Reddit mentions: The best fiction writing reference books

Continued because it was too long lmao

11.) Something that would have a profound impact on your life and help you to achieve your current goals.
I honestly really want to get into acting. I love movies and TV shows, and I really would love to start acting. For that reason, this book would be a great addition to my library and would probably teach me a lot.
This book also looks like it would be a good learning experience. :)
I found another great read! I'll pretty much take any acting books I can get.

12.) One of those pesky Add-On items.
Pop Funkos are honestly my go-to add-on item. Like this little fella, for instance. Adorable and affordable (did I just make up a saying? I do believe I did).
What's that? Ah, yes. Pops. The source of my broke-ness. Have another..
Oh, you think I'm done. HA. I'm too far deep to dig myself out of the hole that is my ever-growing collection of Pops. Infinity War just came out (no spoilers, I really want to see it but haven't gotten the chance yet), so how about this adorable Thor Pop? Who doesn't love Thor?

13.) Something fandom related. (Sports fandoms are acceptable- bonus if someone figures out my favorite team)
My favorite band happens to be Twenty One Pilots... and this is a pretty sick shirt.
I'm sorry, I'm still thinking about Infinity War from up above. I found a Thanos shirt that is honestly super cool. Like I've never seen it before and now I want it lmao.
I recently got gifted this absolutely gorgeous and cool Hawkeye T-shirt. It has BOTH Hawkeyes from the comics on it! Super cool.

14.) Something ridiculously priced, more than $10,000. They exist, y’all.
Who the absolute heck buys a $180,000 watch?! Not me, that's for sure.
I'm honestly not even sure what this is, but it's expensive as heck and you could put that money toward an ACTUAL CAR.
Y'all need a parking lift? I gotchu.

15.) Something with sharks or unicorns.
Who doesn't love socks?. Especially socks with unicorns.
You ask for sharks, I get you sharks.
Also no joke this is the cutest thing I've ever seen oh my gosh.

16.) Something that smells wonderful.
I have a cinnamon candle (not that exact one) and I absolutely love it to death.
Who doesn't love coconut lime? I know I love it.
Have you ever thought to yourself, "damn, I really like me the smell of cilantro"? Well, look no further.

17.) A toy that you wanted or had when you were a child that was the best ever, or (if it’s not on amazon) a toy that you think is pretty cool now (Funko Pops, etc., will count.)
If you never played Clue, did you ever really have a childhood?
Another cool toy I had was something like this cool tent-like bus. The one I had had separate sections that were detachable. It was super cool.
I know it's not technically a toy, but I used to watch The Land Before Time ALL the time. I still love that show. It's so, so good.

18.) Something that would be helpful for writers.
Just getting started on writing? Writing for Dummies is always a good place to start.
If you're writing (especially on a computer), you're gonna eventually need some Advil, whether it's from writer's block or a headache from staring at the computer screen too long.
I know it might not be considered useful, but I always thought an ink pen was super cool to have, especially for writers.

19.) Something related to your current obsession, whatever that may be.
I don't know why, but I suddenly really like Harley Quinn's character. I've been getting, like all the Funko Pops of her. I have a problem.
Oh gosh, you shouldn't have asked. I finally finished catching up to The Walking Dead, and now I want everything Negan related. Like, seriously, I just bought a bloody Lucille of my own. Someone stop me. Anyway, here's a cute little Lucille keychain that I've never seen before.
Another thing I really like is Kylo Ren, but I think you already know that. This BrickHeadz is adorable.

20.) Something that is just so random and weird that it makes you laugh.
This oh my gosh i am dying.
Also idk why but just the lady's posture and the huge heckin' bear is k i l l i n g me.
I don't know how I stumbled upon this weirdass thing but the more I look at it the funnier it is.

Also, this whole thing took me like an hour but it was so much fun. Thanks for the contest!

Heh, it's a hell of a lot easier to write walls of text. Anyone can take a dozen sentences to say something, but taking one to say the same thing it's trickier. Most aren't willing to put in the effort. And some people are just naturally verbose....butI'm sure my education didn't hurt my ability to write. I got a degree in philosophy which was basically "Write a hundred papers about a subject you don't really understand in such a way you can convince someone you do". As a writing exercise, it's pretty useful. If I learned anything from my years in college, it's how to argue, which comes down to writing cogently. Well, it also gave me the tools to win arguments the wrong way, with sophistry. Which I kind of delight in doing. It's like being given powers and using them for evil...

I always intended to write, but then my chronic illness came along and with it went my ability to concentrate well and most of my motivation (case in point, I just had to look up "motivation" because I couldn't remember the word). As far as writing goes, I say work from the ground up. Get something like this or this. Just my personal opinion, but I believe it's all about a good foundation. But you know what works best for you. The only other advice I'd give is just keep doing it. Like anything else, the best way to get good is practice. Even if the piece it isn't up to your standards it's a step.

God, fucking star signs. People are willing to believe the STUPIDEST shit. So everyone born in the same hospital as me at the same time should have identical lives and personalities? Yeah, evidence REALLY bears that out...garbage.

I'm a firm believer in the jack of all trades as a lifestyle choice. I find too many different things interesting to pick one and ignore the rest. I mean, almost all of the things I'm interested in would fall under "Academia", but so many different fields are fascinating. I don't think it's a character flaw, but then again, I wouldn't, since I'm right there with you. It's not indecisive if you find many things interesting yet none interesting enough to choose. You've chose the many over the one, a completely valid choice.

Ah, yeah, my parents were pretty lax too. Very few hard and fast rules. Probably kept me hanging around longer, but I also just really like both of my parents.

I've read a bit about mormonism, and how "The Temple" is super reserved for the elites. I've also driven past the one in DC with the overpass preceding it saying "Surrender Dorothy" because it looks like fricking Oz. I'd heard about people getting married in the temple but a lot of their family couldn't attend because they didn't count as "Mormons in good standing." Crazy. Not very "community" oriented at that point. I also remember seeing this youtube video of a guy who got pretty far up in the hierarchy before losing faith and he showed a bunch of the weird behind the scenes stuff. There's this whole ceremony with a LITERAL "secret handshake" and everyone is robed and your blindfolded. SO masonic. Interesting stuff.

I think "Humanist" sounds kinda....hippy dippy. It certainly doesn't imply "spiritual" in anyway. And certainly not compared to "Deist" which clearly posits a god from the word go. The lines between ALL spirituality branches are pretty blurry. I mean, on the whole, the big three religions are worshiping the same guy, the arguments merely boil down to how. And every religion basically says "There's a god and he wants you to be good" with the rest being window dressing.

Ok, so I promised you that I would comment on this piece, if you posted it, so lets just jump right in!



THE BASICS OF STORY TELLING

Just because you are writing non-fiction, doesn't mean that you get to ignore the process of telling a story. In fact, it may be that the elements of a story are more important in non-fiction than fiction.

When was the last time you picked up a chemistry text book 'for fun'? But how about The Elegant Universe? Or A Short History of Nearly Everything? If you haven't read the latter, you should, as it is probably one of the greatest non-fiction science books of all time.

What makes these books more engaging than a standard textbook? They are telling a story. They are leading the reader on a journey of discovery, but are introducing that discovery in a way that makes the reader feel they have some skin in the game. They introduce problems (and questions) that demand answers. They introduce characters that are trying to solve them. There is antagonists (even if it is just nature) and heroes (even if it is just nature). And all this is introduced from the start.

In other words, they have a hook.



THE HOOK

So, lets think about your hook:

>I recently put aside my doubts that all of "reality" was anything but a simulation, created by an advanced civilization, and went for a long walk (for the sake of exploring the "fun" consequences, of course).

