books tagged “Creative Writing”

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The Art of Fiction
by John Gardner

ISBN 0679734031 (0-679-73403-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
This classic guide, from the renowned novelist and professor, has helped transform generations of aspiring writers into masterful writersand will continue to do so for many years to come.

John Gardner was almost as famous as a teacher of creative writing as he was for his own works. In this practical, instructive handbook, based on the courses and seminars that he gave, he explains, simply and cogently, the principles and techniques of good writing. Gardners lessons, exemplified with detailed excerpts from classic works of literature, sweep across a complete range of topicsfrom the nature of aesthetics to the shape of a refined sentence. Written with passion, precision, and a deep respect for the art of writing, Gardners book serves by turns as a critic, mentor, and friend. Anyone who has ever thought of taking the step from reader to writer should begin here. [via]
More editions of The Art of Fiction:
- The Art of Fiction: ISBN 0394725441 (0-394-72544-1)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
- The Art of Fiction: ISBN 0679734031 (0-679-73403-1)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
by John Gardner

ISBN 0394504690 (0-394-50469-0)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group

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Book summary:
"John Gardner was famous for his generosity to young writers, and (this book) is his . . . gift to them. The Art of Fiction will fascinate anyone interested in how fiction gets put together. For the young writer, it will become a necessary handbook, a stern judge, an encouraging friend."--The New York Times Book Review. From the Trade Paperback edition. [via]
More editions of The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers:
- The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers: ISBN 0394504690 (0-394-50469-0)
  Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
by Julia Cameron

ISBN 1585421464 (1-58542-146-4)
Softcover, J P Tarcher

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Book summary:
Dieser Titel ist in englischer Sprache.
Mit dem Grundprinzip, daß kreativer Ausdruck das natürliche Ziel des Lebens ist, führen Julia Cameron und Mark Bryan Sie durch ein umfassendes 12-Wochen-Programm, das Ihre Kreativität von einer ganzen Reihe von Hindernissen -- darunter einschränkende Überzeugungen, Ängste, Selbstsabotage, Eifersucht, Schuldgefühle, Süchte und andere hemmende Kräfte -- befreien und sie durch künstlerisches Zutrauen und Produktivität ersetzen soll.
Dieses Buch zeigt Ihnen, wie man mit den kreativen Energien des Universums in Verbindung tritt und so Kreativität und Spiritualität vereint. In den vier Jahren seit seiner Veröffentlichung hat es eine bemerkenswerte Anzahl von Support-Gruppen für Künstler hervorgebracht, die sich der Praktizierung der darin enthaltenen Übungen verschrieben haben.
Zusammenfassung:
Mit der Behauptung, daß kreativer Ausdruck das natürliche Ziel des Lebens sei, präsentiert uns die bekannte Hollywood-Drehbuchautorin und -Regisseurin Julia Cameron eine aufregende Methode, mit der Künstler ihre Kreativität von einschränkenden Überzeugungen, Ängsten, Selbstsabotage, Eifersucht, Schuldgefühlen, Süchten und anderen Kräften befreien können, die den kreativen Prozeß hemmen. [via]
More editions of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity:
- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: ISBN 1585421472 (1-58542-147-2)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: ISBN 1585421464 (1-58542-146-4)
  Softcover, J P Tarcher
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The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
by Mark Bryan, Julia Cameron

ISBN 0874776945 (0-87477-694-5)
Softcover, Putnam Pub Group

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Book summary:
Dieser Titel ist in englischer Sprache.
Mit dem Grundprinzip, daß kreativer Ausdruck das natürliche Ziel des Lebens ist, führen Julia Cameron und Mark Bryan Sie durch ein umfassendes 12-Wochen-Programm, das Ihre Kreativität von einer ganzen Reihe von Hindernissen -- darunter einschränkende Überzeugungen, Ängste, Selbstsabotage, Eifersucht, Schuldgefühle, Süchte und andere hemmende Kräfte -- befreien und sie durch künstlerisches Zutrauen und Produktivität ersetzen soll.
Dieses Buch zeigt Ihnen, wie man mit den kreativen Energien des Universums in Verbindung tritt und so Kreativität und Spiritualität vereint. In den vier Jahren seit seiner Veröffentlichung hat es eine bemerkenswerte Anzahl von Support-Gruppen für Künstler hervorgebracht, die sich der Praktizierung der darin enthaltenen Übungen verschrieben haben.
Zusammenfassung:
Mit der Behauptung, daß kreativer Ausdruck das natürliche Ziel des Lebens sei, präsentiert uns die bekannte Hollywood-Drehbuchautorin und -Regisseurin Julia Cameron eine aufregende Methode, mit der Künstler ihre Kreativität von einschränkenden Überzeugungen, Ängsten, Selbstsabotage, Eifersucht, Schuldgefühlen, Süchten und anderen Kräften befreien können, die den kreativen Prozeß hemmen. [via]
More editions of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity:
- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: ISBN 0874778212 (0-87477-821-2)
  Hardcover, J P Tarcher
- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: ISBN 0874776945 (0-87477-694-5)
  Softcover, Putnam Pub Group
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The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon
by Julia Cameron, Catherine Allen, Mark A. Bryan

