Writing · A User Manual by Hewson, David -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Contents Foreword Introduction 1 Plan

Charlie and the Mermaid A Writing frame of Mind In Order to write Books You have to Read Books What Kind of writer are You? The Charlie Variations

Crime Thriller Fantasy Young Adult

Point of View

First Person Second Person Third Person Conformity of point of view Alternating Viewpoints Through the eyes of others

A Question of Tense

In the Present In the Past

Decisions Keeping A Book Journal Outlining Locations Characters Research Quotations And now it’s time to start

2 Write

Writing Tools

Hardware Software Formatting Backup and Security

Structure The First Act: In the Beginning . . .

The great opening scene myth The Problem Characterisation Pick a name, any name We don’t need another hero Dialogue Contractions Exposition in Dialogue The interior conversation He said, She said To say or not to say I like adverbs – there, I said it, boldly Speaking in Tongues

Creating A World

Connections Descriptions Write about what you don’t know Getting too close to your subject No news is good news

Voice and Style

Word Choice Pace

Book Division

Scene Length

Sex, Violence and Swearing

**** Me! what’s the deal with swearing? Violence Sex – do you need it? He, She or it

A short typing Lesson Sophistication Ahead: Proceed with Care Writing A Series

This guy does what exactly? Avoiding Sherlock Dealing with time Every book’s a new book to someone

Pre-Flight Checklist

Objects of minor significance Objects of major significance First-act synopsis

The Second Act: Forks in the Road

Why Charlie didn’t go to London Bring on those unplaced scenes When you’re stuck The pervasive myth of writer’s block Keeping a project alive You don’t need to write every day Beware of big second-act ideas Underwrite, not overwrite Avoiding peer pressure Treat those word counts cautiously Small changes, big difference Overcoming the second-act demons Second-act synopsis

The Third Act – That’s All Folks

Take a break Writing like the wind Adjusting the rhythm In search of a conclusion More series considerations Answers that convince False endings and epilogues How long should your finished book be? Third-act synopsis

3 Deliver

First Revise Second Revise Final Revise Titles, Titles, Titles Making it Easier for Readers What Happens Next

Appendix

Word Processing Specialist Writing Applications Information Management

Author Biography Imprint