Not. Good.

First, you don't really introduce the problem. Sure, you said you put aside some doubts, but doubts of what? What do you mean by simulation? What do you mean by 'advanced civilization)? Why do I care what you are thinking? Why Do I care if you went for a walk -- and why do I care if it were long?

Do you see the problem? You introduce a string of loosely defined terms, which gives us a loosely defined problem. It is hard to care about a loosely defined problem. Worse you give us a character (YOU) that the reader know nothing about, and then probably won't care.

Do you know who the reader does care about? Themselves.

So, I would give a hook that is something related to the reader. You already mention The Matrix, and so you might just start a hook with something like:

"What if the matrix was right all along."

Something like this introduces a well-defined problem (borrowing from popular culture to do so), and then also a character that the reader cares about: themselves.

>I then, more quickly than expected, traversed the five stages of grief and arrived at an interesting realization.

1. What are the 5 stages of grief? Why not just list them?
   
2. Why do I care how quickly you arrived at them.
   
3. I don't know who you are, and how fast you expected to run through the five stages of grief. So, 'quicker than expected' tells me nothing.
   
4. The way this is phrase, it sounds like you were expecting to run through the five stages of grief. If that is the case, then why? I am struggling to understand how thinking the universe is a simulation might induce grief?
   
5. The ending of this is cheap, because you tell us there is an interesting realization, but then you don't give it to us. In my opinion, you should probably never directly assess that something YOU did is interesting (let the reader decide that), and you certainly shouldn't make a claim without immediately backing it up. Therefore, this is a bad end to the sentence.
   
   
   >I'd like to retrace my steps with the hope that you too will attain the same simulated peace that I now possess. Where to begin...
   
   The hook is now over. I do not know what the problem is, I do not know why I should care that you are having this problem, I don't know what your position is or why I should trust that it is 'interesting' and you claim.
   
   If I were not reading for critique, I would not read past this. You need a better, stronger, hook, to draw the reader's attention to the problem that you wish to discuss, and show them how this problem relates to their own life (i.e., why they should care about it).
   
   
   
   CLAIMS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT SUPPORT
   
   The other issue this piece has is the that give above in bold -- you routinely issue judgement statements without sufficient support. Let us look at some:
   
   >the largest of the looming obstacles becomes the realization that all of reality as we know it could cease to exist for reasons beyond our control or even understanding.
   
   How is this an obstacle? And obstacle to what? This just seems to be a fact of one particular type of simulation.
   
   What if the simulation was being run in a manner such that it could not be interrupted? The technology to run this simulation is beyond our grasp, so why couldn't such a mechanism exist? You are making a claim that appears to have no foundation other than you think it to be true.
   
   >It is a reasonable assumption that a civilization advanced enough to simulate literally everything must first have achieved a certain level of peace and stability.
   
   There appears to be a logical flaw here. They did not simulate EVERYTHING -- just the things in the simulation. In fact, THEY must exist outside of the simulation, so that is not everything. In fact, if the laws of physics hold in their own universe, then the simulation we would be in would, by definition, be required to be MUCH simpler than their own world. The laws of thermodynamics dictate this. Therefore, this simulation would just a simple model of something.
   
   Furthermore:
   
   >After all, it's a bit difficult to investigate the nature of reality and advance science while you're busy trying to avoid being brutally murdered by bloodthirsty marauders hell-bent on wearing your skull as a hat
   
   What if, and I am just widely speculating here, the desire to avoid the fate you propose led someone to invent some new technology to avoid this -- like maybe a helmet? Or a better sword? Or something?
   
   Complete peace seems more likely to motivate technological advances. If all was perfect, then why change anything? Our invention of technology is a result of struggles against nature and others. Thus, violence and strife are primary motivators for technology, and it seems more logically sound to argue the opposite of what you are claiming.
   
   > This would mean that our creators posses at least the ability to perceive us as valid life forms, and as such, subject to the same rights as themselves!
   
   WHAT?
   
   We accept that bacteria are life forms, and do not extend to them the rights that we grant other people. Where is there any support that one would expect creators to grant rights to their creations that are on par with their own? I see absolutely zero support for this position. Maybe is exists, but if it does, you need to supply it.
   
   >The opposing perspectives could be summed up as follows:
   >1. Simulations capable of producing conscious simulants should not be created, since the act of turning off such simulations would be an act of genocide.
   >2. The knowledge obtained from simulations outweigh the ethical implications; the end justifies the means.
   
   
   This is a false dichotomy. They could also assume that we are not worthy of rights. You have not established that. So, they could view us with EXACTLY the same view we extend to simulation of people in video games. Do we consider their rights? If not, then why would they consider ours? This has not been sufficiently established.
   
   
   
   OVERALL FLOW
   
   Just as a story needs to have a cohesive plot, your non-fiction needs to have a common thread that connects ideas back to the major problem.
   
   In Star Wars: A New Hope, the story continually comes back to the problem of Luke establishing himself in a wider world. We care deeply about him, and his feeling of insignificance.
   
   In your story, you MUST return to the same idea over and over again. The problem just structure your discussion of everything else.
   
   The problem you REALLY have is this: if we are a simulation, do we have moral rights?
   
   So, this needs to guide EVERY single fact you introduce.
   
   Did the dinosaurs have rights? Then what do we make of the morality of the meteor coming in? What do we think about mammals taking over their environment?
   
   If we do not have rights in the simulation, then should we care about murder?
   
   These are interesting questions, that can be tied back the strange idea of us existing in a simulation. They provide stronger jumping off points for the tangents you are taking. They will provide a structure and focus that you are currently lacking. You need to identify a theme, and stick with it, very closely. In the same way that all actions in Star Wars were related to Luke gaining an understanding of his place in the galaxy, your story MUST always come back to the idea of Morality within and without a simulation.
   
   *
   
   SUMMARY*
   
   The idea that you are discussing is interesting, but the manner you are doing it in is not yet engaging. The reason is that you have not introduced the problem with a proper hook, and you do not identify and tread near an established theme within the piece. These are elements of story telling that will serve you well in non-fiction, as in fiction.
   
   If you want more information on this, try reading [Writing Science*](http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Papers-Proposals-Funded/dp/0199760241). THough this is aimed more at the academic writer, it is a great place to start for understanding how to frame the introduction to serious non-fiction. That is, how to identify the story you are trying to tell, how to make a compelling hook, and then how to follow through on the themes that make your hook compelling.
   
   Let me know if you have questions!

I'm a firm believer that learning any skill is a matter of following a simple three step process: 1. Study; 2. Practice; 3. Get feedback. And, of course, repeat until... Well, basically until you die or lose interest. There's always more to learn.

Others have already addressed steps 2 and 3 (ad nauseum), but it's obvious what you're really asking for is resources for step 1, so here are a few of my personal favorites:

• Bestselling, award-winning fantasy author Brandon Sanderson's lectures at Brigham-Young University. As a full 12 hour university-level writing class, it is one of the best writing resources you'll find anywhere, and it is available free on YouTube. It's focused on fantasy, but a lot (most?) of what he talks about is applicable to any genre.
  
• I kinda hate recommending it because of the embarrassing title, but Writing Fiction for Dummies actually provides a pretty thorough overview of the writing process and the choices available to an author, including some options a lot of people don't seem to be aware of (for example, 3rd person objective POV).
  
• K.M. Weiland's blog Helping Writers Become Authors is full of great info, especially on character arcs and how to use (her preferred version of) the traditional three-act structure. A little bit prescriptive, so keep a pinch of salt at hand, but you can learn some good techniques from her.
  
