(Part 3) Best products from r/writing

I totally understand. I need some structure as well.

I've bought so many creative writing books, and I've realized the best ones are the ones used in college classrooms.

This one is my favorite. You can do a writing exercise from it everyday, and you'll improve greatly. Unfortunately it's pricey at $67 (try to get a used version at half the cost).

What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (3rd Edition)

What's great is that each chapter builds your skills gradually, starting with exercises to write good intro sentences, then to character development, point of view, dialogue, interior landscape of characters, plot, element of style, revisions, learning from the greats, etc.

The authors have said this has been the best way to see improvements from their students, and it's been working for me. Unlike other writing exercise books, this one has a clear structure, and moreover, they really go in depth in explaining the exercise and it's goal -- the technique it's trying to develop.

What I find especially helpful is that the book includes student examples for most of the examples. I own many writing exercises books, and so often I need to a clue on how to execute the exercises or I'm lost. The book also comes with short stories to study, too.

I was so skeptical about the book, since it isn't cheap, but the reviews on Amazon won me over. Read those reviews -- so many people recommend the book.

Note, if you can't afford it, there is the original, much cheaper version. It's much smaller, and doesn't have as many student examples or extra content (like the short stories), but it's costs way less. I'm guessing this was the original book before they expanded into a college textbook. I also own it also and it's still good. It's nice to carry around with me if I don't want to take the much larger newer version.

My other recommendation is this book:[The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante](
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Story-Norton-Creative-Writing/dp/0393337081/)

LaPlante is great at explaining the little nuances, the details in what makes creative fiction work. She goes into more details, and has writing exercises at the end of each chapter, including a short story to read. So she gives more theory of how good writing works. She avoids flowery or abstract advice found in so many other books.

I found it an excellent companion to the "What If" book.

This book is also used in college courses, and it's thick! Lots of material. Fortunately, however, this version I linked is around $13. This is the same exact book as the college version for $52 (named "Method and Madness: The Making of a Story").

Lastly, this isn't a college writing book, but just a bunch of really helpful exercises on how to improve as a writer.

Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

What I like is that he gives examples to his exercises, too, from books, newspaper articles, etc. I really love all of Roy Peter Clark's writing books.

Anyway, good luck. I was in a deep writing funk. Depressed I wasn't improving, and I decided to write everyday using exercises from those books, and it's helped me so much.

Edit: typos.

• "On Writing," by Stephen King (http://amzn.com/B000FC0SIM) - The first half is a good biography, and the second half is great insight into how Stephen King comes up with his stories. Not just the genesis of the story, but that actual "I sit down and do this, with this, in this type of environment." And then what to do when you finish your first draft. He is very critical of plotting, though. If you disagree with him about that, it's still good for everything else.
  
  
• "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White (http://amzn.com/020530902X) - This is a handy little book for proper grammatical and prose rules. How to write proper dialogue, where to put punctuation, and how to structure sentences to flow in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
  
  
• "Stein On Writing" by Sol Stein (http://amzn.com/B00HFUJP5Y) - I just picked this book up, so I haven't finished it--but it seems to be a little more in depth than Stephen King's On Writing. For instance, it looks more at not just what makes a good story, but what makes a good story appealing to readers. So whereas Stephen King preaches a more organic growth and editing process to write a story, this one seems to be more focused on how to take your idea and make it a good story based on proven structure.
  
  Honorable mention:
  
  
• "The Emotion Thesaurus" by Angela Ackerman (http://amzn.com/B00822WM2M) - This is incredibly useful when you're "showing" character emotions instead of "telling" the reader what those emotions are. For example, "He was curious," is telling the reader the character is curious. "He leaned forward, sliding his chair closer," is showing the reader that he is curious.
  
  
• I think it's easy for writers (myself included) to get too wrapped up in studying writing, or reading about writing. The best way to improve your is to write more, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, articles or short stories, novels or book reviews. The same principle applies to most skills, art especially. While reading about the activity certainly helps and is probably necessary at some point, you're going to just have to perform the activity in order to improve. Imagine reading about running more than actually running to practice for a marathon. Or reading about flying instead of getting hours in. Or reading about piano theory instead of actually playing piano. But if you're coming from nothing, it would probably help to read those three books before starting in order to start practicing with a good background right away, instead of starting with nothing and winging it on your own.

