F W: 2193 books

What makes a good story or a screenplay great? The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry....

Craft Compelling Dialogue When should your character talk, what should (or shouldn't) he say, and when should he say it? How do you know when dialogue--or the lack thereof--is dragging down your scene? How do you fix a character who speaks without the laconic wit of the Terminator? Write...

Great narratives are built piece by piece, through myriad small tasks and careful moves. In this landmark book, Robert Olmstead shows how distinguished writers past and present have built their fiction and nonfiction. Through this writer's-eye analysis of more than 150 of literature's most finely...

Write Scenes that Move Your Story Forward In Make a Scene, author Jordan E. Rosenfeld takes you through the fundamentals of strong scene construction and explains how other essential fiction-writing techniques, such as character, plot, and dramatic tension, must function within the framework of individual...

Create Complex Characters How do you create a main character readers won't forget? How do you write a book in multiple-third-person point of view without confusing your readers (or yourself)? How do you plant essential information about a character's past into a story? Write Great Fiction:...

Build a Believable World How essential is setting to a story? How much description is too much? In what ways do details and setting tie into plot and character development? How can you use setting and description to add depth to your story? You can find all the answers you need in Write...

What's more important to a story: a gripping plot or compelling characters? Literary-minded novelists argue in favor of character-based novels while commercial novelists argue in favor of plot-based stories, but the truth of the matter is this: The best fiction is rich in both. Enter Plot Versus...

Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your imagination. Award-winning author Orson Scott...

Don't let the revision process intimidate you any longer. Discover how to successfully transform your first draft into a polished final draft readers won't be able to forget. In Write Great Fiction: Revision & Self-Editing, James Scott Bell draws on his experience as a novelist and instructor...

Written by woman of action Katrina "Action Flick Chick" Hill, Action Movie Freak is packed with spine-tingling excitement and thrilling moments that make action movies a beloved genre for those who crave crashing cars, exploding buildings, and faces getting kicked six ways to Sunday. With...

Writing humor is subjective and challenging - thankfully, there are many ways to create it. How to Write Funny provides advice, insights and humor from more than twenty writers with a gift for making readers laugh. In a diverse collection of articles and interviews, both classic and new, this...

In her first two books, Sheila Davis classified the major song forms and enduring principles that have been honored for decades by America's foremost songwriters. Those books have become required reading in music courses from NYU to UCLA. In The Songwriters Idea Book, Davis goes one step further,...

Give Your Songwriting a Competitive Edge This book takes you on the songwriter's journey from the first inspiration for a song to the collection of worldwide royalties. Experienced songwriters Pat and Pete Luboff point out the stumbling blocks you'll encounter along the way, and how to turn...

Your Vinyl Answer Goldmine's Essential Guide to Record Collecting celebrates some of the finest vinyl ever pressed by music’s greatest artists. You'll find the royalty of Rock (Elvis, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones), the pioneers of Punk (The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones), Motown's...