue matters -- Carrying information in dialogue -- Capturing character in dialogue -- Writing between the lines -- Attributing dialogue -- Punctuating dialogue conventionally -- Alternative ways of punctuating dialogue -- Accent and dialect -- Other worlds, other times -- How do we show a character's thoughts? -- 8 Narrative viewpoint and narrative voice -- Where do we stand? -- Author and narrator -- knowing and telling -- First- and third-person narratives: the basics
- How perspective changes the story -- Multiple-viewpoint narratives -- The range of perspectives -- Centres of consciousness in the third-person narrative -- Character and state of mind as revealed in first-person voices -- The unreliable narrator -- First-person plural narration -- Second-person address -- Other-world narrative voices -- 9 Beginnings and endings -- tension and pace -- A good enough beginning -- Exposition and starting in medias res -- A sense of an ending -- Tension and pace -- 10 Description -- The purpose of description -- Preconceptions about style -- Clichés
- Metaphors and similes -- Modifiers -- Describing place -- How much detail? -- Showing through description -- 11 Research -- Keeping research unobtrusive -- Subjects -- Sources -- Serving your story -- 12 Drawing it all together -- An approach to editing -- Editing techniques -- Getting value from a critical reader -- Editing in response to notes -- Accepting imperfection -- 13 Publication and the writing life -- Publishing short stories -- Agents and editors -- Targeting and pitching -- Understanding rejection -- Interpreting rejection -- It's just an opinion -- Hold your nerve
- The writing life -- Writer's block -- Set achievable goals -- Stick at it -- Feed the compost heap -- The pleasures of writing -- Notes -- Select bibliography -- Index