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.

I have some experience with webcomics. I write and draw Miamaska, which has been going on for 2+years, and I'm about to start my second comic next month.

General advice for web comickers!

(or: How I learned things the hard way and eventually stumbled into a good system)

• Always have a buffer. Always update on time. Be dependable, your readers won't invest in your story if you seem flaky.
  
  
• Don't do video/audio or fullpage ads. New readers will close your tab out of annoyance, and those that stay will be extremely peeved when trying to read a chapter all at once.
  
  
• Set up donation incentives. Wallpapers, progress art for the next update, bonus page when a certain amount is reached, bonus mini-comic, etc!
  
  
• Interact with readers! Put up a comment box, do twitter and tumblr, do request drawings. It's fun, a confidence boost, and a good way to build a fan base.
  
  Regarding dialogue and pacing... what I tend to do is thumbnail an entire scene (3-15 pages for me) first and read through it a few times. I'll leave mini-cliffhangers at the end of each page (like a question, or a realization, or a character entering the scene). During this little review process, I'll also make sure the view for the reader doesn't violate the 180 rule too much, that it's obvious which bubble should be read next, and where the reader is going to look first.
  
  I don't have any experience in the print form of comics yet. So no advice there. Just make sure your comics are in print resolution as well (300+ DPI), or you'll be sorry later.
  
  Resource time
  
  I didn't have many resources starting out, but I'm gonna recommend these for you and anyone else interested:
  
  PaperWings Podcast -- podcast and blog on web comic-making (ongoing, good community, regular but sparse updates, good backlog). Has even more resources on its website.
  
  Art and Story -- podcast on print +web comic-making and the comic industry (ended, but a great backlog).
  
  Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics by cartoonist Scott McCloud, worth a read for any comicker. A little more geared towards print, but breaks down comic theory really nicely.
  
  Comics and Sequential Art, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative, by Will Eisner.
  
  Those books are pretty popular, so you can probably pick them up from the library or find them on the web somewhere.

Okay, so there are a lot of people who say there's "No real guide to writing." I understand why they say that but they're not factually correct. A lot of the best writers I follow all recommend a few key books. I started writing my book with no guides, which was fun, but I set myself up for a TON of rewrites because I didn't know what I was doing. I'm now deep in revisions and V2, and the only reason I'm finding success is I got my hands on some excellent books that showed me where to go from "You have a cool idea that might make a good book."


First, My Story Can Beat Up Your Story. Really good, basic, zero-fluff guide to writing (tailored to screenplays but it works just as well for novels.) I went from a mess of a first draft to a rock solid 10-page outline with this book alone. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00696HIYA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

​

Second, The Writer's Journey. People like Dan Harmon (Community, Rick and Morty) swear by this book. Little more fluff (by which I mean philosophical mumbo jumbo) but still an excellent resource for getting to know your characters, plot, structure, and what makes a story good as opposed to bad. https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-Structure-Storytellers-Screenwriters/dp/0941188132


But all of these are basically just introductory texts to reading the Holy Grail of writing, The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I started here and realized I was way out of my depth in terms of understanding why this book is important for writers, so I'm now backing myself down to Writing 101 rather than the masterclass.


https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549390571&sr=1-1&keywords=hero+with+a+thousand+faces

Cross-posting from /r/selfpublish's self-promo thread from last week.

Hello everyone!

I don't believe I've done one of these self-promotion threads since my last book was published back in 2012. With that said, I'm delighted to say my new book just went live at the end of August. I will also include something about my other two books, because why not?

Beginning

($2.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

He hunted mammoths long ago.

He raised megaliths all over Western Europe.

He went to sea at the dawn of the Bronze Age in search of tin.

He performed with the world’s first magician.

He watched Icarus fall from the sky.

He played a small part in setting off the Trojan War.

All this and more happened to one man who has been alive since the last Ice Age. While waiting for a mysterious visitor who might be the death of him, he is dictating the stories of his life into a tape recorder. What will he say now that he is at last free to share the secrets his immortality has shown him?

Beginning is the first book in the Tape Recorder Trilogy, a journey through humanity’s past from before recorded history up to the twenty-first century. Starting with his first life in the Stone Age, Beginning sees our narrator move from life to life over the course of centuries as he wanders across Europe. The dawn of the Bronze Age inspires him to become a sailor and a merchant who travels throughout the Adriatic, Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and up into the Black Sea selling everything and anything but especially tin, the crucial metal that makes bronze possible.

Throughout his travels he meets people from all walks of life, some of whom go on to be the inspirations behind myths and legends that are still remembered today. It is his pleasure in the privacy of his own home to finally say what really happened all those years ago.

Inca

($3.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

Inca is the life story of Haylli Yupanki, a man who served three generations of emperors only to watch his whole world shatter and shatter again, leaving nothing behind but his memories and his pride. Hiding in the jungle with the last of the unsubjugated Inca, Haylli transcribes his memoirs from quipus –the Inca’s writing system of knotted string– into Spanish with the help of a captured priest. Beginning with a childhood of privilege and a youth spent as a fugitive from Imperial justice, through a successful career as the Inca’s most powerful bureaucrat, to an old age spent in the ruin of his life’s work, Haylli was present at all the important moments of his people. Through his words he hopes their story will be remembered.

Fans of historical fiction can look forward to an epic family saga covering more than seventy years to include almost everything we know happened between the zenith and nadir of Inca power. More than two-thirds of the characters are based on real people, and every corner of the empire is visited over the course of the narrator’s life: The plot has court intrigue, forbidden loves, triumphs, tragedies, rivalries, heroes, monsters, coups, civil wars, prophecies, plagues, treasures, sex and violence –all before the conquistadors arrive to change everything forevermore.

Zulu

($2.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

Zulu is the story of a people who fought for their king, their herds, and each other against an empire that spanned the world. They almost won...

Mbeki and Ingonyama are the gifted sons of the blacksmith Jama. Their adventures at the royal court of King Cetshwayo draw them into the great events of a kingdom on the cusp of a golden age. There they meet Inyati, an exiled Matabele prince, and Nandhi, the daughter of a northern baron. Their unlikely friendship promises a life of peace and plenty, but their future is darker than they could ever imagine. Through love triangles and power struggles, boxing matches and elephant hunts, brush fires and battles, they are witnesses to the astonishing true story of an iron age pastoral civilization that held off a quarter of the world for six agonizing months before their whole world collapsed into ashes and dust.

I've used a couple of different methods, including the one Rachel Aaron describes in 2K to 10K, but I've found the most success using the Snowflake Method.(Here's the Amazon link if you decide to purchase the book.)

To me, this is a very organic and easy-to-follow method. With each step (e.g., Step 5, which requires you to delve into a character's backstory and role), I find myself filling previously missed plot holes or discovering the real reason for a character's actions. For example while working on Step 8 the other night (creating a scene list), I suddenly found myself adding six new chapters (about 18 proactive and reactive scenes) that completely solved a gap in my antagonist's timeline. When I realized that something didn't quite work, it was much easier to delete one weak sentence than throw away a 1,500-word scene that didn't add anything.

The best way I can think of to summarize this method is that you will start with a very basic idea and then extrapolate it in multiple steps. As you progress, ideas will ebb and flow. Small changes during this process save so much time. You'll find that after you finish the steps, the writing is easy. I know that when I'm done with the steps and finally begin to write, the skeleton and muscle are already there; all I have left to add is the skin and maybe one or two tattoos.

In any case, I would certainly recommend taking a look. One of the women in my writing group just switched to the Snowflake Method after becoming stuck in the middle of her third novel (part of a fantasy series that has had good sales on Amazon). She sent me an e-mail the other night telling me that she was now a believer, having finally resolved the issues that had resulted in a stagnant project.