ISBN 0688166350 (0-688-16635-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
Adapting their techniques for fostering creativity as a means to spiritual fulfillment for the workplace, the authors of The Artist's Way at Work have shown that people can thrive at their jobs when they take time to nurture their spirit and listen to their thoughts. The book features psychological guidance, anecdotes, and exercises to assist the reader in sorting out the multitude of happenings, commitments, and choices in one's life. Again, these authors of the enormously successful The Artist's Way recommend their fundamental technique of "morning pages"--a kind of free-form journaling--to unravel thoughts and feelings, focus energy, and direct action. The beautiful surprise of this deceivingly simple exercise is that it actually works! It's making the time to do morning pages that's the real battle. But, if you, like so many others, feel swept up by the tidal wave of our fast-paced, noisy culture, then the authors' slow and steady steps toward reclaiming the spiritual self are invaluable. Some of the suggestions and exercises are a bit out of touch with the complex, and often emotionally-charged, political maneuverings of corporate culture, but the aim of cultivating an individual's ingenuity and resourcefulness is effective and expertly structured. Overall, the authors' philosophy boils down to change that begins with a constantly emerging self. With this book's help, you'll not only find how that new self spawns clarity and grace, but how widely their effects can reverberate throughout the workplace. --Karen Karleski [via]
More editions of The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon:
- The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon: ISBN 0688157882 (0-688-15788-2)
  Hardcover, Harpercollins
- The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon: ISBN 0688166350 (0-688-16635-0)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
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The Artist's Way Creativity Kit
by Julia Cameron

ISBN 0811826368 (0-8118-2636-8)
Hardcover, Chronicle Books Llc

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Book summary:
Like the book on which it is based, The Artist's Way Creativity Kit is an empowering tool for aspiring and working artists alike. The elements within this exquisite box are designed to encourage the establishment of a personal ritual surrounding your creative time. The words of Julia Cameron, author of the best-selling book The Artist's Way, will set you on your way. Inside you will find a contemplative writing journal featuring quotations from creative souls from Shakti Gawain to Leo Tolstoy on the nature of creativity and accompanying questions that allow you apply their wisdom to your life, 75 cards with creative tasks geared toward spontaneity and play, and a packet of sandalwood incense. [via]
More editions of The Artist's Way Creativity Kit:
- The Artist's Way Creativity Kit: ISBN 0811826368 (0-8118-2636-8)
  Hardcover, Chronicle Books Llc
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott

ISBN 0385480016 (0-385-48001-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading. [via]
More editions of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life:
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: ISBN 0679435204 (0-679-43520-4)
  Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: ISBN 0385480016 (0-385-48001-6)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing
by Laurie Rozakis

ISBN 1592572065 (1-59257-206-5)
Softcover, Alpha Books

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More editions of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing:
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing: ISBN 0028617347 (0-02-861734-7)
  Softcover, Alpha Books
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing: ISBN 1592572065 (1-59257-206-5)
  Softcover, Alpha Books
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Creating Fiction
by Julie Checkoway

ISBN 1884910513 (1-884910-51-3)
Softcover, F & W Pubns

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Book summary:
Readers will learn how to revise and edit from Jane Smiley. They will find ways to evoke time and place from Richard Russo. Charles Johnson offers a passionate discussion of the writer's apprenticeship. Lan Samantha Chang presents strategies for structuring stories. Charles Baxter explores tone and emphasis. The 24 contributors to Creating Fiction - members of the Associated Writing Programs - have won awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Magazine Award. The have led workshops, published stories and novels, and now their experience and wisdom can be found in one landmark book. Their sage advice, combined with more than 100 writing exercises, assure that Creating Fiction will engage and delight readers at any level of experience. [via]
More editions of Creating Fiction:
- Creating Fiction: ISBN 1884910513 (1-884910-51-3)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns
Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life
by Philip Gerard

ISBN 1884910432 (1-884910-43-2)
Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc

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Book summary:
In Creative Nonfiction, Philip Gerard offers would-be writers instruction and advice to help them create compelling nonfiction pieces. He uses one of his own pieces as an example, and takes the reader step by step through the writing process.' [via]
More editions of Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life:
- Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life: ISBN 1884910076 (1-884910-07-6)
  Hardcover, F & W Pubns
- Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life: ISBN 1884910432 (1-884910-43-2)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc
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The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Writers Share Advice and Exercises for Poetry and Prose
by Julia Bell, Paul Magrs

ISBN 0333782259 (0-333-78225-9)
Softcover, Macmillan Pub Ltd

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Book summary:
This coursebook takes aspiring authors through every stage of the writing process. Exercises and activities encourage writers to develop their skills, and contributions from forty authors provide a generous pool of information, experience, and advice. This book should be of interest to those who are just starting to write, as well as those who want some help honing work already completed. It should suit people writing for publication or just for their own pleasure, those writing on their own or in writing groups.
[via]
More editions of The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Writers Share Advice and Exercises for Poetry and Prose:
- The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Writers Share Advice and Exercises for Poetry and Prose: ISBN 0333782259 (0-333-78225-9)
  Softcover, Macmillan Pub Ltd
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The Elements of Style
by William Strunk, E. B. White, Maira Kalman

ISBN 1594200696 (1-59420-069-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered.This book's unique tone, wit and charm have conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing. [via]
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The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writers
by William Strunk

ISBN 097522980X (0-9752298-0-X)
Softcover, Kt Pub

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Book summary:
Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. [via]
More editions of The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writers:
- The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writers: ISBN 097522980X (0-9752298-0-X)
  Softcover, Kt Pub
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The Elements of Style With Index
by William Strunk

ISBN 0024182001 (0-02-418200-1)
Softcover, Prentice Hall

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Book summary:
Composition teachers throughout the English-speaking world have been pushing this book on their students since it was first published in 1957. Co-author White later revised it, and it remains the most compact and lucid handbook we have for matters of basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style. [via]
More editions of The Elements of Style With Index:
- The Elements of Style With Index: ISBN 0024182001 (0-02-418200-1)
  Softcover, Prentice Hall
Everyday Creative Writing: Panning for Gold in the Kitchen Sink
by Michael C. Smith, Suzanne Greenberg

