The year 2006. I have got a job at the steel plant, met a girl and soon we moved to live together in her apartment. We just wanted to live and be happy. But one day spoilt everything. It started when my friends and I went into the casino club.

A fully revised and updated edition with writing prompts and challenges in every chapterToday’s writers need more spunk than Strunk: whether it's the Great American e-mail, Madison Avenue advertising, or Grammy Award-winning rap lyrics, memorable writing must jump off the page. Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone.With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Synt...

Little did Louis L'Amour realize back in 1960 when he published The Daybreakers, a novel about two brothers who came west after the Civil War, that he had begun creating what would become perhaps North America's most widely followed literary family: the Sacketts. The stories of ten generations of Sackett men and women as they forged westward from tyranny-wracked seventeenth-century England across the American continent have captivated readers for three decades through seventeen no...

If you're new to fiction writing, this book's for you! Are you tired of dreaming about writing a novel—waiting for the novel in your head to magically appear? Tired of being told to “write a little bit a day every day?” How’s that advice working for you? It’s not, is it?  If it was, your novel would be written already. But I hear you—writing fiction isn't easy. When I first learned how to write a novel, that “helpful” information … wasn't. I went...

There’s more to writing a successful fantasy story than building a unique world or inventing a new type of magic. From the writing of strong, action-packed scenes to the creation of dynamic, multi-dimensional characters, fantasy author Deborah Chester guides novices and intermediate writers through a step-by-step process of story construction. Whether offering tips on how to test a plot premise or survive what she calls the dark dismal middle, Chester shares the techniques she uses in writ...

Every great writer has a unique way of setting a story to paper. And, it turns out, many of these writers used methods that were just as inventive as the works they produced. Odd Type Writers explores the quirky writing habits of renowned authors, including Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, and Alexandre Dumas, among many others.* To meet his deadline for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo placed himself under strict house arrest, locking up all of his clothes and wea...

Want to add blood to your scenes without making a mess? Too many authors get squeamish or sloppy about including the red stuff in their stories. This research guide presents an accurate and accessible gateway into the world of blood spatter and its analysis.Written as a resource for the professional author, this “Forensics for Fiction” title provides user-friendly approaches to realistic details by covering:¤ Terms and techniques of spatter analysis¤ Pattern...

A writer's life is filled with second guessing, and revising, and starting over from scratch. It can make a writer determined to forge ahead, or decide to stop putting words on the page forever.This collection is meant to raise your spirits when it seems like the writing is at a constant black moment. You'll see how to handle that cranky inner critic, outsmart the fussy muse, and turn avoidance and procrastination into valuable productivity tools.An encouraging word can hel...

Is the idea of self-publishing daunting to you?The obstacles seem great, but as Martin Luther King said, "You don't have to see the whole staircase - just take the next step."Whether you're an aspiring writer, have already written a book or are a trade published author looking for a different publishing direction, there is no better time than now to get your words out there through self-publishing.This is not a motivational book.Instead, this b...

Electronic publishing has upset the equilibrium enjoyed by the publishing industry for the last half-century. While some celebrate the overthrow of the gate-keeping elite and the democratization of publishing, others lament the end of literary culture.Beneath the enthusiasm and the angst, a new market has opened as commercial publishers abandon mid-list books in favor of blockbusters. Thanks to online markets where books never go out of print, it is now possible for authors to earn...

What is the best way to tell a story? In this anthology, the first-ever collection of essays by innovative, cutting-edge writers on the theme of narration, forty of the continent's top experimental writers describe their engagement with language, storytelling and the world. The anthology includes renowned writers like Kathy Acker, Dennis Cooper, Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, Lydia Davis and Kevin Killian, writers who have spent years pondering the meaning of storytelling and how storyte...