Hope it helps!

Legal writing style will need a lot of tempering to make it work with fantasy writing. That's a genre where people expect a sort of a great nuance and cultivating descriptives to bring the fantasy to life in their minds.

Meaning, you'll have to learn to write "succinct" and "to the point" that works with fantasy. Be succinct but make sure you're describing the world enough so that the readers understand where they stand. Be to the point but also make sure to give character depth.

But before we can discuss further I think we'd have to know just exactly what your current creative writing style is, kind of story you're going for, and etc. It's an interesting discussion but also a lengthy one.

I tried doing something similar with my fantasy novella and got pretty mixed opinions from my beta readers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GFCILL6

I just released a better-edited version of it and it'll be free tomorrow if you're interested. But I think just reading the sample pages will give you an enough insight into what I tried to do. And if you're interested and don't want to wait till tomorrow, PM me and I'll try to send you a free copy by tonight.

Good luck! Maybe you'll find a unique voice that'll make you stand out!

Are you asking whether you could learn new language with this method? Its best you follow a language learning system for that.

It worked for me with english because I grew up learning it from childhood and obsessively read nearly hundred or more novels in my teen and young adult phase.

>What did you do/what was your method?

To put it in simple words, its basically taking great writers work, and imitate their content. For example here's
from the book The scarlet pimpernel first paragraph, chapter 3:

>Feeling in every part of England certainly ran very high at this time against the French and their doings. Smugglers and legitimate traders between the French and the English coasts brought snatches of news from over the water, which made every honest Englishman's blood boil, and made him long to have “a good go” at those murderers, who had imprisoned their king and all his family, subjected the queen and the royal children to every species of indignity, and were even now loudly demanding the blood of the whole Bourbon family and of every one of its adherents.

Now rewrite this paragraph to your own liking randomly like this:

>In nearly every part of new york, the feeling of tiredness ran very high against the southerners and their army. Runaway slaves and legitimate human traffickers between the two high parts of texas bought news from over by carts and by doves, which increased the animosity of the northerners towards the slave owners and made the northerners blood boil, and some of them even wished to have "good go" at those war mongers, who had imprisoned even the little black children in dark slave rooms, subjected their parents and the northern soldiers who tried to save them with every known piece of indecency, and were even now demanding the blood of the whole confederate army and every one of its supporters.

Yeah, this doesn't make much sense if you read it too much, but as you can see, I imitated that paragraph with few things added and few things removed. This is how you learn to write effectively. The more you imitate the great writers, the more your own writing will improve.

>How did you use this for English?

The only way you could have mastery over writing is to seriously finish reading books like these and apply its concepts everyday until you get better:



This is a classic book on sentence writing and gives you tons of examples and explanations, although it can get quiet challenging to read it in first try.



This book is quite challenging read and at times very hard to comprehend, but read it one chapter at a time slowly.

Next, this book gives you a basic introduction to the field of rhetoric, which is something that writers in this sub don't usually talk very much, but its one of the biggest things you should focus on if you want to improve your writing to the advanced level from basic and intermediate level.

Finally, this book is the one you should definitely read, and this book is the one that basically inspired my initial comment.

I'm surprised people haven't said much about the actual writing itself. Tone is an issue, but the actual structure of your writing needs work. I'll pull a few examples that way you can see what I mean.

"Unless you’re a member of an isolated ancient tribe living under one of the six remaining trees in what used to be the Amazon rainforest, you have almost certainly heard the term “Machine Learning” floating past within the last few years."

Your first sentence is almost a paragraph. This is a problem. Writing should be succinct and to the point. Clarity and strength of word usage will make what you say much more meaningful.

"In fact, personally, I’m convinced that if humanity doesn’t eradicate itself prematurely, there won’t be anything left humans can do that can’t be done much better, faster and cheaper by a suitably designed and programmed computer (or a network of them)."

This is a sentence in your third paragraph, which is again almost an entire paragraph by itself. You also severely diminish the strength of your sentence when you use things like 'In fact', 'personally', 'I'm convinced'. Your readers know that you are convinced because you are the one writing it. You need to convince them.

