Log In
Or create an account -> 
Imperial Library
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Upload
  • Forum
  • Help
  • Login/SignUp

Index
Introduction About This Book Conventions Used In This Book What You're Not to Read Foolish Assumptions How This Book Is Organized Part I: Getting Ready to Write Fiction Part II: Creating Compelling Fiction Part III: Editing and Polishing Your Story and Characters Part IV: Getting Published Part V: The Part of Tens Icons Used in This Book Where to Go from Here Part I Chapter 1: Fiction Writing Basics Setting Your Ultimate Goal As a Writer Pinpointing Where You Are As a Writer Freshmen: Concentrating on craft Sophomores: Tackling the proposal Juniors: Perfecting their pitches Seniors: Preparing to become authors Getting Yourself Organized Mastering Characterization, Plotting, and Other Skills Editing Your Fiction Chapter 2: What Makes a Great Story? Choosing What to Give Your Readers Creating a powerful emotional experience: What your readers desperately want Educating your reader Practicing the gentle art of persuasion Making Life Hard on Your Characters: Conflict Plus Change Equals Story The Five Pillars of Fiction Setting the stage: Your story world Creating characters Constructing the plot Formulating a theme Expressing your style Seven Ways to Deliver the Goods The here and now: Action Giving your characters a voice: Dialogue Revealing thoughts: Interior monologue Feeling with your character: Interior emotion Seeing what your character sees: Description Taking a trip to the past: Flashback Supplying narrative summary Chapter 3: Finding Your Audience and Category Identifying Your Ideal Novel Looking at what you love to read Thinking about what you love to write Defining Your Ideal Reader Considering worldview and interests Looking at gender Writing for readers of a certain age Defining your niche Understanding Your Category Genres: Surveying categories based on content Understanding audience-based categories Pickingcategory and subcategory Finding Your Category's Requirements Targeting your word count Accounting for major characters Determining levels of action, romance, and all that Identifying your story's emotional driver Chapter 4: Four Ways to Write a Great Novel Giving Yourself Permission to Write Badly Creative Paradigms: Investigating Various Writing Methods Writing without planning or editing Editing as you go Planning a little, writing a little Outlining before you write Finding a Creative Paradigm that Works for You Understanding why method matters Developing your creative paradigm Using Your Creative Paradigm to Find Your Story Structure Chapter 5: Managing Your Time . . . and Yourself Finding Time to Write Establishing and sticking to a writing goal — for this week and this year Organizing your time Setting Up Your Ideal Writing Space Securing the best writing surface Finding the right chair Choosing a computer (if you want to use one) Putting everything in place Dealing with Distractions Looking at Money Matters Budgeting money for writing Making your living as a writer: Don't expect this to be your day job (yet) Part II Chapter 6: Building Your Story World: The Setting for Your Story Identifying the Parts of a Story World Creating a Sense of Place Making description do double duty Fitting description in the story Weaving emotive force into your descriptions Deciding What Drives Your Cultural Groups Revealing cultural drivers with immediate scene Exposition: Explaining cultural drivers through narrative summary Combining various elements to show cultural drivers Choosing the Backdrop for Conflict Defining your backdrop Defining your story question Story World Examples from Four Well-Known Novels Pride and Prejudice The Pillars of the Earth Patriot Games Ender's Game Researching Your Story World Identifying what you need to know about your story world Knowing how much research is enough Being Able to Explain Your Story World to Sell Your Book Chapter 7: Creating Compelling Characters Defining Roles: Deciding Who Goes in Your Novel Backstory: Giving Each Character a Past Understanding why backstory matters Creating your character's backstory Avoiding stereotypes Motivation: Looking to Your Character's Future Values: Core truths for your character Ambitions: Getting abstract, or why Miss America wants "world peace" Story goals: Your story's ultimate driver Establishing your character's motivation Point of View (POV): Getting Some Perspective on Character First-person POV Third-person POV Objective third-person POV Head-hopping POV Omniscient POV Second-person POV Choosing between Past and Present Tense Revealing Your Characters to the Reader Chapter 8: Storyline and Three-Act Structure: The Top Layers of Your Plot Giving the Big Picture of Story Structure: Your Storyline Understanding the value of a storyline Writing a great storyline Examples: Looking at storylines for 20 best-selling novels Three-Act Structure: Setting Up Three Disasters Looking at the value of a three-act structure Timing the acts and disasters Introducing a great beginning The end of the beginning: Getting commitment with the first disaster Supporting the middle with a second major disaster Leading to the end: Tackling the third disaster Wrapping up: Why endings work — or don't Summarizing Your Three-Act Structure for Interested Parties Examples: Summarizing The Matarese Circle and Pride and Prejudice Describing your own three-act structure Chapter 9: Synopsis, Scene List, and Scene: Your Middle Layers of Plot Deciding Which Order to Work In Writing the Synopsis Taking it from the top: Fleshing out your three-act structure Bottoms up! Building around sequences of scenes Knowing how much detail you need Example: A synopsis of Ender's Game Developing Your Scene List Top-down: Fleshing out your synopsis