Research Writing

On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner's distinguished twenty-year career as a fiction writer and creative writing teacher. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot.

For nearly two centuries, the authorship of William Shakespeare's plays has been challenged by writers and artists as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Henry James, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, Malcolm X, and Sir Derek Jacobi. How could a young man from rural Warwickshire, lacking a university education, write some of the greatest works in the English language?

Dynamic dialogue can turn an otherwise ordinary novel into a delightful read, but dull, uninspired dialogue will cause readers to lose interest and try something else. In this book, bestselling author William Bernhardt, renowned for his handling of dialogue, explains his techniques for making characters come to life through their words. He explains the importance of matching character and dialogue, of avoiding dialogue that's “on-the-nose,” and the value of using dialogue to suggest what no one will say aloud.

A day-by-day guide to help aspiring writers through the process of getting the first draft of a novel or memoir onto the page, The 90-Day Novel was workshopped at LA Writers' Lab over the course of 10 years and has helped thousands of writers complete their work.

For those unfamiliar with copywriting, this article will provide an overview of the subject and explain why it is in such great demand today. The field of copywriting is vast and growing at a rapid pace. Copywriting can be defined as the process of presenting a creative message to a consumer. According to the book Copywriting, copywriting is founded on three essential ideas. When writing to a consumer, there must be some level of interaction between the customer and the vendor. You must then ensure that you communicate the benefits to the buyer up to the point of purchase.

In their 2014 best seller, Write. Publish. Repeat, authors Platt and Truant told a generation of indies the path to self-publishing success. In this long-awaited follow-up, they'll tell you what they've learned since, plus all the fiction-specific stuff they didn't include the first time around.

A passionate and inspiring guide to creating a life built around the creative process. This groundbreaking new work from the best-selling author of The Artist's Way, guides listeners in creating a vision for their lives in which art and life are inextricably linked. According to Julia Cameron, when we allow our creative spirit to serve as our compass, we discover that the art we have always longed to create is suddenly within our grasp. In The Creative Life, Cameron shows listeners how to use their creative hearts and minds to cultivate lives that nourish and sustain their art.

Through turbulent times, stories keep us afloat. Books, particularly, console and guide us, feed our souls and open our eyes to worlds, possibilities and experiences we have never considered before. Many of us have been self-medicating with books for years without identifying the practice as ‘bibliotherapy’. Celebrate the positive impact books can have on our lives with this collection of carefully curated suggestions for each life stage.

The goal of this book is simple: Help you write faster and at a higher quality. Let's face it, if you're in business for yourself - an author, speaker or trainer, coach, consultant, or entrepreneur, or if you realize the great need for large quantities of fantastic content fast - then you need to know how to speed write. It goes without saying that if you're a writer or publisher and you can already crank out content at a brisk clip, even a small increase in production can give you a slight edge.

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!

Learning how to write your first novel can be overwhelming. You have to master outlining, writing, revising, and so much more...and it can be scary if you've never done it before. While it seems daunting, writing your first novel is simple when you have someone experienced to help you through it. In this writer’s guide, prolific writer M.L. Ronn shares an easy step-by-step process of writing compelling fiction that he's perfected after writing over 40 books.

Best-selling author Elizabeth George has spent years teaching writing, and in Write Away, she shares her knowledge of the creative process. George combines clear, intelligent, and functional advice on fiction writing with anecdotes from her own life, the story of her journey to publication, and inside information on how she meticulously researches and writes her novels.

Regina Martínez was no stranger to retaliation. A journalist out of Mexico’s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Regina's stories for the magazine Proceso laid out the corruption and abuse underlying Mexican politics. She was barred from press conferences, and copies of Proceso often disappeared before they made the newsstands. In 2012, shortly after Proceso published an article on corruption and two Veracruz politicians, and the magazine went missing once again, she was bludgeoned to death in her bathroom. The message was clear: No journalist in Mexico was safe.

Today's writers need more spunk than Strunk: whether it's the Great American email, Madison Avenue advertising, or Grammy Award-winning rap lyrics, memorable writing must jump off the page. Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone. With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Syntax covers grammar's ground rules while revealing countless unconventional syntax secrets that make for sinfully good writing.

Have you written a book that just isn't selling? Would you like to write a book that readers eagerly devour? Many authors write then market. Successful authors write to market. They start by figuring out how to give readers what they want, and that process begins before writing word one of your novel. This book will teach you to analyze your favorite genre to discover what readers are buying, to mine reviews for reader expectations, and to nail the tropes your readers subconsciously crave.

Readability, aesthetics, and argumentation are intertwined. Ryan McCarl shows how litigation documents that are easier and more pleasant to read are more likely to persuade judges and other busy readers. The book also discusses parts of legal writing that many guides overlook, including sentence mechanics, writing technology, and typography.

Over her four decades of working in newsrooms big and small, Margaret Sullivan has become a trusted champion and critic of the American news media. In this bracing memoir, Sullivan traces her life in journalism and how trust in the mainstream press has steadily eroded.

Ranging widely from Homer to David Foster Wallace, from What Maisie Knew to Make Way for Ducklings, Wood takes the reader through the basic elements of the art, step by step. He sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision, resulting in nothing less than a philosophy of the novel, which has won critical acclaim nationwide, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times Book Review.

With over 50 guided questions organized into sections about your childhood years, teen years, young adulthood, and later years to help track your life story and leave a legacy. This journal offers an excellent means to preserve memories and discovers hidden aspects of yourself and your journey. Here is the tool to help you write your life history, to encourage and inspire others with your stories.

While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming - the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they're dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren't just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma.