Writing Skills category: 1537 books

We generally associate creativity with spasms of brilliance even though waiting for inspiration is like waiting for lightning to strike—it happens, but it’s rarely predictable or repeatable. Committed, long-term relationships don’t simply happen: more than just hard work, it takes discipline...

Many authors have a troubling writing condition I call Tension Deficit Disorder or TDD. This condition frequently occurs with new writers, writers who are struggling to move beyond the basic levels of writership, or those who write for own enjoyment. Tension brings out the best and the worst in all...

Maxim Gorky said that no one understood “the tragedy of life's trivialities” as clearly as Anton Chekhov, widely considered the father of the modern short story and the modern play. Chekhov's singular ability to speak volumes with a single, impeccably chosen word, mesh comedy and pathos, and capture...

ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Finalist "The Fiction Writer's Handbook" is the definitive volume to explain the words and phrases that writers and editors use when they talk about a work. In the highly competitive publishing world, today's writers need to stay ahead of the competition...

You’re not only a writer—you’re a writer who writes for money. A freelancer. Someone who sells his or words for pay. So, let me ask you—how attached are you to your byline? How much does it matter to you? Nearly every writer wants recognition. But ditching your byline may be...

Why write in the first place, other than your grocery list? Eric Nicol believes it's the second-most satisfying thing you can do lying down. But it's not enough to want to write. You must need to write. Now, after more than seventy years of scribbling – he wrote for the school newspaper at...

Science fiction is a genre unlike any other. Not only can it take the reader to new worlds and reflect upon our own, but it also has a history of predicting and inspiring new ideas and inventions. Writing science fiction inspires not only other writers, but people in a variety of fields, leading them...

The Fright Factory is here to help you as you labor in the control room, on the assembly line, or mixing the chemicals of inspiration and imagination in huge vats that give off dark and eerie vapors. Here you'll find guidance in drawing up the blueprints of your story along with a selection of...

Robert J. Sawyer established his reputation as a fine novelist when he burst on the science fiction scene with Golden Fleece in 1991. More quietly, he has built an impressive body of short fiction, essays, articles, and speeches. Relativity is his first collection of these. This Aurora Award-winning...

Life is crazy and hectic for most of us. We’re surrounded with personal and family obligations, jobs, fitness programs, virtual mountains of email, not to mention videogames, TV, smartphones, social networking, and millions of things to check out on the web. With all those distractions, how...

Think you can't write a great novel in a month? Think again. Most of the best novels in history were written in a month or less. Professionals do it all the time. And with Becoming an Every Day Novelist, so can you. Prolific author J. Daniel Sawyer walks you through the process in this lively...

The Monster Book of Prompts is designed to flip through and select any prompt at random. Writing prompts are a great way to get your juices flowing. They can help you get started in the morning or help you out of a jam. There also helpful if you need a good start for your next story. A prompt a day keeps the writers block at bay. With over 400 prompts you’ll never be prompt less.

The Author Friends With Benefits Guide to Getting Stuck into Self Publishing is perfect for you if you are just starting out on the self publishing author journey. It's just a quick, easy to follow guide covering everything from creating your author brand to writing and editing. Then using social media and your website to their max.

You wrote and published a book, now what? How do you reach readers? With so many books filling the digital marketplace and bookstore shelf space, it's often not quite enough to put forth our best work and launch, hoping we'll see our name on the bestseller list. More often than not, it falls...