Bottom-up: Summarizing your manuscript Example: A scene list of Ender's Game Extending your scene list Setting Up the Structure of Individual Scenes Setting the proactive scene Following up with the reactive scene Coming full circle with your scenes Scene structure in Gone With the Wind Scene structure in Patriot Games Chapter 10: Action, Dialogue, and More: The Lowest Layer of Your Plot Using Seven Core Tools for Showing and Telling Action Dialogue Interior emotion Interior monologue Description Flashback Narrative summary and other forms of telling The Secret of Showing Sorting it all out Understanding the two kinds of clips Writing public clips Writing private clips Putting cause and effect together Chapter 11: Thinking Through Your Theme Understanding Why Your Theme Matters Looking at why writers include themes in their novels Examining the features of a theme Example themes for 20 novels Deciding When to Identify Your Theme Finding Your Theme Faking it till you make it Reading your own novel for the first time Listening to your characters Using test readers Must you have a theme? Refining Your Theme Part III Chapter 12: Analyzing Your Characters The High-Level Read-Through: Preparing Yourself to Edit Developing a Bible for Each Character Physical traits Emotional and family life Intellectual and work life Backstory and motivation Psychoanalyzing Your Characters Are values in conflict? Do the values make sense from the backstory? Does ambition follow from values? Will the story goal satisfy the ambition? The Narrator: Fine-Tuning Point-of-View and Voice Does your POV strategy work? Have you chosen the right POV character? Is your POV consistent? Does your character have a unique voice? Fixing Broken Characters Boring characters Shallow characters Unbelievable characters Unlikeable characters Chapter 13: Scrutinizing Your Story Structure Editing Your Storyline Removing all unnecessary weight Keeping your characters anonymous Staying focused Cutting down some example storylines Testing Your Three-Act Structure What are your three disasters? Are your acts balanced in length? The beginning: Does it accelerate the story? The first disaster: Is the call to action clear? The second disaster: Does it support the long middle? The third disaster: Does it force the ending? The ending: Does it leave your reader wanting to tell others? Scene List: Analyzing the Flow of Scenes Rearranging your scenes Foreshadowing: Planting clues to prepare readers Putting it all together as a second draft Chapter 14: Editing Your Scenes for Structure Triage: Deciding Whether to Fix, Kill, or Leave a Scene Alone Identifying ailing scenes Evaluating a scene's chances of recovery Fixing Proactive Scenes Imagining a proactive scene: The Day of the Jackal Checking for change Choosing a powerful goal Stretching out the conflict Desperately seeking setbacks Examining the final result Fixing Reactive Scenes Imagining a reactive scene: Outlander Checking for change (again) Fitting the reaction to the setback Working through the dilemma Coming to a decision Coming to the final result Killing an Incurable Scene Chapter 15: Editing Your Scenes for Content Deciding Whether to Show or Tell Knowing when clips, flashbacks, or telling techniques are most appropriate Following an example of decision-making A Good Show: Editing Clips Guidelines for editing clips Fixing mixed clips Fixing unintentional head-hopping Fixing out-of-body experiences Fixing cause-effect problems Fixing time-scale problems Getting In and Out of Flashbacks Editing Telling Tightening text and adding color Knowing when to kill a segment of telling Part IV Chapter 16: Getting Ready to Sell Your Book: Polishing and Submitting Polishing Your Manuscript Teaming with critique buddies Joining critique groups Working with freelance editors Hiring freelance proofreaders Looking at Three Common Legal Questions Deciding between Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing Understanding how traditional publishers work Understanding how self-publishing works Beware the vanity publishers! Our recommendation First Contact: Writing a Query Letter Piecing Together a Proposal Deciding what to include Your cover letter: Reminding the agent who you are Your title page The executive summary page Market analysis: Analyzing your competition Your author bio Character sketches The dreaded synopsis Your marketing plan Your writing, including sample chapters (or whole manuscripts!) Chapter 17: Approaching Agents and Editors Defining the Roles of Agents and Editors Finding the Best Agent for You Deciding whether you need an agent Doing your homework on agents first Contacting agents to pitch your work Editors, the Center of Your Writing Universe Targeting a publishing house Choosing which editor to contact Contacting editors directly Part V Chapter 18: Ten Steps to Analyzing Your Story Step 1: Write Your Storyline Step 2: Write Your Three-Act Structure Step 3: Define Your Characters Step 4: Write a Short Synopsis Step 5: Write Character Sketches Step 6: Write a Long Synopsis Step 7: Create Your Character Bible Step 8: Make Your Scene List Step 9: Analyze Your Scenes Step 10: Write and Edit Your Story Chapter 19: Ten Reasons Novels Are Rejected The Category Is Wrong Bad Mechanics and Lackluster Writing The Target Reader Isn't Defined The Story World Is Boring The Storyline Is Weak The Characters Aren't Unique and Interesting The Author Lacks a Strong Voice The Plot Is Predictable The Theme Is Overbearing The Book Fails to Deliver a Powerful Emotional Experience
  • ← Prev
  • Back
  • Next →
  • ← Prev
  • Back
  • Next →

Chief Librarian: Las Zenow <zenow@riseup.net>
Fork the source code from gitlab.

This is a mirror of the Tor onion service:
http://kx5thpx2olielkihfyo4jgjqfb7zx7wxr3sd4xzt26ochei4m6f7tayd.onion