"Even though a computer can do just about anything, making it do what you want it to do can be very hard indeed."

Adverbs are not your friend. - Stephen King

Strength of sentence structure is impacted when you use adverbs like 'very'. And throwing on an 'indeed' doesn't do you any favors either. Make a point to think about what you are adding to your sentences with these words. Is the answer "I am adding nothing with these words."? Then those words should not be there.


I'm going to leave you a list of books where you can learn from writers that will help you with these things. Try not to get discouraged. We all have a lot to learn, so just think of it as part of the process. I would HIGHLY suggest you at least look into Elements of Style.

Sol Stein's On Writing

Stephen King's On Writing

Elements of Style

Not OP, but I've also been self- and traditionally published. It's always worth sending it to agents, but not for feedback. You're more likely to get struck by lightning than get feedback from an agent who doesn't want to represent you — it'll be polite rejection email or nothing — but it's always worth taking that chance that they do want to represent you.

Because while it's great that we live in a golden age of self-publishing, it's a tough row to hoe. You don't just have to be a good writer, you have to be (or hire) a good copy-editor, graphic designer, publicist, sales force, marketing department, etc., all of which someone else will do for you if you do land a publisher. And it's very tough to convince bookstores to stock your book if you're self-published, so that's a vast part of the market you're not going to reach.

I'm really happy I self-published my first novel, because after working on it for six years on and off, it's finally a real book that people have read and enjoyed. But I'm still waiting to hit three figures in sales. My traditionally published books are all in the five figures, one of them six. Granted, those books aren't fiction; they're novelty-format books that sell perennially, and do well in stores that aren't bookstores. But they're in those stores because I have a publisher with a sales force who has relationships with those stores.

Whereas with self-publishing, you're really starting from nothing unless you have an established audience from some other arena.

tl;dr — you should try and get an agent/publisher, but self-pub is a great fallback plan.

Hey all, I posted this a while back, but since I made the novella free for 5 days, I might as well post it again. I hope that is allowed.

I am an international student in Canada and I love writing. English is my second language, but it is the language I choose to write since I can reach to a larger audience. I just published my first novella on Amazon. Chasing Purple is now available on any Kindle running app. It is about 17K words, and it is only $0.99 CAD, which makes it cheaper than a cup of coffee around here.

Here is a short description of the story;

>What would you do if you could tell apart good and bad people with a simple look? Dare Vlad wanted to be a spy.

>More than the clash of good and bad, the story is about the ways a young college student deals with loneliness and anxiety in a foreign land. Chasing Purple is a homage to the classic spy novels and media.

I love and adore stealth games such as Metal Gear Solid and Hitman, where you can finish the entire game without even being seen by the enemy, and I love the visuals the characters get to identify the enemy. In stealth games, enemy will always have an unique aura around them to easily target them. Influenced by these media, I wrote Chasing Purple.

I hope you enjoy the story :)

Here is the link for Amazon US, if you prefer to buy it from there.

This week was exciting. I hit 20,000 words on my work in progress and did a bunch of planning for a Create Your Own Adventure novella I've tentatively decided to call Pass the Salt. It's another thriller with surrealistic elements and involves an underground nightclub, a missing person, and a woman with three front teeth. Once I'm done drafting my current project, that'll be next in line!


Also, a little while ago, I did something I thought I’d never do. I published my first book on Amazon for only $0.99! It’s a short contemporary survival thriller with heavy focus on character development. The entire first chapter is available to read on my writing blog. Here’s the blurb:

> Ph.D. research fellow Ty Graham travels to Moose’s Tooth Observatory in search of a new start. But, he discovers his new home has history. He’s not the only one with a secret. Even the crew of brilliant scientists atop Mount Denali can’t keep it hidden— the facility isn’t safe. Soon after his arrival, a storm brings the coldest temperatures ever recorded on the peak. With electricity gone and winter setting in, they must figure out a solution, or embrace the cold. Complicated by an unsolved disappearance that refuses to remain in the past, their survival depends on the truth.