• Jenna Moreci's YouTube channel. She's a self-published author with two mediocre books under her belt who basically regurgitates the same writing advice you can find on pretty much any other writing blog, but it's still mostly good advice, and I like the blunt, humorous style she presents it in.
  
  As a bonus, here are my two standard recommendations for where to go when you get to step 3 and are ready for peer critiquing:
  
  
• Scribophile.com is basically a free online critique group. The general atmosphere is friendly, helpful, and gracious. It's based around a karma system that ensures everyone participates in a fair exchange of critique quantity – while that doesn't guarantee a fair exchange of critique quality, it does mean that you can be sure to get some kind of feedback on everything you post (unlike some similar sites, where most stories just get ignored). Also, your work is only accessible to other members, not posted publicly for the entire Internet.
  
• r/DestructiveReaders is a subreddit for exchanging critiques with fellow redditors. I haven't actually used this one personally because I'm not comfortable posting my works-in-progress completely publicly, but their description makes a point of expecting in-depth, detailed critiques.

My credentials: Exactly 1 year ago, I was in your position. I transferred into UTCS for Fall 2016. I think I wrote great essays.
Here is my advice:
Topic A:
-The first paragraph comes off as a bit pretentious. I get what you are trying to say, but telling the admissions people that you are the best of the best isn’t going to help you.
-I noticed on your GitHub that you made a flappy bird clone meant to be used with NEAT. I assume you are familiar with the professors who developed NEAT, so mention it. Find a way to tell the admissions people that you are familiar with certain professors’ work. Mention them and their papers by name. The whole point of this essay is to show why you want to be here, and being specific on this will show it.
-Read this guide about what to put in your statement of purpose. I used it and I think it worked well for me.
Topic C:
This one is a bit harder because you can take this essay in many different directions. For my essay, I wrote a personal statement that had absolutely nothing to do with computer science or academics at all. It was a story about me that was so personal that I didn’t show it to anyone, not even my parents. I've talked to others in CS about this, and their essay topics vary wildly. The point is that you can be a bit riskier with this one. If I were you I would leave all the CS credentials for the statement of purpose, and be bold with Topic C. Then again, your background is pretty impressive so what you have done might be good enough. If you are interested, I cannot recommend this book enough. Seriously, this book enabled me to write a powerful Topic C.
Topic E:
-Leave out: “(confirmation bias)”. These people read a lot, you know.
Conclusion:
Overall, pretty decent. Make sure to proofread. I saw plenty of areas where there should have been a comma or the sentence structure was strange. That isn’t as important as the substance though. Feel free to ask any other questions.

Thanks Jagabond, really appreciate that. I’m relatively new to hosting the show, having taken over in June, around episode 209. Shaun Farrell created the show and deserves all the credit. I was a huge fan and when I saw the distance between episodes spreading out, I offered to help provide interviews. Shortly after he offered me the job. I’ve tried to keep it close to the original feel.

That’s not your question though. As for the most important factor, I guess I’d say that while the industry is shifting, you never know if you’ll be successful until you try, and one of the most favorable factors to this industry is the abundance of resources to help you get started. Finishing a book should be your first goal, because that already puts you into the minority.

When you say “shifting industry” I assume you mean the effect of ebooks on pricing, revenues and whether we should self-publish or traditional publish. The good news—depending on how you look at it—is that none of this matters to someone getting started writing, because all you need to worry about is how to tell a good story, and that advice doesn’t change. Are you referring to getting started writing or getting started selling?

For someone getting started writing, a very important factor to be aware of is that you probably have a story worth telling. Writing resources can show you how to start a story. As much as I try, I’m an organic writer, so I don’t use any systems any more except for a notepad and pen and just start asking myself questions about the characters I want to be in the story, what kind of conflict they’ll encounter, how this conflict will cause them to grow or fail. If it’s science fiction, I start researching main technologies to the plot, far enough to make sure the concept is plausible. If it is Fantasy, I essentially just talk to myself about the magic system, how it started, what powers it has, what limitations (costs) using the magic has, etc.

Here are some resources I’ve enjoyed:



The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells by Ben Bova – I loved how well this taught character arc. (Character arc is the emotional progress/failure that your character goes through from start to finish.) In the brainstorming stage, he says to find a character that has to choose between two emotions, such as love vs. hate. He gives a very helpful list of questions to ask yourself that essentially brainstormed my novel for me.

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card – great breakdown of the types of story (M.I.C.E.) and I believe has a section on how to ask yourself questions to make the story unique from genre tropes (The One finds The Sword to save The Girl).

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card is also very helpful. I like how he says that you don’t have a story until you have at least two separate ideas, maybe three, and then you try to combine them.

Lane Diamond offers paid coaching. He’s the head guy at Evolved Publishing, which puts out some very well written books, no doubt a credit to his editing skills. He also edited the first 5k of my novel, so I know from experience he’s good.

Another couple editors I’ve worked with are C.L. Dyck and Joshua Essoe, if you’re at the stage of finding an editor. This could bring up the topic of when to search for beta readers (readers who read your story after you’ve cleaned it up) and when to hire an editor. My novel had such complicated technology weaving through the plot, that I didn’t know how to clean it up enough to give it to beta readers, so that’s why I hired C.L., and she helped me break down how the technology worked and where it didn’t. I suppose a good beta reader could do that, but I’ve not been fortunate enough to find ones that will stick around (i.e. finish reading and give me feedback).

Free resources:

The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson – I’ve started this, but never finished. I’m just not an outliner. Plot evolves out of each progressing scene as I write them. He has a lot of writing tips on his site beyond just the Snowflake.

StoryFix by Larry Brooks – never used this, but hear great things about it.

And of course, podcasts. I love hearing authors tell us their story of how they got started and found success. Their advice never gets old, and often I hear just what I need. For example, I have an upcoming interview with Ronald Malfi, where he says: "The characters and their problems come first. If you've got really good characters and really good problems with those characters from the get-go then the stories build themselves around them."

Did by “getting started,” you mean being at a point where you have a story ready to sell? I’ll answer that when I get back in a few hours, if that was your question.

Dear guy in the first half of this note,

Here's your fucking problem, asshole: you're a self-centered shitheel who only writes for himself. Want to know how I know this? Because you're bitching about the one aspect of editing that requires the least amount of patience and provides the greatest benefit to readability: spelling and punctu-fuck-you-ation.

Grammar Nazis, jerks or not, are providing a public fucking service. I'm glad you're pissed off. You should be. However, if you're getting a complex, it's not because they're Nazis, it's because you're a shitty student.



Dear guy asking for help,

Great to hear you're interested in improving your ability to communicate. On one hand, it is as easy as having a conversation. On the other, it's really not. Without non-verbal cues and cliches to communicate your meaning and subtext, it becomes easy to write in a way that feels stilted or transmits ideas you don't intend. I recommend continuing to read the authors you like, but start keeping an eye on syntax and structure. That's really the best way to keep sharp. You'll be able to learn which rules persist because they work well (using dashes rather than parentheses, for instance) and which can be broken for the sake of an aesthetic or readership (i.e., Cormac McCarthy's phobia about double-quoting dialog). The rules aren't as strict as you might have been led to believe, but you'll find in time that you respect those stronger rules more for a simple reason: they just work, no matter what you're communicating.

For composition, I recommend William K. Zinsser's On Writing Well. It's a pleasurable read and useful for all but the very best and most experienced writers (and maybe them as well).

