Research Fiction

In this book, I'll reveal the powerful techniques employed by best-selling authors, and I'll show you how to apply them to rivet your readers. I'll start with the basics of Point of View - if you're already familiar with the concept, you can treat them as a refresher - and then guide you to advanced strategies for taking your reader deep.

Publishing veteran and best-selling author J. Thorn reveals his proven system for writing delicious scenes based on his legendary "Supercharge Your Scene" challenge successfully completed by thousands of authors. This tight yet comprehensive book teaches you what you absolutely must know about writing snappy scenes, whether you're a plotter or pantser, short story dynamo or lifelong novelist, rock star indie or a trad pub professional. Developed from decades of classroom experience and used to revise millions of words, Thorn teaches you how to use simple tools to master your craft.

Go to the heart of your world and build it well! Memorable world-building enhances story, attracts readers and listeners, and sells books and audiobooks! Find the core of your science fiction or fantasy people and instill your narrative with universal themes and concepts derived from real-world cultures. World-Building from the Inside Out challenges you to go deep and build fantastical worlds that truly bring your story to life!

In a research hangar in Virginia, a Unit 51 team studies an ancient but long-dormant virus that can transform human physiology - and turn it into something else.... In the Amazon rain forest, a newly evolving life form known as Subject Z acquires the ability to think conceptually, build elaborate traps, create new carriers - and spawn a new race....

Crime Writing 101 is the ultimate toolkit for fiction writers who want to create a thrilling, suspenseful, and unpausable murder mystery. This comprehensive guide is the book you need to listen to before you sit down to write.

Alexander Chee, an essayist of “virtuosity and power” (Washington Post), selects twenty essays out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

Spring is livening up Briar Creek after a long, cold winter, and newlyweds Lindsey and Sully could not be happier. Even though the upcoming mayoral election is getting heated, everything else in town is coming up daffodils...until a body is found. Ms. Cole, a librarian and current candidate for town mayor, is shocked when she opens her trunk to discover a murder victim who just so happens to be a guy she dated 40 years ago and the founder of the baking empire Nana's Cookies.

A mysterious object has appeared out in the snow. Gibbs and Cline are mesmerized. They can’t discern its exact shape and color, nor if it’s moving or fixed in place. But it is there. Isn’t it? Whatever it might be, Hart thinks the thing in the snow is an unwelcome distraction, and probably a huge waste of time. Though, come to think of it, time itself has been a bit wonky lately. Weekends pass in a blur, and he can hardly tell day from night. Gravity seems less-than-reliable. The lights have been flickering weirdly, and he feels an odd thrumming sensation in his beard.

Have you had intimate fantasies or simmering plotlines you've wanted to write but weren't sure how or where to start? Let renowned erotica author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel show you how to turn those fragments into fully fleshed out erotic stories, novellas, and novels. In this guide, Bussel takes her twenty plus years of experience in the genre and walks writers through the ins and outs of erotic writing.

This CliffsNotes study guide on George Orwell's 1984 supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read 1984. Reading a literary work doesn’t mean that you immediately grasp the major themes and devices used by the author....

Point of view is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's kit, but it's also one of the hardest to understand and master. In this book, Sandra Gerth draws on her experience as an editor and a best-selling author to teach you how to handle point of view in a way that will make your readers identify with your main character, draw them into the story, and keep them captivated until the very last page. The book provides concrete examples and exercises that will hone your writing skills, whether you're a novice writer working on her first story or an established author.

As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman hears thousands of book pitches a year. Often the stories sound great in concept, but never live up to their potential on the page. Lukeman shows beginning and advanced writers how to implement the fundamentals of successful plot development, such as character building and heightened suspense and conflict. Writers will find it impossible to walk away from this invaluable guide - a veritable fiction-writing workshop - without boundless new ideas.

Writing historical fiction involves more than taking a story and substituting carriages for cars. The historical novelist must do her best to understand the mind-set of the people she writes about, even while she explores the timeless and universal desires common to human beings of every time and place. This book describes historical fiction, tells the writer how to research, construct an authentic historic story world, and make the reader feel as though he or she is in the midst of the action.

The best way to answer these questions is to ditch your uncertainty and transform yourself into a kick-ass writer. This new book from award-winning author Chuck Wendig combines the best of his eye-opening writing instruction - previously available in e-book form only - with all-new insights into writing and publishing. It's an explosive broadside of gritty advice that will destroy your fears, clear the path, and help you find your voice, your story, and your audience.

If you ever dreamt of writing a full-length fiction and stopped yourself because it is either too much work or too much skill, this book is for you. No motivational content; the book is to the point. It is a step-by-step guide with examples to help you learn the important elements of a fiction separately. Once you have developed command on the individual elements, you can take all the pieces together and join them to develop the plot as described in the book.

Kundera brilliantly examines the work of such important and diverse figures as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoy, and Musil. He is especially penetrating on Hermann Broch, and his exploration of the world of Kafka's novels vividly reveals the comic terror of Kafka's bureaucratized universe. Kundera's discussion of his own work includes his views on the role of historical events in fiction, the meaning of action, and the creation of character in the postpsychological novel.

The CliffsNotes study guide on Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and critical commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work.

This CliffsNotes study guide on William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read Julius Caesar.

Fictional worlds are the perfect place to lose yourself, whether it be a fantastical dreamland or an alternate universe. But to captivate an audience, you need the right tools to set their imaginations free. And in Writing with Soft Worldbuilding, you will be given those tools to write amazing books using the easy, unique way of worldbuilding. If you want to create a story that will live inside your readers’ minds forever, then you need to get this book. Get your copy today and transform simple stories that are read into worlds that readers experience!

Learn the inner secrets of selling fiction to an ever-increasing audience of readers! Bestselling author and writing coach James Scott Bell brings you powerhouse techniques and strategies in this collection, much of which is from his popular posts at The Kill Zone blog. If you're serious about selling your fiction, Fiction Attack! is your battle plan for breakthrough.