Writing’s only a hobby for me. Still, it makes me excited to wake up every morning. It’s such an important part of my life and even though self-promo is scary, it’s necessary. Happy reading and happy writing!

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.

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!

Title: EYESORE

Genre: Accessible Literary Fiction

Words: 77k

Instances of the word 'fuck': 200+ which is fun

Type of feedback: Honest Amazon reviews (Book is free through July)

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N16JNMN/

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As I said, I'm looking for honest reviews. EYESORE was my first novel and I'm still really proud of it, though I think I've improved greatly since I wrote it. Again, she's free through July.

I've put my collection of Swords & Sorcery short stories up on Amazon. My first time using KDP select so curious to see how it goes.

Entertaining Tales of Grin the Cheat
cover


There was a time when heroes roamed between the Four Great Cities. They fought for kingdoms and princesses and they lived and died by their valour. Or so the stories say. The way the minstrels sing it, everyone had a swashbuckling good time.

Nowadays, buckles are rarely swashed. All the great beasts have been slain, all the great treasures unearthed. Princesses are few and far between — the ones worth fighting over, anyway — and the kingdoms have been divvied up between the sons of sons of sons of the heroes of old. No valour required.

Frankly, the hero business is in a sorry state. Luckily for Grin the Cheat, thieving and murder are thriving as usual.

I've read "Wired for Story", the article author's book. She lists plenty of studies.

To answer your question, I place that book in my top list of characterization advice. She also does an excellent job of reminding authors not to make beginner mistakes, mistakes she used to endure when when was an editor.

My other top pick is "Writing for Emotional Impact". Wow. That one was brilliant too. It's about screenplay writing, but gets straight to the heart of why readers are engaged with some writing more than others. And it has over a hundred examples from movies. (more or less)

Sorry it's so expensive, especially since it has a few typos. You may be able to find it free online or do an inter-library loan.

Hey, this is late but here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VX1HC7P/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=east+food+court&qid=1565505129&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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Definitely no pressure to purchase. It's not everyone's cup of tea. It's a YA dystopian novel about a society that lives in an airport--was a fun concept a just ran with. I'll be running a free promo sometime soon (basically, when Amazon lets me again). Maybe you can snag it then. Thanks for the interest!

The Elements of Eloquence is neat. It basically a compendium of rhetorical tools you can use to make better sentences.

You might also be interested in free verse poetry, which, if we're being honest, is nothing but very carefully written prose. I'm currently going through this book and enjoying it.

I also want to second Francine Prose's Reading like a Writer, which someone else already mentioned. It's fantastic.

I'm a comic book artist that went to school for it, still aspiring.

For understanding things like panel layout, pacing in comics, etc, check out Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics are pretty good for helping both artist and non-artist get what makes comics comics. Knowing how to create the visual comic, even if you can't draw, will help you direct your script.

Also, there is no official, streamlined way to write a comic script. Just make sure you put in all the necessary details while keeping things clear for the artist. Like if there's a bad guy with a secret weapon, make sure the artist knows that the moment he shows up so the artist can plan for it. And unless you're planning for a particular effect, don't make a guy do more than one thing in a panel.

You are not writing a story or a novel, you are writing a set of instructions for an artist and nobody will really see the script. I've seen scripts say things along the lines of, "The detective removes his hat, revealing a masculine, sexy face, like (insert actor here)".

It's also important to know about comic book panel layouts and whatnot because often it's acceptable for the writer to give the artist a drawing of a suggested layout.

The kind of people who read sci-fi are absolutely going to care about the science. No question. Maybe some research to make sure the idea itself is viable before trying to talk to scientists. They're busy folks and will appreciate it if you already have done your homework.