ISBN 0844259004 (0-8442-5900-4)
Softcover, Ntc Pub Group

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Book summary:
This work leads students on an exploration of their everyday lives to find inspiration and ideas. Over forty invention exercises show students how to mine their creativity to find gold-creative writing gold-even in the murky bubbles of the kitchen sink. A variety of prewriting tools make it easy for students to dig in and get started, from freewriting and free association to puzzles and computer gaming. Invention exercises spark creativity by using experiences, behaviors, and objects that students are very familiar with, such as family, routines, work, travel, and romance. "Everyday Creative Writing" also shows students how to assess the quality of what they have written, and provides guidelines for submitting finished work for publication. [via]
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Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes
by Roberta Allen

ISBN 1884910270 (1-884910-27-0)
Hardcover, F & W Pubns

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Book summary:
Gather your writing utensils, set the timer to five minutes, and write a short short story. Do not think. Do not judge. Just write. You'll be amazed with what you come up with. The rest, says Roberta Allen, is merely a matter of rewriting and refining. There's something very appealing about the short short form (defined by critic Irving Howe as "a moment rendered in its wink of immediacy" and limited here to 1,000 words). As in poetry, every word and punctuation mark counts. Your characters' histories have to be delivered, if at all, with just a sliver of language. The form is elegant in the way a mathematical proof can be elegant--beautiful and economical--and the examples Allen uses, from the works of Anton Chekhov, Carolyn Forché, Mark Strand, and others, are sublime. (The examples from her students are less compelling, and one does tire of trying to keep her many students straight.)
The center section of the book comprises a nice selection of exercises to get you started. One involves writing stories from photographs; another has you choose one item from a list (such as "a broken promise," "something that was stolen," "a party," "something that hasn't happened yet," "a child," and "a secret") and write a story about it.
The third part of the book, in which Allen makes an argument for using her method to write a novel in five-minute bites, is shakier. Writing longer fiction generally requires some kind of flow that this method doesn't allow for. Using this method for that purpose would require that a lot of energy to be spent creating connective tissue. Even still, the five-minute method would be useful for tapping the unconscious, working through problem spots, and getting going in the morning. After all, doesn't that page look much more inviting once it has some words on it? [via]
More editions of Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes:
- Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes: ISBN 1884910270 (1-884910-27-0)
  Hardcover, F & W Pubns
Fiction Writer's Workshop
by Josip Novakovich

ISBN 1884910394 (1-884910-39-4)
Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc

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Book summary:
Master the Elements of the Writing Workshop

The great paradox of the writing life is that to be a good writer, you must be both interested in the world around you and comfortable working in solitude for hours on end. Fiction Writer's Workshop, Second Edition, is designed to help you foster a strong sense of independenceof being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-criticalin order to accomplish what others seek in classroom groups.

In this comprehensive guide, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich explores every aspect of the art of fiction and provides all the tools and techniques you'll need to develop day-to-day discipline as well as a personal writing style, such as:
- More than 100 writing exercises, including dozens that are new to this edition, that challenge you to experiment with diverse writing styles
- Specific statements of purpose for each exercise, to help guide you and instruct you at every step of the creative process
- Self-critique questions to help you assess your work and identify strengths and weaknesses before moving on to the next lesson
- The full text of eight acclaimed short stories, with analysis and exercises, to provide models for your own writing and help reinforce the lessons you've learned
The practical, insightful methods offered in this workshop will clarify your voice, broaden your perspective, and strengthen your fiction.
[via]
More editions of Fiction Writer's Workshop:
- Fiction Writer's Workshop: ISBN 1884910033 (1-884910-03-3)
  Hardcover, F & W Pubns
- Fiction Writer's Workshop: ISBN 1884910394 (1-884910-39-4)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc
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Holy Places & Temples of India
by John Howley

ISBN 0965385809 (0-9653858-0-9)
Softcover, Ten Speed Pr

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Book summary:
India has a vast array of cultures, religions and interests. But many people miss the real meaning and value of India-the spiritual side. This is not due to a lack of interest, but because it is difficult to find an easily understandable book on this subject. This book is different. It goes deeper into the heart of India-its spiritual side. What yogis and ascetics have been realizing for centuries. [via]
More editions of Holy Places & Temples of India:
- Holy Places & Temples of India: ISBN 0965385809 (0-9653858-0-9)
  Softcover, Ten Speed Pr
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How to Write a Damn Good Novel
by James N. Frey

ISBN 0312010443 (0-312-01044-3)
Hardcover, St Martins Pr

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Book summary:
Written in a clear, crisp, accessible style, this book is perfect for beginners as well as professional writers who need a crash course in the down-to-earth basics of storytelling. Talent and inspiration can't be taught, but Frey does provide scores of helpful suggestions and sensible rules and principles.