For story craft, I recommend Bob McKee's Story and Stephen King's On Writing. The former is nigh fucking indispensable; the second, just gratifying to read.

For spelling, Merriam-Websters and practice.

For punctuation, just be sufficiently considerate of your readers to google the rule you're not sure about.

Thanks for posting this. I hope my 2 cents help.

I think I disagree, but guess I haven't read a ton of books about writing. In my experience, they can be helpful, especially to people who are just starting out. Maybe not as helpful as reading the types of books that you want to write (and reading the stuff you don't want to write—it's important to read widely), but I don't know if I'd call them a waste of time. King's book is great (but that might be because I got the impression that I'd like him as a person while I was reading that), Strunk and White Elements of Style and Zissner's On Writing Well are helpful for tightening beginners' prose, Writing Fiction: a guide to narrative craft has great exercises at the end of every chapter, and I'm reading Benjamin Percy's essay collection Thrill Me right now, and it's great. I feel like a large part of /r/writing would really connect with the first and titular essay in that collection, actually. He talks about reading a lot of so-called trash genre fiction before being exposed to literary fiction and how he kind of overcorrected and became a super-fierce advocate for that-and-only-that before he realized that you can take the good parts of both to create amazing stories. I've also never read any other respected literary person mention reading R. A. Salvatore, which was cool to see since I forgot I was a big Drizzt fan when I was younger.

I know it's not explicitly geared for short stories but The Nighttime Novelist is my go-to text for how to think about structuring a larger work. Though I have yet to publish my first novel.

Short story writing is very different. Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction and Stephen King's On Writing are both wonderful craft books that shed some of the practicalities of the Nighttime Novelist and look a good writing in its simplest form.

Much more important than nonfiction books, though, is finding short story markets you'd like to read. Figure out what kind of place might accept the most perfect form of the fiction you'd like to write, and then read those magazines religiously. While you're reading, do what you can to consider what these stories are doing well and how they are pulling off what they are pulling off. Use the vocabulary learned from craft books to better articulate (to yourself, mostly) what these stories are really doing, and begin to generate a sense of what good writing looks like. Then practice, practice, practice, write, revise, and write some more until you've got something worth sending out.

At this point in your writing development, the name of the game is simply learning to write well--keep that in mind, and try to make decisions based on what will help you become a better writer. And finally remember, there is such a thing as "practicing well."

First, I'm glad you're applying to become an RD! I hope you get in and go far! :)

1. What was your timeline for when you began actually taking time to put everything on DICAS? It's September now and the semester will fly by so how early did you start actually spending quality time on it? I am wondering if it's better to just focus on the semester at hand and leave all DICAS stuff for winter break or if I should start now.
   
   When I applied, I tried to get everything done as early as possible. If DICAS has already opened, then have a goal of getting it all done and turned in 2-4 weeks ahead of time. Certainly don't wait until the last minute to put it all together. I suggest finding a date you want to turn it in by and start scheduling items from your "To-do list" so that you can pace yourself and not have to do everything at once (during the semester is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with other important things like exams). Things like who you want to get rec letters from would come first because professors have many obligations and letters likely won't be written within a couple of days time.
   
   
   
2. When did you take the GRE? Did you take it more than once?
   
   Luckily, I didn't have to take the GRE, so I won't be much help here. But, I would think that if you need the GRE for DICAS, it would probably be a good idea to take it during winter break since you haven't already. Definitely not something to wait on and you're going to have to study for it. Again, if you need it for DICAS, start scheduling study times now because you're not going to have an opportunity to take it twice.
   
   
   
3. I had to retake a couple of classes due to poor grades my freshman year of college. I did just fine after retaking both classes and ended up with an A and B which is a huge improvement from 2 D's. I was wondering how to approach this if I should bring it up in my personal statement a reason for the poor grades or if I should just leave it alone and not mention it. My most recent semester spring 2016 my GPA for the semester was 3.8 with 19 credit hours (I added a psychology minor late). Obviously I am doing worlds better academically but I am wondering if internship directors will look at the 2 D's and judge me based on grades I got 3 years ago. Freshman year I was just checked out from school and from life. 'Checking out' doesn't make for a good explanation in the personal statement.
   
   The best resource I've ever purchased was a book on how to write admissions essays (or else you're going to sound just like everyone else). This book my favorite.
   Also, I wouldn't address the grades specifically. For example, I didn't do well the first year of undergrad, but did exponentially (so to speak) better by my senior year, so I talked about my growth in education and learning and how my grades showed a positive trend that only went up over time, and were only going to continue being great.
   
   I hope you find this information useful and let me know if you have other questions!

I am fortunate enough to say that I was accepted to transfer to UT CS for Fall 2016 as a sophomore. I think the two biggest things that got me in were my grades and my essays.



I had a 4.0 at my previous institution, which is another 4-year university in Texas, and that included several technical classes like Calculus, Physics, CS, etc. Keep in mind UT is very focused on making sure you graduate on time and getting the hell out to make room for others so take classes that would fill in your degree plan if you were to get accepted. CS 312 transfers pretty easily but UT may want you to take other core CS classes at UT, so maybe focus on basics like Calculus. [Sample Degree Plan]



As for my essays, I spent several weeks writing those and I put an enormous amount of time and attention into them. I was constantly browsing the internet for tips and advice about how to write each one. I even read a whole book just to help me with the personal statement essay [book]. Here is another link to get you started with the statement of purpose.
Note: Do not BS college essays. I meant every word of my essays, and it showed.


I was involved in a couple organizations. UT likes diversity so maybe consider something that will make you look more dynamic. I didn't have much community service, but it definitely won't hurt.



Overall the most important thing you can do is get your GPA up. It's not impossible to get in with a 3.7, but you will drastically increase your chances if you make all A's from now on. The second most important thing you need to do is write the best essays you have ever written. Start early, take your time, do your research. Good luck.

On paper, it sounds like you are the ideal graduate student candidate! c: The only thing left is whether you'll be a good fit for the specific school/program/lab in question. That can be nailed down with a stellar personal statement tailored to the specific program (along with a good interview whenever that comes along). If you need any help with that, I highly recommend this book -- it was incredibly helpful to me throughout the application process, especially coming from a family without experience in higher education. It includes details down to waiving your rights, as suggested above.

From what I've seen, the real "above and beyond" thing you can do is establish a meaningful connection with the professor you want to work with at this school. For instance, if the school offers a summer research program for undergraduates, you can apply for that and request to work with that specific professor. In another case, you can attend a scientific conference, seek out that professor, make conversation with them about their research (and make sure your interests are known), and follow-up with them over email so that they have a good impression of you and your ambitions by the time they receive your application. Bonus points if you're presenting at that conference :D This option requires a little bit of networking or cyber-stalking to see which conferences that professor would be attending, haha. My research domain is very specialized so it was easy to locate my prospective advisor in a small conference, and besides that there's a huge generalized one that everyone remotely close to my field goes to (Society for Neuroscience). Maybe there's some equivalent in anthropology? c:

Wishing you luck in your applications! n_n

1. Apply to graduate courses to take in the summer (either online or in class) as a non-matriculated student. Get As. This will show that you can handle the workload and are taking the application process seriously - it also helps if you don't have a lot of research experience. (Bonus points if it's at a SUNY/CUNY school.) Many Summer I sessions start at the end of May or early June.
   
   
2. Address your low undergrad GPA in your statement of purpose in a way that shows how you've learned and can ensure your success in a master's program. Don't dwell on it, but they do want to see how you've grown and how you've applied it to your life since then.
   
