Writing Radar

Writing Radar
Author: Jack Gantos
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0374304564

Acclaimed author Jack Gantos's guide to becoming the best brilliant writer.

Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories

Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2005-05-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393070727

Shortlisted for the National Book Award: "Joan Silber writes with wisdom, humor, grace, and wry intelligence. Her characters bear welcome news of how we will survive."—Andrea Barrett Intense in subject yet restrained in tone, these stories are about longings—often held for years—and the ways in which sex and religion can become parallel forms of dedication and comfort. Though the stories stand alone, a minor element in one becomes major in the next. In "My Shape", a woman is taunted by her dance coach, who later suffers his own heartache. A Venetian poet of the 1500s, another storyteller, is introduced to a modern traveler reading Rilke. His story precedes a mesmerizing narrative of missionaries in China. In the final story, Giles, born to a priesthood family, leans toward Buddhism after a grievous loss, and in time falls in love with the dancer of the first story. So deft and subtle is Joan Silber with these various perspectives that we come full circle surprised and enchanted by her myriad worlds. National Book Award finalist. Reading group guide included.

Several Short Sentences About Writing

Several Short Sentences About Writing
Author: Verlyn Klinkenborg
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2013-04-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0307279413

An indispensable and distinctive book that will help anyone who wants to write, write better, or have a clearer understanding of what it means for them to be writing, from widely admired writer and teacher Verlyn Klinkenborg. Klinkenborg believes that most of our received wisdom about how writing works is not only wrong but an obstacle to our ability to write. In Several Short Sentences About Writing, he sets out to help us unlearn that “wisdom”—about genius, about creativity, about writer’s block, topic sentences, and outline—and understand that writing is just as much about thinking, noticing, and learning what it means to be involved in the act of writing. There is no gospel, no orthodoxy, no dogma in this book. Instead it is a gathering of starting points in a journey toward lively, lucid, satisfying self-expression.

The Magic of Fiction

The Magic of Fiction
Author: Beth Hill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2016-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780997177008

Writing a novel can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. No matter where you are with your writing project--beginning the first draft, rewriting the fifth draft, or editing the final draft--help is available. The Magic of Fiction is a comprehensive guide for crafting fiction. It's the perfect resource for writers planning to self-publish, authors looking for an edge for manuscript submissions, and editors looking for a handbook on craft. Students and educators will also benefit, with details about the crafts of writing and editing available in a single book.Whether you intend to self-publish or submit your manuscript to agents or publishers, use The Magic of Fiction to master the ins and outs of writing and revision, create stronger early drafts, and edit your own stories.This guide addresses all aspects of editing and writing, from the mechanics to story issues to style concerns. In it you'll find--~ A comprehensive editing checklist~ Fixes for common writing mistakes~ Specifics for punctuation in dialogue~ Tips for putting setting to work for your fiction~ Suggestions for editing for the reader~ Help for writing to genre conventions~ Tips for word choices~ A guide for editing approaches and much more.Every fiction writer should be equipped to not only write well, but to rewrite and edit. There are books designed to help you write a novel, books to help you revise, and books to help you with the nitty-gritty of punctuation and grammar. The Magic of Fiction brings all those elements together in a single easy-to-digest resource for the writer looking for an edge in today's literary marketplace.The format of The Magic of Fiction helps you focus on what you need when you need it. Chapters provide detailed discussions of topics and end with "quick lists" to help you get straight to work on your own stories.Written by freelance fiction editor Beth Hill, The Magic of Fiction will help you produce high-quality fiction that will earn attention for all the right reasons.

Tales of Courage and Kindness

Tales of Courage and Kindness
Author: Disney Books
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-10-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1368079431

A deluxe collection of empowering original short stories featuring your favorite Disney Princesses and Frozen Queens to mark the Ultimate Princess Celebration. The Disney Princesses and Frozen Queens get an infusion of girl power with this empowering collection of original stories that highlight each heroine's own acts of courage and kindness. Each story is accompanied by original illustrations created by diverse artists from around the world. • Enjoy the Ultimate Princess Celebration from your own home with this deluxe hardcover story collection • Features stories about all 12 Disney Princesses—plus two bonus stories about the Frozen Queens! • Beautiful original illustrations featuring the Disney Princesses and Frozen Queens as you've never seen them before Complete your story book collection with these fan-favorite, best sellers: • 5 Minute Girl Power Stories • 5 Minute Princess Stories • Disney Princess Storybook Collection • Powers of a Girl

The Usual Rules

The Usual Rules
Author: Joyce Maynard
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2004-02-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429977574

A teenage girl learns to cope with sudden tragedy in the wake of 9/11 “in this moving story of love and loss [that] will make you laugh and cry” (Judy Blume). It’s a Tuesday morning in Brooklyn—a perfect September day. Thirteen-year-old Wendy is heading to school, eager to make plans with her best friend, worried about how she looks, mad at her mother for not letting her visit her father in California, impatient with her little brother and with the almost too-loving concern of her stepfather. She’s out the door to catch the bus. An hour later comes the news: A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center—her mother’s office building. Through Wendy’s eyes, readers follow her slow and terrible realization that her mother has died, and the family’s struggle to move forward with their lives. Wendy’s journey takes her to California, where she forges friendships with her father’s cactus-growing girlfriend, a teenage mom, and a sad bookstore owner with an autistic son. Along the way, she begins to understand the deep love and connection she has with her brother. The Usual Rules is an unexpectedly hopeful story of healing and forgiveness that offers readers a picture of how—out of the rubble—a family rebuilds its life.

Writing for Story

Writing for Story
Author: Jon Franklin
Publisher: Berkley
Total Pages: 294
Release: 1987
Genre: Rhetoric
ISBN:

It's the new nonfiction: the creative hybrid combining the readability and excitement of fiction with the best of expository prose; the innovative genre that has been awarded virtually every Pulitzer Prize for literary journalism since 1979. In this book, an undisputed master of the great American nonfiction short story shares his secrets.

DIY MFA

DIY MFA
Author: Gabriela Pereira
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-07-08
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1599639343

Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.

The Shell Collector

The Shell Collector
Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1439190054

In this astonishingly assured, exquisitely crafted debut collection, Anthony Doerr takes readers from the African coast to the suburbs of Ohio, from sideshow pageantry to harsh wilderness survival, charting a vast and varied emotional landscape. Like the best storytellers, Doerr explores the human condition in all its manifestations: metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts. Most dazzling is Doerr's gift for conjuring nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of their respective landscapes.

Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt
Author: Jack Gantos
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 142996250X

Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.