An international bestseller, How to Write a Damn Good Novel will enable all writers to face that intimidating first page, keep them on track when they falter, and help them recognize, analyze, and correct the problems in their own work.
[via]
More editions of How to Write a Damn Good Novel:
- How to Write a Damn Good Novel: ISBN 0312010443 (0-312-01044-3)
  Hardcover, St Martins Pr
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How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy
by Orson Scott Card

ISBN 158297103X (1-58297-103-X)
Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc

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Book summary:
Learn to write science fiction and fantasy from a master

You've always dreamed of writing science fiction and fantasy tales that pull readers into extraordinary new worlds and fantastic conflicts. Best-selling author Orson Scott Card shows you how it's done, distilling years of writing experience and publishing success into concise, no-nonsense advice. You'll learn how to:
- utilize story elements that define the science fiction and fantasy genres
- build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore
- develop the rules" of time, space and magic that affect your world and its inhabitants
- construct a compelling story by developing ideas, characters, and events that keep readers turning pages
- find the markets for speculative fiction, reach them, and get published
- submit queries, write cover letters, find an agent, and live the life of a writer
The boundaries of your imagination are infinite. Explore them with Orson Scott Card and create fiction that casts a spell over agents, publishers, and readers from every world.
" [via]
More editions of How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy:
- How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy: ISBN 158297103X (1-58297-103-X)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc
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How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
by Orson Scott Card

ISBN 0898794161 (0-89879-416-1)
Hardcover, F & W Pubns

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Book summary:
Orson Scott Card shares his advice on how to break into this field, how to develop fantastic story ideas, and evolve fresh plots. [via]
More editions of How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy:
- How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy: ISBN 0898794161 (0-89879-416-1)
  Hardcover, F & W Pubns
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If You Want to Write
by Brenda Ueland

ISBN 0915308940 (0-915308-94-0)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux

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Book summary:
This book so speaks to the contemporary writer that it is nearly impossible to believe that it was originally published in 1938. In If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland sets forth not just a philosophy about how to write or how to create, but also about how to live. Beginning writers will certainly be encouraged by Ueland's words, but even the most experienced have much to glean from Ueland's simple wisdom. "Everybody," writes Ueland in the opening chapter, "is talented, original, and has something important to say." Finding that something important involves embracing creative idleness ("the imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering"), freeing "what we really think, from what we think we ought to think," and "thumb[ing] your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters." One must think, she says, "of telling a story, not of writing it." And when revising one's writing, she advises, "do not try to think of better words, more gripping words.... It is not yet deeply enough imagined." Finally, "whenever you find yourself writing a single word or phrase or page dutifully and with boredom, then leave it out.... If what you write bores you, it will bore other people." And just because If You Want to Write is passionate, sincere, and even spiritual, do not think it is not also witty. One footnote bluntly declaims, "No doubt my terms would horrify a psychologist but I do not care at all." Elsewhere Ueland titles a chapter "Why Women Who Do Too Much Housework Should Neglect It for Their Writing." Amen, sister! [via]
More editions of If You Want to Write:
- If You Want to Write: ISBN 0915308940 (0-915308-94-0)
  Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
by Brenda Ueland

ISBN 1555972608 (1-55597-260-8)
Softcover, Graywolf Press

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Book summary:
This book so speaks to the contemporary writer that it is nearly impossible to believe that it was originally published in 1938. In If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland sets forth not just a philosophy about how to write or how to create, but also about how to live. Beginning writers will certainly be encouraged by Ueland's words, but even the most experienced have much to glean from Ueland's simple wisdom. "Everybody," writes Ueland in the opening chapter, "is talented, original, and has something important to say." Finding that something important involves embracing creative idleness ("the imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering"), freeing "what we really think, from what we think we ought to think," and "thumb[ing] your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters." One must think, she says, "of telling a story, not of writing it." And when revising one's writing, she advises, "do not try to think of better words, more gripping words.... It is not yet deeply enough imagined." Finally, "whenever you find yourself writing a single word or phrase or page dutifully and with boredom, then leave it out.... If what you write bores you, it will bore other people." And just because If You Want to Write is passionate, sincere, and even spiritual, do not think it is not also witty. One footnote bluntly declaims, "No doubt my terms would horrify a psychologist but I do not care at all." Elsewhere Ueland titles a chapter "Why Women Who Do Too Much Housework Should Neglect It for Their Writing." Amen, sister! [via]
More editions of If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit:
- If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit: ISBN 1555972608 (1-55597-260-8)
  Softcover, Graywolf Press
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Letters To A Young Artist: Building A Life In Art
by Julia Cameron

ISBN 1585424099 (1-58542-409-9)
Hardcover, J P Tarcher

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Book summary:
In the tradition of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, an original and inspiring work from the bestselling author of The Artist's Way.

Each month, Julia Cameron receives hundreds of letters and e-mails from people around the world who have read her classic work on developing creativity, The Artist's Way, and who long to engage in further dialogue with her.

This book provides Julia's thousands of admirers with just that intimacy and illumination. Written in the form of correspondence from a wise, more experienced artist to a young artist who is full of turbulent self-doubt, Letters to a Young Artist echoes the many conversations Cameron has with all of the artists whose lives she has touched with The Artist's Way.

In these haunting and eloquent letters, the writer answers questions that are central to the artist's journey: How do I know that I am truly an artist? How can I find encouragement? How can I keep moving despite my fear? A rare window into the heart of the creative process, Letters to a Young Artist is an inspiredvolume from this leading authority on creativity and art. [via]
More editions of Letters To A Young Artist: Building A Life In Art:
- Letters To A Young Artist: Building A Life In Art: ISBN 1585424099 (1-58542-409-9)
  Hardcover, J P Tarcher
Massive
by Julia Bell, Andrew Biscomb

ISBN 1416902074 (1-4169-0207-4)
Softcover, Simon Pulse

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- Massive: ISBN 1416902074 (1-4169-0207-4)
  Softcover, Simon Pulse
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The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Chris Van Allsburg

ISBN 0395827841 (0-395-82784-1)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin

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Book summary:
Fourteen black-and-white drawings, each accompanied by a title and a caption, entice readers to make up his or her own story.
[via]
More editions of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick:
- The Mysteries of Harris Burdick: ISBN 0395353939 (0-395-35393-9)
  Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
- The Mysteries of Harris Burdick: ISBN 0395827841 (0-395-82784-1)
  Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within
by Stephen Fry

