Creative Writing For Dummies.
Title:
Creative Writing For Dummies.
Author:
Hamand, Maggie.
ISBN:
9781119992424
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (386 pages)
Series:
For dummies
Contents:
About the Author -- Contents at a Glance -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- How to Use This Book -- Foolish Assumptions -- Conventions Used in This Book -- How This Book Is Organised -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part I: Getting Started -- Chapter 1: You and Your Writing -- Writing as Well as You Can -- Examining Why You Want to Write -- Identifying the Kind of Writing You Want to Do -- Discovering Your Own Specific Talent -- Practising Your Writing -- Overcoming Obstacles -- Letting the Ideas Come -- Offering Tips for New Writers -- Playing with Words -- Chapter 2: Getting into the Write Mind -- Finding a Time to Write -- Writing in a Room of Your Own -- Assembling Your Writing Tools -- Avoiding Distractions -- Overcoming the Blank Page Syndrome -- Separating Drafting and Editing -- Developing a Routine and Sticking to It -- Learning to Live with a Degree of Chaos -- Chapter 3: Finding Material to Work With -- Writing from Experience -- Engaging Emotions -- Taking a Step Back -- Trying Techniques to Transform Your Experiences -- Part II: Introducing the Elements of Creative Writing -- Chapter 4: Creating Characters -- Defining Different Kinds of Characters -- Discovering Where Characters Come From -- Detailing Clues about Your Characters -- Portraying Personality -- Revealing Character Indirectly -- Avoiding Stereotypes and Tapping into Archetypes -- Chapter 5: Discovering Dialogue -- Remembering that Dialogue a Two-Way Street -- Distinguishing Voices -- Talking in Varied Situations -- Creating a Dynamic -- Revealing the Subtext -- Using Accents and Dialect -- Laying Out Dialogue -- Chapter 6: Choosing a Narrator -- Defining Voices -- Finding the Right Point of View -- Deciding How Close to Be to the Character -- Handling Multiple Narrators -- Chapter 7: Describing Your World.
Recognising the Power of Description -- Using All the Senses -- Employing the Tools of Description -- Creating a Sense of Place -- Creating Mood and Suspense -- Chapter 8: Plotting Your Way -- Listing the Seven Basic Plots -- Plotting Consciously and Unconsciously -- Asking the Central Question and Including the Essential Elements -- Hooking Your Reader -- Chapter 9: Creating a Structure -- Dividing Your Work into Chapters and Parts -- Following the Three-Act Structure -- Writing within a Timeframe -- Chapter 10: Rewriting and Editing -- Producing the First Draft -- Becoming Your Own Editor -- Finding a Trusted Reader -- Part III: Writing Fiction -- Chapter 11: When Less is More: Crafting Short Stories -- Defining the Short Story -- Writing the Short Story -- Exploring Short-Story Genres -- Finding Story Ideas -- Entering Short-Story Competitions -- Finding an Outlet for Your Short Fiction -- Growing a Story into a Novella -- Chapter 12: Writing the Novel -- Aspiring to the Literary Novel -- Writing Commercial Fiction -- Chapter 13: Once Upon a Time: Writing for Children -- Dispelling the 'It's Easy to Write for Kids' Myth -- Before Schooling Begins: Writing for the Under 5s -- Learning to Read Alone: Writing for 5-to 9-Year-Olds -- Captivating the Confident Reader: Age 9 to 13 -- Moving Towards Adulthood: Teenagers -- Retelling Old Tales -- Crafting Comic Books -- Considering Non-Fiction for Children -- Chapter 14: Penning Plays -- Setting Up the Dramatic Structure -- Putting a Play Together -- Sorting Out Types of Play -- Formatting Your Script -- Seeing Theatre Spaces -- Writing for Radio -- Tapping into Resources for Playwrights -- Chapter 15: Writing Screenplays -- Breaking Down the Stages of a Screenplay -- Speculating on a Screenplay -- Adapting an Existing Story -- Securing Options -- Formatting a Screenplay -- Writing for TV.