As far as developing the idea further, I like to use the method of Idea Spinner software to flesh the story out and fill in holes. I don't have the software itself because it's only for PC and I have a Mac, but I like to use that method in a mind-mapping program. Here's a link to the video that shows how the software works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vw1hoWAqbI

I also like the Snowflake Method. It lets you start from one basic idea and flesh it out gradually, making it more detailed and developing/refining characters and story until you have a completed story. Here's a link to the book the method is in - it's available on Kindle for cheap, and also in print. I have both - lol! He actually even made it entertaining to read, very different from the usual dry writing instruction books.

https://www.amazon.com/Snowflake-Method-Advanced-Fiction-Writing-ebook/dp/B00LWBZ696/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=novel+snowflake+method&qid=1556746625&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Plenty of writers started late. You're fine. Do NOT let bullshit like this slow you down. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Have a place where you can easily focus. Whether it be your room, the library, or in the middle of nowhere, just find somewhere you can be without distractions.
   
   
2. Read. Read a lot, and read deeply and critically. Underline parts you like, and try to think about the author's process. Want to write thrillers? Read a bunch of thrillers, learn what's been done, try to think of what hasn't. If there's a story you want to read and it hasn't been written, it's up to you to write it. And you don't have to break the bank buying books to read. The library should be your first resource, as well as any places in your area where people drop off unwanted books. Used book stores if you want to buy something, and there are plenty of places online to get cheap E-books. Project Gutenberg is a good place to start for classics. You may even want to try reading poetry. In my opinion reading and writing poetry is excellent for when it comes time to write some prose that isn't just functional. Here's a good place to start
   
   
3. Write. For fuck's sake just WRITE. Don't spend days just thinking about your story, write it. Or at least write down all your ideas and compose an outline. Outlines are very useful for determining what goes where, and doing macro-level thinking about the overall story. If you feel like you're stuck, make an outline. If you're not stuck and are being lazy, stop being lazy. Write the damn story, and don't stop. Do not stop after 3 paragraphs and start editting. Just write, even if it's shit. Especially if it's shit. Often it's the only way to advance your ideas. It is fine if your first draft is dogshit. What is not fine is not having a first draft after six months.
   
   Here are a few youtube channels about writing, and links to some books on writing.
   
   Lessons from the Screenplay This one is focused on scripts, but the concepts translate well when it comes to the overall story.
   
   Terrible Writing Advice These are all examples of what NOT to do.
   
   Just Write Similar to LFTS, but of lesser quality.
   
   Stephen King talking about writing
   
   The Elements of Style The OG writing book.
   
   Style: the art of writing well
   
   Stephen King: On Writing Part memoir and part writing guide. Well worth reading.
   
   
   These are good, but always be on the lookout for more resources.
   
   
   
   My last bit of advice, and probably the most important, is be authentic. It's your story. Write what you want to read, not just what other people want. Say what you want to say, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's not profitable. Don't be a pussy, and you'll be ok.

John Truby's Anatomy of Story is a great one. Joseph Cambell's A Hero with a Thousand Faces is also where The Hero's Journey comes from and worth a read to see what kinds of universal motifs and beats exist in stories.

Also second On Writing & The Elements of Style! Brandon Sanderson is also great, and he does FAQ Fridays on his blog where he answers questions on writing as well!

The Elements of Eloquence is a book about writing style and the elements of rhetoric and written language. I'm not sure how much they apply to other languages (if at all), but it certainly covers English (which you asked about :p )

It's a fun and easy read, whether or not you're a writer, and might be a useful toolbox for someone starting out in the language.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/042527618X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RXduDbKF09DTY

Title: Delicate

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Genre: Young Adult, Coming of age, Women's fiction

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Delicate the second edition has been completely revised and edited now with 5 brand new chapters!

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Type of Feedback: Do you like the story? Do you like the writing style? Do you like the improvements? The characters? The plot? Anything!

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All feedback is welcome and you can leave reviews on Amazon.

Ebook $2.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DZ86WP7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Paperback $6.99

https://www.amazon.com/DELICATE-Rachel-Zachary/dp/198325794X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I think these are both worthy reads. Fairly easy to dip in and out of too:

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer - Roy Peter Clark

The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase - Mark Forsyth

The last one I found especially interesting.

Not a website, but rather a book. I would highly recommend Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. It's incredibly entertaining and very educational.


EDIT: here's a link

I recieved this book as a gift and found it to be incredibly helpful. If you're looking for a really thorough rundown of the entire process, I definitely recommend it.