ISBN 1592402488 (1-59240-248-8)
Hardcover, Gotham Books

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Book summary:
I have a dark and dreadful secret. I write poetry... I believe poetry is a primal impulse within all of us. I believe we are all capable of it and furthermore that a small, often ignored corner of us positively yearns to try it.
Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled

Stephen Fry believes that if one can speak and read English, one can write poetry. Many of us have never been taught to read or write poetry and think of it as a mysterious and intimidating form. Or, if we have been taught, we remember uncomfortable silence when an English teacher invited the class to "respond" to a poem. In The Ode Less Travelled, Fry sets out to correct this problem by giving aspiring poets the tools and confidence they need to write poetry for pleasure.
Fry is a wonderfully engaging teacher and writer of poetry himself, and he explains the various elements of poetry in simple terms, without condescension. His enjoyable exercises and witty insights introduce the concepts of Metre, Rhyme, Form, Diction, and Poetics. Aspiring poets will learn to write a sonnet, on ode, a villanelle, a ballad, and a haiku, among others. Along the way, he introduces us to poets we've heard of, but never read. The Ode Less Travelled is a lively celebration of poetry that makes even the most reluctant reader want to pick up a pencil and give it a try. [via]
More editions of The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within:
- The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within: ISBN 009179661X (0-09-179661-X)
  Hardcover, Hutchinson
- The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within: ISBN 1592402488 (1-59240-248-8)
  Hardcover, Gotham Books
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On Becoming a Novelist
by John Gardner

ISBN 0393320030 (0-393-32003-0)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
Picture the poor, young, serious-fiction writer. He toils alone at a pace not so different from that of Lincoln Tunnel traffic at rush hour in New York. His spouse has a "real" job, or perhaps he has a trust fund. His college friends are cashing in on their dot-coms and wondering if he's ever going to join the real world. He is not hell-bent on publication; he is trying to write "serious, honest fiction, the kind of novel that readers will find they enjoy reading more than once, the kind of fiction likely to survive." He's likely to have no idea whether he's succeeding. Nobody understands him.
Well, almost nobody. John Gardner understands him. Gardner's sympathetic On Becoming a Novelist is the novelist's ultimate comfort food--better than macaroni and cheese, better than chocolate. Gardner, a fiction writer himself (Grendel), knows in his bones the desperate questioning of a writer who's not sure he's up to the task. He recognizes the validation that comes with being published, just as he believes that "for a true novel there is generally no substitute for slow, slow baking." Gardner also has strong feelings about what kinds of workshops help (and whom they help), and what kinds hinder. But a full half of Gardner's book is devoted to an exploration of the writer's nature. The storyteller's intelligence, he says, "is composed of several qualities, most of which, in normal people, are signs of either immaturity or incivility." In addition, a writer needs "verbal sensitivity, accuracy of eye," and "an almost demonic compulsiveness." But wait--there's more. A writer needs to be driven, and to be driven, he says insightfully, "a psychological wound is helpful." --Jane Steinberg [via]
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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen King

ISBN 1416549862 (1-4165-4986-2)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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Book summary:
Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."
King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.
King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo [via]
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Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words
by Susan Wooldridge

ISBN 0609800981 (0-609-80098-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Poemcrazy is the poetic analog to Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird or Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, two classic works on how to forget that you "can't write" and just start the pen moving. Susan Wooldridge is a swimming instructor in the wide ocean of language, encouraging us to move ever farther from the shore, dive deep, and dance on the waves. [via]
More editions of Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words:
- Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words: ISBN 051770370X (0-517-70370-X)
  Hardcover, Random House Inc
- Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words: ISBN 0609800981 (0-609-80098-1)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
by Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio

ISBN 0393316548 (0-393-31654-8)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
"We wanted to create a book," say poets Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux in their introduction to The Poet's Companion, "that would focus on both craft and process." The book they have created is an impassioned exploration of poetry writing that addresses subject matter, craft, and the writing life. The reigning wisdom is that poets, like other creative writers, should write what they know. "The trick," say the authors, "is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language." Elsewhere they add that, while "as poets, we need to write from our experience ... that experience may be mental, emotional, and imaginative as well as physical."
Addonizio and Laux are lively spokespersons for the poet's life; they pepper their thoughts with well-chosen poems from their contemporaries--including David Bottoms, Jack Gilbert, Linda Gregg, and Jane Kenyon--and they conclude each short chapter with an invigorating collection of ideas for writing. These "ideas" culminate in a terrific section of writing exercises at book's end: write a poem describing "your most acutely embarrassing moment"; "write a poem of praise for an unlikely group of people, things, ideas"; "write a poem about the last time you saw a loved one you lost." I found myself a bit frustrated by the brevity of the discussions (most chapters are under 10 pages) and a bit put off by the first person plural narrative (do Addonizio and Laux really agree on everything they say they agree on?), but these are mere quibbles. This is a fine book indeed. --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry:
- The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry: ISBN 0393316548 (0-393-31654-8)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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A Poetry Handbook
by Mary Oliver

ISBN 0156724006 (0-15-672400-6)
Softcover, Harcourt

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Book summary:
This slender guide by Mary Oliver deserves a place on the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms (and lack thereof), tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of wonderful poems (too bad Oliver was so modest as to not include her own). What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver's passion for her subject, which she describes as "a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." One comes away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is good, hard work. [via]
More editions of A Poetry Handbook:
- A Poetry Handbook: ISBN 0156724006 (0-15-672400-6)
  Softcover, Harcourt
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The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach
by Robin Behn, Chase Twichell