Chapter 16: Rhymes and Reasons: Writing Poetry -- Getting Started -- Considering the Elements of Poetry -- Listening to the Language of Poetry -- Finding a Form -- Performing Poetry -- Getting Your Poetry Published -- Part IV: Exploring Non-Fiction -- Chapter 17: Breaking into Journalism -- Writing the Facts: News and Features -- Putting out Press Releases -- Penning Features -- Evaluating Reviews -- Lining up Columns -- Transcribing Interviews -- Pitching Stories -- Considering Radio and Television Journalism -- Chapter 18: Writing from Life -- Writing about Yourself -- Finding the Form -- Writing about Others -- Structuring Your Book -- Chapter 19: Crafting Narrative Non-Fiction -- Exploring the World of Narrative Non-Fiction -- Writing Narrative Non-Fiction -- Examining Genres within Narrative Non-Fiction -- Chapter 20: Travel Writing: Tales for Armchair Explorers -- Reporting about Places: Travel Journalism -- Doing the Actual Travelling -- Tackling a Travel Book -- Chapter 21: All About Blogging -- Making Your Blog Work for You -- Setting about Blogging -- Publicising Your Blog -- Part V: Finding an Audience -- Chapter 22: Finding Professionals to Publish Your Book -- Getting to Know the World of Publishing -- Looking at How Publishing Houses Are Organised -- Tallying the Mathematics of Publishing -- Being Accepted into the Publishing Process -- Finding Out About Agents -- Getting Your Book Ready to Send Out -- Doing It Yourself: Self-Publishing -- Chapter 23: Becoming a Professional -- Joining a Writing Circle -- Attending Writing Courses -- Focusing on Literary Festivals -- Attending Bookshop Readings, Events and Launches -- Getting Your First Work into Print -- Entering Competitions -- Part VI: The Part of Tens -- Chapter 24: Ten Top Tips for Writers -- Write for Yourself -- Enjoy the Journey -- Be Specific -- Show, Don't Tell.
Read and Re-read -- Be Open to What's Around You -- Learn from Others -- Write and Rewrite -- Accept Rejection -- Don't Give Up -- Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Get Noticed -- Practise Your Pitch and Keep it Short -- Ignore the Opinions of Family and Friends -- Be Focused -- Perfect Your Work First -- Don't Argue with Editors and Agents -- Be Modest -- Attend Events and Maintain Your Profile -- Network Like Mad -- Don't Take a Rebuff Too Personally -- Stay Positive and Believe in Yourself -- Chapter 26: Ten Pieces of Writing to Inspire You -- Short Story: 'The Dead' from Dubliners by James Joyce -- Classic Novel: Emma by Jane Austen -- Contemporary Novel: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro -- Play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare -- Screenplay: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by William Goldman -- Poetry: The Oxford Book of English Verse and The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse -- Journals: The Diary of Anaïs Nin (Volume One) by Anaïs Nin -- Travel Writing: In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin -- Narrative Non-Fiction: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote -- Autobiography: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou -- Index.
Abstract:
Do you have an idea that you're burning to get down on paper? Do you want to document your travels to far-flung places, or write a few stanzas of poetry? Whether you dream of being a novelist, a travel writer, a poet, a playwright or a columnist, Creative Writing For Dummies shows you how to unlock your creativity and choose the genre of writing that suits you best. Walking you through characterisation, setting, dialogue and plot, as well as giving expert insights into both fiction and non-fiction, it's the ideal launching pad to the world of creative writing. Creative Writing For Dummies covers: Part I: Getting started Chapter 1: Can Everyone Write? Chapter 2: Getting into the Write Mind Chapter 3: Finding the Material to work with Part II: The Elements of Creative Writing Chapter 4: Creating Characters Chapter 5: Discovering Dialogue Chapter 6: Who is telling the story? Chapter 7: Creating your own world Chapter 8: Plotting your way Chapter 9: Creating a Structure Chapter 10: Rewriting and editing Part III: Different Kinds of Fiction Writing Chapter 11: Short stories Chapter 12: Novels Chapter 13: Writing for children Chapter 14: Plays Chapter 15: Screenplays Chapter 16: Poetry Part IV: Different kinds of Non-fiction writing Chapter 17: Breaking into journalism - Writing articles/ magazine writing Chapter 18: Writing from life and autobiography Chapter 19: Embroidering the facts: Narrative non-fiction Chapter 20: Exploring the world from your armchair - Travel writing Chapter 21: Blogging - the new big thing Part V: Finding an audience Chapter 22: Finding editors/ publishers/ agents Chapter 23: Becoming a professional Part VI: Part of Tens Chapter 24: Ten top
tips for writers Chapter 25: Ten ways to get noticed.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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