   
3. Your GRE is already good, to make sure you write a smashing SOP. Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher is a really helpful book on this, it also describes a lot of the "ins and outs" of applying to grad school.
   
   
4. Get strong references. Your academic ones probably won't be great, so if you can get stronger in-field references it would be helpful. That book I mentioned above has a checklist on what to discuss with a potential reference to that they can write you the best recommendation possible.
   
   
5. If your current job doesn't deal with non-profit leadership, then it would be incredibly helpful to find a volunteer position within those lines.
   
   SUNY and CUNY schools are heavily researched-based, and some of their programs are just as competitive as any other state system. It might be worth looking into CUNY EMBA programs if they are available (they are more expensive, but have more to do with making new connections and gaining experience rather than heavy research.)

I suspect most authors at least start out as pantsers. It's like riding a bike: you don't plan a long road trip your first try. You aim for reaching the end of the block without falling off, and try to decide if you really like doing this. It proves to be fun, you do it more and you get better. At some point you may find you have mastered the difficult skills involved in basic story telling (character, setting, action - resolution cycles, dialog, etc) and you want to take better control of the big picture stuff: theme and plot.

You also start thinking about the realities of making money doing this. That raises the question of efficiency. Ramming out 5,000 words a day sounds great, but if you have to rewrite it 7 times and cut 3,000 of those words, or worse yet, all 5,000 because you drove your plot into a dead end, then it isn't 5000 words, its about 10% of that. So outlining suddenly looks more productive.

How detailed? David Drake, a very prolific author, has posted the outline for one of his well-known Lt. Leary books because of all the requests. It's interesting to see how one pro does it: https://david-drake.com/2014/plot-outline/

On a personal side note, I'm switching from pantser to planner for two reasons: first, its easy for a plot run away from me. I've always got one more great idea or a cool plot twist. Suddenly, I'm trying down to edit a 240,000 word scifi novel. That editing is a lot less fun than writing it was.

The second reason I'm switching to planning is co-authoring. I'm working on a novel with another writer. We started by exchanging chapters. It became a contest over who controlled the plot and who could create the coolest characters. About the same time we discovered there are expectations from editors for plot arcs, and hard rules if you ever want to make it into a screen play. After 10 chapters we agreed we needed an outline. We followed "Structuring Your Novel" by Weiland, which gave us a model we could understand without too much study.

The proof of being a successful author is in SALES; whats the use of writing if you don't get read? I hate to admit it, but I've got almost a million words on paper in various projects, but none clean enough to sell. I blame pantsing for that; which is why I've switched to planning on everything new I start over 2500 words.

But however you choose to do it, don't feel trapped, just write on!

I'd start with Save the Cat because it's a fun read and does a great job of laying down the basic structure without over-complicating things.


After you've got that down I'd move on to something a bit more theoretical. I would highly recommend The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri. It's about playwriting but the structure is similar and it really impressed upon me the importance of structuring a plot around a character and not the other way around.


I'd also recommend The Sequence Approach as a supplemental structure to the traditional 3 Act structure. The book basically breaks a screenplay into a number of goal-oriented sequences that help guide you towards a satisfying resolution.


I'd keep Story by Robert McKee and Screenplay by Syd Field around for references, but they are more like text books for me and not really inspiring.


One of my professors in grad school wrote a book called The Story Solution based on his own interpretation of story structure. Similar to the sequence approach, he breaks out a screenplay into 23 'hero goal sequences' that keep your story grounded and moving forward, while ensuring that your hero is making progress and completing his character arc.


Also, in answer to your beat question: A beat is the smallest block of measurable plot. a collection of beats make a scene, a collection of scenes makes a sequence, a collection of sequences make an act, a collection of acts make a narrative. Every beat of your screenplay needs to serve the premise in some way or you end up with a bloated script that will drag. Many times writers will actually write 'a beat' into their script to show that there is silence or a pause that is significant to the plot. An example might be a brief pause before a character lies to another character.

This is going to sound like really flippant advice, but I swear it's not: buy this book. There is a lot of basic stuff you need to know - how to build character and setting and plot, how to outline, and yes, how to market and publish - and this will spell it all out a lot better than any of us could do in a short post on Reddit. It is definitely an intro book, so it's not like this is all you'll ever need, but it's a good place to start, get your bearings, and figure out what you need to focus on next.

When you do figure that out, there are tons of books dedicated to everything from plot structure and scene structure to dialogue and character arcs; buy those too. Use them to improve your craft and fill in your gaps.

Also, read! Read a lot. Pay attention to how the authors you love set a scene, how they describe things (and to what extent), how they structure their chapters and scenes, how they write dialogue. All books contain real, solid examples for you to study and learn from. Figure out what you admire, and mimic it. Figure out what you hate, and avoid it.

And last, keep in mind that your writing probably won't be amazing right away, and you might have to rethink and rewrite your book a few times as you're learning (or maybe even start a new one) before you really feel like you've gotten the hang of it. Don't give up, just keep learning and keep working.

I'm a public librarian and a writer (screenplays and poetry).

I facilitate and lead a Writers Group every second Wednesday each month with a different topic each month. We focus on craft topics and conversations that help through writing hurdles. We do not focus on publishing - though I'll occasionally bring in editors to discuss that process. This past month we talked about audiences, particularly young audiences with a guest writer. In the past year we discussed writing from real life, sound devices, and building a protagonist. I create these handouts using craft books and online resources then provide them to any patron if they're new to the Writers Group via a voluntary Email List. Feel free to PM and I can email these handouts if you like.

I also host open mics every season or so for writers to share their work in front of an audience should they choose so.

My core Writers Group folks focus on creative writing or creative nonfiction, less on boosting basic writing skills. For the folks in the former I will find a resource that works best for their next step. We'll establish a writing goal and I'll find a book to use as inspiration, or a craft book that may serve them well.

For folks who need basic skills work, I'll usually work with them via a Book a Librarian/one on one session, or direct them to LearningExpress Library or BrainFuse which provide fantastic resources for writing. BrainFuse, in particular, allows patrons to submit writing for constructive feedback.

I also use university Writing Center's handouts for inspiration, such as UNC's Writing Center.

I have books I commonly recommend, but if you're interested in starting a creative writing group I highly recommend Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin, which provides prompts and examples for specific writing topics.

There's a great answer to this in Damon Knight's book about short story writing. I think he's worth listening to because as well as being a very good science fiction author, he was also a critic who ran the biggest science fiction writing workshops for many years.

His thoughts are that a story works on different levels. I think he may have had more, but I can certainly remember four of them:

a) Impetus, or motive force that gives the story life. At this level, you might ask, "is this a story worth telling?"

b) Components - eg character, plot, etc. At this level you might ask "do these people feel real?"

c) Structure - eg what comes first, second, third. At this level, you might ask, "Is this the best arrangement of the material?"

d) Polish - eg prose. At this level, you might ask, "Is this being told in an interesting and fluid way?"

Anyway, the idea is that if a story isn't working on one level (eg b), there's no point in giving a critique at a later one (eg d), as that has to be fixed first. Each level works as a foundation for the one after, and if you have a story where the characters are acting in unbelievable ways, there's no point in saying it better. First, you have to fix the story at the level of the characters. Then, you see what else isn't working, and move your way down the stack.

From my own experience in many critique groups, and a few years of slush-reading, I agree with his assessment. And the least productive time I ever spend with a story is when I constantly find myself fixing the prose without addressing any of the underlying issues. Learning to spot this as a bad habit immediately made me a much better writer. Prose feels like the foundation because it's what you see first - and is the easiest way to spot a story not worth buying. But if everything else is wrong as well, fixing the prose will never turn a rejection into a sale. Ultimately, the story has to work on all levels to work. But you fix it from a to d.