ISBN 006273024X (0-06-273024-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry-writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels.
[via]
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- The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach: ISBN 0062715070 (0-06-271507-0)
  Hardcover, HarperPerennial
- The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach: ISBN 006273024X (0-06-273024-X)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
by Francine Prose

ISBN 0060777052 (0-06-077705-2)
Softcover, Perennial

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More editions of Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them:
- Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them: ISBN 0060777044 (0-06-077704-4)
  Hardcover, Harpercollins
- Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them: ISBN 0060777052 (0-06-077705-2)
  Softcover, Perennial
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The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life
by Julia Cameron

ISBN 1585420093 (1-58542-009-3)
Softcover, J P Tarcher

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Book summary:
Writing, for Julia Cameron, is neither solely vocation nor avocation: it is a way of life. It comes first thing in the morning, while the horses are waiting to be fed; it happens at the kitchen counter, while the onions are sautéing; it takes place on "dates" at café tables shared with likeminded friends; it unfurls in the mind as the '65 pickup "bucks over the rutted dirt roads like a stiff-legged bronco." The more than 40 brief personal essays that make up The Right to Write are an unyielding affirmation of the writing life and a denigration of all that gets in the way: busy schedules, procrastination, insecurity, lack of writing space, a day job--you get the point. Cameron's commonsense advice is liberating to anyone who has felt hampered by making a big deal out of writing (this "tends to make writing difficult. Keeping writing casual tends to keep it possible"), by not having the time to write ("Get aggressive. Steal time"), or the like. If you find a spirit that compares writing to revelation, prayer, and Zen pursuits, that might just attribute misguided communication to Mercury retrograde simpatico, then you will find much to embrace here. And you will never, never again dream of waiting for that commitment-free sabbatical in the south of France to get your writing project under way. --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life:
- The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life: ISBN 0874779375 (0-87477-937-5)
  Hardcover, J P Tarcher
- The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life: ISBN 1585420093 (1-58542-009-3)
  Softcover, J P Tarcher
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Scene and Structure
by Jack M. Bickham

ISBN 0898799066 (0-89879-906-6)
Softcover, F & W Pubns

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Book summary:
Craft your fiction with scene-by-scene flow, logic and readability.

An imprisoned man receives an unexpected caller, after which everything changed..."

And the reader is hooked. But whether or not readers will stay on for the entire wild ride will depend on how well the writer structures the story, scene by scene.

This book is your game plan for success. Using dozens of examples from his own work - including Dropshot, Tiebreaker and other popular novels - Jack M. Bickham will guide you in building a sturdy framework for your novel, whatever its form or length. You'll learn how to:
- "worry" your readers into following your story to the end
- prolong your main character's struggle while moving the story ahead
- juggle cause and effect to serve your story action
As you work on crafting compelling scenes that move the reader, moment by moment, toward the story's resolution, you'll see why...
- believable fiction must make more sense than real life
- every scene should end in disaster
- some scenes should be condensed, and others built big
Whatever your story, this book can help you arrive at a happy ending in the company of satisfied readers.
" [via]
More editions of Scene and Structure:
- Scene and Structure: ISBN 0898795516 (0-89879-551-6)
  Hardcover, F & W Publications, Incorporated
- Scene and Structure: ISBN 0898799066 (0-89879-906-6)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns
Turning Life into Fiction
by Robin Hemley

ISBN 1884910378 (1-884910-37-8)
Softcover, F & W Pubns

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More editions of Turning Life into Fiction:
- Turning Life into Fiction: ISBN 1884910009 (1-884910-00-9)
  Hardcover, F & W Pubns
- Turning Life into Fiction: ISBN 1884910378 (1-884910-37-8)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns
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The West: Encounters And Transformations to 1550
by Michael Maas, Meredith Veldman, Edward Muir, Brian Levack

ISBN 0321384148 (0-321-38414-8)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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Book summary:
The West: Encounters & Transformations takes a new approach to telling the story of Western Civilization. Rather than looking at Western Civilization only as the history of Europe from ancient times to the present, this groundbreaking book examines the changing nature of the Westhow the definition of the West has evolved and transformed throughout history.

The West explores the ways Western civilization has changed as a result of cultural encounters with different beliefs, ideas, technologies, and peoples, both outside the West and within it. Presenting a balanced treatment of political, social, religious, and cultural history, this text emphasizes the ever-shifting boundaries of the geographic and cultural realm of the West.
[via]
More editions of The West: Encounters And Transformations to 1550:
- The West: Encounters And Transformations to 1550: ISBN 0321384148 (0-321-38414-8)
  Softcover, Longman Pub Group
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Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life
by Natalie Goldberg

ISBN 0553347756 (0-553-34775-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life [Paperback] by Goldberg, Natalie [via]
More editions of Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life:
- Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life: ISBN 0553347756 (0-553-34775-6)
  Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Write Away
by Elizabeth George

ISBN 0060560444 (0-06-056044-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
An inspiring template for any would-be author of fiction from one of the most successful writers of crime fiction in the world [via]
More editions of Write Away:
- Write Away: ISBN 0060560428 (0-06-056042-8)
  Hardcover, Harpercollins
- Write Away: ISBN 0060560444 (0-06-056044-4)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
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A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life
by Judith Reeves