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.

For punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. For grammatical style, On Writing Well, though it's less of a grammar book. Workbook, Schaum's Outline of English Grammar.


One of the things my grammar teacher did that really helped me grasp the different pieces of grammar (clauses, modifiers, etc.) was to have us each choose a 500-ish word piece of writing, that she would approve, and then for each grammatical element we were studying, we would take that piece and find every instance of that element, and have our small groups check each other's as well. Our choices for college (Chesterton, Lewis, Lopate, White) might not be appropriate for high school or middle school, but you could have them pick pieces from books and authors they love. Hunger Games. Harry Potter. Rick Riordan's books. That way, when you're in a small group, you can see how different authors utilize different elements more or less and what it looks like in first person vs third person, etc.

This website is based off of Scott McCloud's facial expression explanation from his book Making Comics and seems to be what you are looking for. It doesn't give you the words, but it can help you visualize your character's emotions and give your own spin to describing them. I hope this helps!

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.

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

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Amazon

Play Books

The Best Punctuation Book, Period: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson

Amazon

Play Books

On Writing Well

Amazon

Play Books

Ooh, you should check out Eats, Shoots & Leaves. I haven't read it in about 15 years, but I recall it presenting the information in a very fun, memorable way.

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:

give the first book away for free

Inca

Zulu

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

If you haven't already, I highly recommend his book "On Writing". It is half about the craft and half about his life, and all enjoyable. Quite a good read.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is both hilarious and educational. Highly recommend.

For advanced study, I recommend narrative theory and depth psychology. Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron is a good start, but modern psychology tends to neglect the unconscious mind which is why I recommend some depth psychology for the significance of myth and symbols.

Wired for Story is absolutely amazing. I think every writer should read this, regardless of the type of writing they are doing.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell sounds like what you're looking for. While it's not a "how to" guide, the book is an artfully written exploration of mythology, psychology, and the concept of "monomyth" -- universal symbolism and meaning structures across cultures and time-periods. It also guided/inspired Star Wars.

edit: lined to book

Some fun books to start with:

Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss

Sin and Syntax, Constance Hale

Scott McCloud's books are a good primer.

I'm having a derpy autistic moment, so I can't tell if you're joking or not, but in case you're not joking, somebody [totally has written this book.] (http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936) :D

EDIT: typo

All fictions.... well 99.99% of fiction follows the Hero's Journey.


Book: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936

Documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093183/

Do yourself a favor and read Stephen King's book "On Writing". The first half tells you what made him the writer he is today. The second half is his personal tips and tricks on the craft, including his take on the plotting vs pantsing theory as well as referencing other self-help books on writing. He also challenges new writers to commit to 1k words a day, which doesn't work for everyone but it certainly lit a fire under my ass.

edit: link for the book on amazon. 13 bucks well spent.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0SIM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Pixar Ted Talk

Pixar 22 Rules of Writing

Jim Butcher's Writing Advice

Chuck Palahniuk on "thought" verbs

Chuck Palahniuk Writing Essays (almost a full book length)

Stephen King "On Writing" - Amazon link

Eats shoots and leaves

Unfortunately I haven't read Silmarillion, so I have to defer that question. But I still suggest looking into The Monomyth and The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The idea is simply that stories have taken very similar forms since the beginning of history. Joseph Campbell noticed how the mythologies of different cultures who could never have interacted were eerily similar: how Hercules or Gilgamesh or Cuchulainn were basically the same guy.

In recent years people have studied the psychology of this phenomena, and now we specifically reference it as a story telling tool. There are plenty of criticisms, saying it's paint by number etc... You can boil any story down to the basic "A hero goes somewhere to do something" which is so generic that it's meaningless. But that's why there is no point in directly comparing your work to LOTR. They will have to have similarities if you dig deeply enough.

Where is the point where they are different enough? Nobody can tell you without reading it. But from what you've already described you sound fine. I personally would draw the line somewhere around characters named "Blundalf the Blue" and "Leafbeard".