A blog about how you start from scratch would be fun. Especially if you keep it up, you will be able to look back on it as a professional years from now and see how far you've come.

For writers of large worlds (I have my own persistent universe for my science fiction), I do recommend one thing: It is possible to have a universe that is TOO big. To avoid drowning your audience is needless details, be sure to learn how all the story elements PLAY TOGETHER. Characters advance the plot. The setting is the world that characters interact with. Characters run into conflict. Plot is all about the conflict. Etc etc .... all story elements are interconnected in every which possible way. If nothing works cohesively together, then you will run into disjointed issues in your writing.

To learn how these story elements are interconnected in a sort of "web-of-storytelling", I've enjoyed the Writing Fiction for Dummies book to help explain the basics. It definitely does NOT cover everything, but it's a good high level view of all story elements. Each element (i.e. plot, setting, characters, dialogue, etc) can and does have its own books by themselves. If you feel you are lacking in a specific element, you can potentially read up further into it.

Your fictional writing courses should help out as well. Again, be aware that you will not learn everything there is to know in your coursework.

I have a disclaimer though: Reading about writing, and taking the time to write are two different things. Do NOT spend a lot of money in hopes that self-help books alone will teach you everything there is to know. Most skill comes from experience and practice. This is where your blog will come into play. It will keep track of how well you improve over time.

You can do it!

Take a look at this recent post. There are some good suggestions in there.

I posted in there, but it still applies here: Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded. Great book, easy to read, and I saw great improvement in my writing.

If I handwrite - I prefer plain bic blue pen on yellow legal tablets, otherwise I preferred my Asus netbook until my husband ruined it by spilling chili oil on it - now I'm shopping for a replacement.

I prefer a starbucks or other cafe - but not the comfy chairs - I need the hardback chairs, not too close to the drink prep areas, 'cause that's too noisy, and close to the outlets for keeping my equip. charged. Panera is too noisy, cold and only has 30 mins of wifi free.

I need eats and drinks available and extra comfy longsleeved sweatshirts. And I use yarny.me online as my software because that way I won't lose my work and I can pick it back up anywhere and it's uncomplicated and free.

I'm just one wholesale slaughter away from finishing the first draft of a short novella, then I can get back to the first book in a trilogy that I already have outlined. I also have the first few chapters of a mystery/western series book, as well as other stories outlined for an anthology.

Whenever I get a good idea, I outline the heck out of it, because life is a determined b---h who likes to interrupt me at the slightest provocation.

This would be great as the next addition to my writing resource shelf.

That's pretty good. I like Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. It's short, $4; you can download it onto your phone and read it in an afternoon. There's a certain point in the middle of a book where the hero takes a good, hard look at himself, then decides what he needs to do. Figure out that point, and the rest of the book falls in place.

I also like How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.

> If you're strictly adhering to quotas, it's likely to result in bland characters whose only defining feature is their race, or whatever the quota is about, created only to increase the numbers so the quotas are met.

There are a great many ways to create characters foreign to oneself with sensitivity, complexity, and love. I, as a white male writer, found this book edifying. Why don't you wait until you've seen Saheeli before calling her bland?

> Let people make the characters they want

They did. That's what they're doing here. MtG's Creative team sincerely desires to tell a story that represents the entirety of its player base because they find that both culturally valuable and aesthetically interesting. This was no Hasbro directive.

> If I were a minority, I'd rather have fewer characters of my demographic but very well conceived, that can be used as examples of great character development, than have hundreds of bland tokens.

Again, you know nothing about this one. You just saw a brown woman and started complaining. Does Ashiok's character suffer from being agender? Is Narset more or less interesting for being on the spectrum? I challenge you to feel less threatened by depictions of what you're not and to welcome them as fresh detail in your fiction.

I remember writing a grant proposal for fieldwork in the first year of my PhD. Me and my supervisor edited it together (he thought ti would be a good exercise. No content was changed, but the entire text was red from the 'track changes' after working on it for two hours!

It's pretty normal and a others said: the learning curve is steep.

(PS: there are some great books out on academic writing. This is one of my favorites: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Papers-Proposals-Funded/dp/0199760241)

If you have the good fortune to take a class in fiction writing, they talk about the mechanics of storyform, how stories are composed, what sort of structures they have, what the parts are and how they are related. It can be invaluable information.

Out here in the world, there's no one to tell you how to write a novel. You're supposed to just try doing it until you can somehow teach yourself how to do it, I guess. But that could take 20 years...

So one of the best things you can do to help yourself is to read a couple good books on storywriting.

Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell is $4 and 100 pages. Put it on your phone and you can read it in a couple afternoons. Bell's premise is that most great stories have a special type of scene, and that if you can nail that scene, the rest of the story, forward and back, will practically fall into place. It's an inspirational book that will get you pumped.

And if you find that helpful, you should get Bell's Plot and Structure. I've read a lot of books on writing, and this has been one of the most helpful.

Beyond that, How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey is great.

Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham is indispensable. No one tells you how to manage hooks, but they're a critical part of a story.

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Beyond that, you just have to write shit. Your writing ability is a muscle; you need to exercise it to make it grow stronger. Every day, seven days a week, sit down and force yourself to pound out 1000 words of...whatever; nonsense, dreams, freeform imagery, snippets of scenes or ideas. Type it all into one big file, and make a new file every time you get above 100K.

You need to train yourself not to write awkward phrases. In order to do this, you first need to write all those awkward phrases.

Write 1000 words, every day, for 3 months.

Then look at the results. You'll see a tangible difference between when you started and when you finished. It really does work.

On Writing Well by William Zissner and Elements of Style by Strunk and White will help you write with clarity and succinctness. King's On Writing and Lamott's Bird by Bird will give you good general advice (and the reading list at the end of King's is great), but yeah, they don't get into the nitty gritty details too often (which is why some people like them and why some people don't).

Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy is a great collection of essays on fiction. It's somewhere between On Writing's and Bird by Bird's generalness and the specificity of On Writing Well and Elements of Style. You might even disagree with some of Percy's essays but he tackles topics that are important to think about regardless.

And I can't recommend Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Barroway and Elizabeth and Ned Stuckey-French enough. It's a little pricey—look for it at your local library before you buy—but it's basically a undergraduate class on writing, complete with readings and exercises.

We read this book in a graduate writing seminar I took this semester. It was the first book we read and I thought it had some great ideas on how to develop a writing schedule and stick to it. We followed it with "Writing Science" by Josh Schimel which really gets into the details of how to write WELL, not just a lot. It's much more dense but worth looking into if you're committed to improving your writing. :)

As the other poster said, you should look at examples from your field/program/group. Examples of previous students are some of the best places to learn what belongs in your manuscript.

If you're in STEM then I'd recommend the book, Writing Science, by Schimel:

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Papers-Proposals-Funded/dp/0199760241

It's a great primer on what makes a good paper. The style and way of thinking presented in that text, combined with analyzing previous dissertations, is what I've used to write my dissertation.

You should also ask your PI for any of their prior students' dissertations that stand out as a good example. They'll likely have some that they can name and possibly send to you.

Can't offer consultation myself, but check out Artifexian's YouTube channel. He does a lot of worldbuilding tips based on known science and offers handy equations to allow you to ballpark exact specs, like distance from the parent star and whatnot.

A book that was helpful to me was World-Building by Stephen L. Gillet. Very math heavy and maybe no longer current thanks to how quickly exoplanet science is evolving, but it gets really deep into the mechanics, moreso than Artifexian.