ISBN 1577311000 (1-57731-100-0)
Softcover, New World Library

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Book summary:
Musicians practice. Athletes practice. And so, too, argues Judy Reeves, should writers practice. Her Writer's Book of Days provides a "writing prompt" for each day of the year, and then some: "Write about a time someone said yes"; "Write about leaving"; "Something seemed different." The more you practice, says Reeves, the more you write. And writing from a prompt, she adds, is like having "someone provid[e] the music when you want to dance." The prompts are the backbone of this book, but its pages are fleshed out with advice, inspiration, quotations from writers, encouragement, and a profusion of literary tidbits. Write from the sense, Reeves recommends. Audition words. Take risks. And when all else fails, amuse yourself with these astonishing tidbits from literary lives: T.S. Eliot, we learn, preferred writing with a head cold; Flaubert kept his lover's slippers and mittens in his desk drawer; and Friedrich von Schiller liked to invoke his muse by sniffing rotten apples. --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life:
- A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life: ISBN 1577311000 (1-57731-100-0)
  Softcover, New World Library
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The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters
by Christopher Vogler

ISBN 0941188132 (0-941188-13-2)
Softcover, Ingram Pub Services

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Book summary:
Christopher Vogler has served as a studio folklore specialist, and here comes up with a book that is, in one regard, much like the screenplays it seeks to strengthen: it's derived from other sources! An acknowledged distillation of, and meditation on, the work of Joseph Campbell, The Writer's Journey approaches the storyteller's craft as one of recounting the hero's mythic journey, replete with roadblocks and life lessons. But why the unspoken assent that movies hew to this structure, when we don't demand the same of plays or books? Could it be that the collective viewing of films is one of our last tribal rituals? [via]
More editions of The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters:
- The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters: ISBN 0941188132 (0-941188-13-2)
  Softcover, Ingram Pub Services
The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
by Christopher Vogler

ISBN 0941188701 (0-941188-70-1)
Softcover, Ingram Pub Services

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More editions of The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers:
- The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers: ISBN 0941188701 (0-941188-70-1)
  Softcover, Ingram Pub Services
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Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times
by John Darnton

ISBN 0805070850 (0-8050-7085-0)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co

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Book summary:
After 30 years as a journalist, John Darnton decided to try his hand at writing a novel. If he wrote 1,000 words a day, he discovered, he'd have a book in a matter of months. But wouldn't it be nice to learn a few tricks of the trade from other writers as well? Thus was born The New York Times's Monday-morning Writers on Writing series. In embarking on the series, says Darnton, he learned that the writers he most wanted to hear from were not necessarily the same ones who most wanted to hear from him. But there couldn't have been too many who turned him down. The 46 columns collected in Writers on Writing are by the likes of Saul Bellow, Mary Gordon, David Mamet, Annie Proulx, Carol Shields, and Paul West. Though many of them have not much more than the occupation "writer" in common, Darnton says that in one way he found them all to be alike: "They wanted to hear, right away, what you thought of their work."
Here, Richard Ford explains why he finds not writing to be a terrific thing. Alice Hoffman describes the effect illness (her own and that of others) has had on her work. Barbara Kingsolver grapples with writing an "unchaste" novel. Louise Erdrich explores the effect a second language, Ojibwe in her case, can have on one's involvement with the first. And Russell Banks learns the hard way that "when you meet a witness to your distant past, your memory tends to improve." The most hilarious piece is Carolyn Chute's "How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call?" In it, she describes one day, in which "X-rated stuff happens," the cuckoo clock goes off incessantly, dirty dishes beckon, political cohorts come calling, a dog has a couple of seizures, laundry needs doing, and guests constantly arrive. Once Chute finally does get down to writing, the "n" breaks off the daisy wheel. But at least the phone doesn't ring. "Its bell is broken. It never rings. Thank heavens." --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times:
- Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times: ISBN 0805070850 (0-8050-7085-0)
  Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times
by New York Times Staff, John Darnton

ISBN 0805067418 (0-8050-6741-8)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

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Book summary:
After 30 years as a journalist, John Darnton decided to try his hand at writing a novel. If he wrote 1,000 words a day, he discovered, he'd have a book in a matter of months. But wouldn't it be nice to learn a few tricks of the trade from other writers as well? Thus was born The New York Times's Monday-morning Writers on Writing series. In embarking on the series, says Darnton, he learned that the writers he most wanted to hear from were not necessarily the same ones who most wanted to hear from him. But there couldn't have been too many who turned him down. The 46 columns collected in Writers on Writing are by the likes of Saul Bellow, Mary Gordon, David Mamet, Annie Proulx, Carol Shields, and Paul West. Though many of them have not much more than the occupation "writer" in common, Darnton says that in one way he found them all to be alike: "They wanted to hear, right away, what you thought of their work."
Here, Richard Ford explains why he finds not writing to be a terrific thing. Alice Hoffman describes the effect illness (her own and that of others) has had on her work. Barbara Kingsolver grapples with writing an "unchaste" novel. Louise Erdrich explores the effect a second language, Ojibwe in her case, can have on one's involvement with the first. And Russell Banks learns the hard way that "when you meet a witness to your distant past, your memory tends to improve." The most hilarious piece is Carolyn Chute's "How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call?" In it, she describes one day, in which "X-rated stuff happens," the cuckoo clock goes off incessantly, dirty dishes beckon, political cohorts come calling, a dog has a couple of seizures, laundry needs doing, and guests constantly arrive. Once Chute finally does get down to writing, the "n" breaks off the daisy wheel. But at least the phone doesn't ring. "Its bell is broken. It never rings. Thank heavens." --Jane Steinberg [via]
More editions of Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times:
- Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times: ISBN 0805067418 (0-8050-6741-8)
  Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry
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Writers on Writing Vol. II: More Collected Essays from the New York Times
by New York Times Staff, Jane Smiley

ISBN 0805073612 (0-8050-7361-2)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

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Book summary:
Todays most celebrated writers explore the literary life in a second collection of inspiring and eye-opening essays

In a second volume of original essays drawn from the long-running New York Times column, Writers on Writing brings together another group of contemporary literatures finest voices to muse on the challenges and gifts of language and creativity.

The pieces ranges from taciturn, hilarious advice for aspiring writers to thoughtful, soul-wrenching reflections on writing in the midst of national tragedy. William Kennedy talks about the intersecting lives of real and imagined Albany politics; Susan Isaacs reveals her nostalgia for a long-retired protaganist; and Elmore Leonard offers pithy rules for letting the writing, and not the writer, take charge. Writers on Writing offers an uncommon and revealing view of the writers world.

Contributors include Diane Ackerman, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Geraldine Brooks, Frank Conroy, Chitra Divakaruni, Allegra Goodman, Kathryn Harrison, Mary Karr, Patrick McGrath, Arthur Miller, P. J. ORourke, Anna Quinlan, Amy Tan, and Edmund White.
[via]
More editions of Writers on Writing Vol. II: More Collected Essays from the New York Times:
- Writers on Writing Vol. II: More Collected Essays from the New York Times: ISBN 0805073612 (0-8050-7361-2)
  Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry
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Writing Dialogue
by Tom Chiarella

ISBN 1884910327 (1-884910-32-7)
Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc

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Book summary:
Whether you're writing an argument, a love scene, a powwow among sixth graders or scientists in a lab, this book demonstrates how to write dialogue that sounds authentic and original.
&break;&break;You'll learn ways to find ideas for literary discussions by tuning in to what you hear every day. You'll learn to use gestures instead of speech, to insert silences that are as effective as outbursts, to add shifts in tone, and other strategies for making conversations more compelling. Nuts and bolts are covered, too - formatting, punctuation, dialogue tags - everything you need to get your characters talking. [via]
More editions of Writing Dialogue:
- Writing Dialogue: ISBN 1884910327 (1-884910-32-7)
  Softcover, F & W Pubns Inc
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Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg

ISBN 1590302613 (1-59030-261-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Wherein we discover that many of the "rules" for good writing and good sex are the same: Keep your hand moving, lose control and don't think. Goldberg brings a touch of both Zen and well... *eroticism* to her writing practice, the latter in exercises and anecdotes designed to ease you into your body, your whole spirit, while you create, the former in being where you are, working with what you have, and writing from the moment. --Ali Perry-Gallagher [via]
More editions of Writing Down the Bones:
- Writing Down the Bones: ISBN 1590302613 (1-59030-261-3)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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Writing down the Bones : Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg

ISBN 1590303164 (1-59030-316-4)
Softcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated

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Book summary:
Wherein we discover that many of the "rules" for good writing and good sex are the same: Keep your hand moving, lose control and don't think. Goldberg brings a touch of both Zen and well... *eroticism* to her writing practice, the latter in exercises and anecdotes designed to ease you into your body, your whole spirit, while you create, the former in being where you are, working with what you have, and writing from the moment. --Ali Perry-Gallagher [via]
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Writing Fiction
by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French

ISBN 0321277368 (0-321-27736-8)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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Book summary:
This comprehensive, informal, practical guide/anthology approaches the elements of fiction from the writer's point of view. Writing Fiction, 5/e, includes freewriting to revision, addressing how writers must work through problems in plot, style, characterization, dialogue, atmosphere, imagery, and point of view to write exciting and fresh stories. The tone of this market-leading text is non-prescriptive and personal, helping students feel comfortable with themselves and their writing. [via]
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Writing the Natural Way: Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Powers
by Gabriele Lusser Rico

ISBN 0874779618 (0-87477-961-8)
Softcover, J P Tarcher

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Book summary:
Shows all writers how effective writing can be as natural as telling a story to a friend, and as easy as daydreaming. [via]
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Writing Without the Muse: 50 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer
by Beth Joselow

ISBN 188526612X (1-885266-12-X)
Softcover, Story Line Pr

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Book summary:
The muse, like any capricious artist, can't always be relied upon to be there when you need her. Teacher and poet Joselow provides a slim but effective volume of 50 exercises designed to jump-start your inspiration and get your imagination kicking on all eight cylinders--or flowing like water freed from a dam. Pick your metaphor: you'll have plenty to choose from once this book gets your writing fingers going. [via]
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- Writing Without the Muse: 50 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer: ISBN 188526612X (1-885266-12-X)
  Softcover, Story Line Pr
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Writing Without the Muse: 60 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer
by Beth Joselow

ISBN 1885266731 (1-885266-73-1)
Softcover, Story Line Pr

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› Find signed collectible books: 'Writing Without the Muse: 60 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer'
Book summary:
The muse, like any capricious artist, can't always be relied upon to be there when you need her. Teacher and poet Joselow provides a slim but effective volume of 50 exercises designed to jump-start your inspiration and get your imagination kicking on all eight cylinders--or flowing like water freed from a dam. Pick your metaphor: you'll have plenty to choose from once this book gets your writing fingers going. [via]
More editions of Writing Without the Muse: 60 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer:
- Writing Without the Muse: 60 Beginning Exercises for the Creative Writer: ISBN 1885266731 (1-885266-73-1)
  Softcover, Story Line Pr
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Zen in the Art of Writing
by Ray Bradbury

ISBN 1877741094 (1-877741-09-4)
Softcover, Joshua Odell Editions

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Book summary:
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. Here are practical tips on the art of writing from a master of the craft-everything from finding original ideas to developing your own voice and style-as well as the inside story of Bradbury's own remarkable career as a prolific author of novels, stories, poems, films, and plays. Zen In The Art Of Writing is more than just a how-to manual for the would-be writer: it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. In it, Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one subject: your own life. [via]
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