If you can find a writing group that fits your needs, that is probably the best place to go. If you're talking about a specific person as a resource, I would suggest finding a set of books that provides that expertise, since a person who does that with the level of expertise you would need would probably charge a fee. Unless you are able to get references from other writers, there is no guarantee that a fee-based approach would get you advice that was really helpful to you in your chosen genre.

​

Two books that I find are indispensable for your world-building efforts are World Building by Stephen Gillett (https://www.amazon.com/World-Building-Science-Fiction-Writing-Stephen/dp/158297134X) and Aliens and Alien Societies by Stanley Schmidt and Ben Bova (https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Societies-Science-Fiction-Writing/dp/0898797063/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542787506&sr=1-1&keywords=aliens+and+alien+societies).

​

Best of luck!

Believe me, it makes me a grumpy toast to shell out that much for likely outdated books. At least it's an ebook, though. CTRL+F FTW!

Still working through it, but I'm reading Writing Fiction for Dummies. I found it in my store and was actually pretty surprised. I'm not usually a fan of the quality of Dummies books but this one seems pretty comprehensive so far, if a little geared towards professional writing.

I'm a first-year grad student that applied last year using this book as a guide. Part of the book contains great general advice for the different components of your application: finding the right programs, keeping track of deadlines, asking for recommendation letters, etc. But as the title suggests, most of the book is about the entire process of writing a solid personal statement. You start with some brainstorming exercises that eventually lead to compiling your first draft, followed by editing techniques until you get to your final iteration. 50+ example statements are provided, along with commentary that points out good and bad aspects of each one.

That book was easily the best resource I had while applying. I was able to borrow a copy from my local library, but even at the $15 Amazon price it's totally worth the money. It looks the the one I linked you to is a brand new edition that's only a couple months old, so I'd be interested to see what's been updated.

If you are interested about the screenwriting process, Straczynski's The Complete Book of Scriptwriting is excellent.

For scifi fans, an added bonus is the complete script of the Babylon 5 episode The Coming of Shadows, which won the Hugo in 1996.

Two of my favorites, from two of the all-time best science fiction writers:

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

World-Building by Stephen L. Gillett and Ben Bova

Both look at it from more of a writing standpoint, but they're great resources for RPGers or hobbyists too.

If you're into books on writing, I found Outlining Your Novel helpful. If you've read your share of writing tips and books it will repeat some things you know by now, but I found its techniques helpful.

I knew how great an outline can be so I used one to frame my novel in Scrivener using the index cards, it has helped immensely. I didn't write every single detail leaving left plenty of room for things to change course if the story and characters need to evolve in a different direction. Outlining prevents writers block in the sense of "what do I do next?" plot-wise.

Reading journal articles is a good start but be careful because there are many poorly written published articles out there.

A book that could be really helpful is Writing Science - I haven't read it all personally but my supervisor outlined the major points in it before I started writing my thesis and it had some really good advice.

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Papers-Proposals-Funded/dp/0199760241

That was unnecessary. Though I know nothing of OP's novel, there are definitely some types of stories and ideas that lend themselves more appropriately to a cinematic presentation. I think it is entirely fair for OP to be inquiring into what the technical aspects of screen writing are.

You may not be a scifi fan like me, but J. Michael Straczynski has solid credentials as an accomplished screenwriter. I have not read his book, nor explored the literature in this niche myself. Nonetheless, I think it would be worthwhile for /u/jennifer1911, regardless of her level of writing experience, to check out related titles for yourself. YMMV.

K. M. Weiland's book Structuring Your Novel is awesome. She also has other books about outlining and character arcs that were super helpful for me.

I'm a big fan of K.M. Weiland's books Structuring Your Novel and Outlining Your Novel. I frequently recommend the first one to my editing clients when they need help with plotting and pacing. Weiland's website is a great resource, too--here's a page with a visual representation of some of the principles she talks about in her books.

I like to sit in silence at my laptop. I need to be able to focus on my ideas. I tend to have a vague outline, but I like to let the work take me where it wants to go.

I'd love this.

I personally loved The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Of-Dramatic-Writing-Interpretation/dp/9562915867

(there are negative reviews of that edition that complain about the formatting, but included the link so you could read the positive reviews. Here is a different edition of the same book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dramatic-Writing-Lajos-Egri/dp/1434495434 )

I also quite liked Writing For Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Emotional-Impact-Techniques-Fascinate/dp/1595940286/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422728301&sr=1-1&keywords=writing+for+emotional+impact

One of the best books I have ever read is “Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded” https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199760241/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_6MpxCb2Y2PH49

The book is easy to read and has DRASTICALLY improved my science writing. I read this book with my undergraduate lab (like 4 years ago) and still reference now in my PhD program.

There are some good book resources if you want to take the time to read through them. Schimel's Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals that Get Funded seems pretty well recommended on Amazon.

https://smile.amazon.com/Outlining-Your-Novel-Success-Helping-ebook/dp/B005NAUKAC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538983250&sr=8-2&keywords=outlining+your+novel

https://smile.amazon.com/Snowflake-Method-Advanced-Fiction-Writing-ebook/dp/B00LWBZ696/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538983312&sr=8-2&keywords=the+snowflake+method

Or one of the many other books on Amazon, or search for some free advice on the internet. I'm sure there might be some free worksheets out there.

Write short stories. That's a more achievable goal, but after writing enough of them, you should be better prepared to write a novel.

Get a how to write book. The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells is one I started with (there are many, many others).

It's a great book, but if OP wants to stick to women writers, Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft might be a better fit.

Not sure if it's every year. I think it's the first time that it's happened. Quite a few of them seem to be collections of blog posts.

PWYW Tier:

• Drawing on the Power of Resonance... 98 pages. 4.5 stars across 37 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• Million Dollar Productivity... 86 pages. 4.5 stars across 6 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows... 128 pages. 4.5 stars across 7 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• The Pursuit of Perfection... 62 pages. 5 stars across 1 Amazon review.
  
  
• Million Dollar Professionalism... 78 pages. 5 stars across 1 Amazon review.
  
  
• Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology 502 pages. 4.5 stars across 16 Amazon reviews.
  
  
  $15 Tier:
  
  
• Million Dollar Outlines... 270 pages. 4.5 stars across 78 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• 21 Days to a Novel... 114 pages. 3.5 stars across 3 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• Charisma +1... 96 pages. 5 stars across 4 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• The Freelancer's Survival Guide 582 pages. 5 stars across 12 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• 500 Ways to Write Harder 216 pages. 4.5 stars across 16 Amazon reviews.
  
  
• The Non-User-Friendly Guide For Aspiring TV Writers... 327 pages. No Amazon reviews.

> I often think of interesting ways the story can go and I have the beginning and middle of the story sorted but I am unsure of where I am going to end up

I absolutely CANNOT write a long story/book without an outline. I think of it like a roadmap: I'd never try to drive to a new city without a roadmap, or build a house without a blueprint. It becomes chaotic, and I freak out and leave it unfinished.

You can do an outline a couple ways. This is a blog post on using index cards to create a streamlined story, or you can outline on a computer and list major scenes. (For a longer description of outlining, I recommend Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland.)

Some authors can "fly by the seat of their pants," but I can't, and if I'm reading your post right, it sounds like you'd benefit from outlining as well.

I've heard some good things about Philosophical Writing: An Introduction by Martinich and Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Reading and Writing Philosophy Essays by Lewis Vaughn. They're both self-guided books to help students of philosophy with their writing. As others have noted, practice will also improve your skills

Drafting your essays in a Google doc is a great idea. Strongly recommend reading Donald Asher's Graduate Admissions Essays. Tons of tips on how to write your way into the graduate school of your choice, and samples.

You might want to give this book a try- How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels.

It covers the basics of the different sub-genres that make up progression fantasy and will act as a primer for you to create your own works.

In addition to that, read lots of Xianxia stories like the good ones recommended here in other comments.

I prescribe these two books for you to read in this order:

Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

1. https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-Writer/dp/0316014990
   
   On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060006641/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539787015&sr=1-4&keywords=on+writing+well
   
   Read these two books carefully and apply the advice to your own writing.
   
   Good luck.

In addition to the other great suggestions already here, I've always liked J. Michael Straczynsk's "Complete Book of Scriptwriting". While it's got much more on the formatting aspects of various mediums, it does feature a solid core of knowledge about structure and story.

I very much recommend the book Writing Science, by Joshua Schimel. You wouldn't know from the title, but it's one of the best books on writing (academic or otherwise) ever written. I'm actually putting together a graduate-level course based on the book for next year!

If your fiction is suffering from contact with stiff, over-formal academic writing, this book can help.

Maybe it's because you're overambitious. "Realistic reasons for everything existing" sounds to me like you might have too much going on for a first novel. I would personally look more at what the characters and the world need and then give them that stuff rather than giving them stuff and trying to figure out a reason why they have it.

You should definitely check out /r/worldbuilding if you haven't already because I think they concern themselves more specifically with this type of problem and there are plenty of pointers to have there even if you're not very interested in fictional maps, which make up a big part of the content there.

edit:

Ty Franck & Daniel Abraham talk worldbuilding: http://youtu.be/sCsPtUo91B0

A worldbuilding guide for writers: http://www.amazon.com/World-Building-Science-Fiction-Writing-Stephen/dp/158297134X

Fair enough. On the chance you are genuine allow me to give you some free advice.

1. You post a large number of articles. Most are very basic overviews of deep topics. I suggest you post less articles of higher quality. Spend more time researching a topic before you write about it.
   
2. Read the book Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Then read On Writing Well by William K. Zinsser. You make basic grammatical errors and use pretty much every hallmark of an amateur writer.
   
   I am no gift to the English language - believe me. And I do think you choose excellent topics to write about. But each time I go to read your content I can't even get passed page 1. I want to read something interesting about those subjects but the combination of your obvious lack of real knowledge on the topic coupled with your high-school level writing consistently prevents me from completing your articles.
   
   If this all sounds harsh it's because I don't pull punches. If you are serious about becoming a gifted technical writer I hope you will take my advice and do not discourage yourself from continuing to write.
   
   Oh, and you may want to tone down the ads a bit too. Make a little more space around the article content.

I suggest reading some good books on writing novels. Writing Fiction for Dummies is a great place to start

Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. An unusual perspective that involves finding the defining moment for your main character. Once you have that, the rest of the book practically falls into pladce. $4 and only 100 pages. Put it on your phone and you can read it in an afternoon or two. Also, his Plot and Structure.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.

Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Anne Phillips.

Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham. Also, her Writing Active Setting.

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland.

Nisi Shawl wrote a great little book about writing about people who aren’t like you called Writing the Other. It’s for exactly this situation!

As a grad student, you might be too advanced for this particular text to be useful, but Martinich's Philosophical Writing is very good.

As a slight aside, what we're seeing in Fantasy is the influence of long serial Asian webnovels tumbling over into the English market. Most of these stories are pure wish-fantasy stories about a young person who goes on a long epic adventure which has no real direction because that would get in the way of running the story for as long as possible to make maximum profits from it.

The fact there's no actual story in the first books is a feature, not a bug, because actual plot progression means getting closer to the ending, which is the opposite of what the writer wants. A successful serial is like a golden goose that the writer wants to keep producing those shiny eggs for as long as possible. If the book doesn't do well, the writer can similarly wrap it all up quick and move on to another series that does work because there was no major story to finish except the main character's rise to the top.

These books really are just YA comfort food where a young protagonist just walks from A-B most of the time, kicking butt because they're so awesome and barely breaking a nail. However, they sell like hotcakes. I've seen some of these books like Summoner by Eric Vall literally get hundreds of sales and positive reviews. It's hardly the worst offender, and not a bad book for a Harry Potter/Pokemon mash-up, but 404 reviews? Really?

There's a book called How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels by R.A. Paterson which talks about how to churn these things out. If that's what you're looking for, you might check it out.

No, really, read a book.

edit: Also, start comparing your blog to other blogs in the same field. It just seems like you have little interest in producing quality material. You write as if you're talking to your friend on Steam.

> Is this a theory of yours, or is it contributed to elsewhere?

There is plenty of literature out there on it, don't know any online references off the top of my head though. This book has a good basic coverage. Note this is a book about writing realistic Science Fiction, so it does talk about what we think is plausible and what we think isn't. And looks at things like known abundance of various elements.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

On Writing Well

Elements of Style

Thrill Me

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft

---

^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

http://www.scribophile.com

Scrivener

Pinterest

Aside from this subreddit I find https://www.reddit.com/r/Writers_Block/ and their discord helpful.

Edit: I also found these two books very helpful for outlining and checking my novel structure. I got them both on Kindle and read them religiously.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978924622/ref=r_soa_w_d

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EJX08QA/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

2 - 1.99 on my main list.

4 - 3.99 on my Kindle Book List.

6 - 6.00 on my main list.

8 - 8.00 on my main list.

Thanks for hosting the contest!!

Read the free sample of Million Dollar Outline. God tier book.

Here's an excellent book that I recently picked up on Kindle; it's specifically geared toward writing short stories: https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Short-Fiction-Damon-Knight-ebook-dp-B01N9JGSYU/dp/B01N9JGSYU/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1557317476

r/StatementOfPurpose has lots of examples from other people that you can read, as well as if you search through this sub. I also used https://www.amazon.com/Graduate-Admissions-Essays-Fourth-School/dp/1607743213 this book for help and swapped SOPs with my peers. After a while, you get a feel for it.

Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic writing. I always defer to Egri because he taught Woody Allen. If it's good enough for Woody Allen, it's good enough for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Dramatic-Writing-Lajos-Egri/dp/1434495434http://www.amazon.com/Art-Dramatic-Writing-Lajos-Egri/dp/1434495434

> Like...it would be passable if she was struggling.

I've read Writing Fiction For Dummies for fun, and I know how to structure a story better than this.

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Papers-Proposals-Funded/dp/0199760241

I enjoyed this one.

I'm in a proposal-writing class, and we're reading Writing Science by Joshua Schimel as part of the course. It's quite good, and emphasizes what science writing has in common with other kinds of writing/storytelling.

You might be interested in reading this (excellent) book:

World-Building (Science Fiction Writing)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/158297134X/

used books?

anyway.. check out the reviews of this book on how to outline your novel:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978924622/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is a collection of tips and whatnot from a published author.

Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.

On Writing Well. Fantastically written, naturally. I would recommend it for anyone, not just writers. We all write, and we can all learn something from the book.

Check out "Writing the Other" by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl. Here's the link to it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Other-Conversation-Pieces-8/dp/193350000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474140468&sr=8-1&keywords=writing+the+other

[Get this.] (http://www.amazon.com/World-Building-Science-Fiction-Writing-Stephen/dp/158297134X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414761150&sr=8-1&keywords=worldbuilding)

I think your MIL needs this. Just sayin'.

If you're not a good concise writer, your scripts will taste like ass.

See: Michael Straczynski's book