Who doesn’t love a good story? It has been said that within each of us are endless tales to tell, and many of us are eager to let those stories out into the world. Whether the pen touches the paper or the fingers press the computer keys, there’s something vividly romantic about the act of writing stories. But how, exactly, does one start a fiction piece? Do you just sit there and type while the muses whisper sweet nothings in your ear? Author Lauren Bingham is here to provide tips on how to write fiction for folks who are timid, terrified, or somewhere in between.

Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.

Why do some stories work and others don't? The answer is structure. In this IPPY and NIEA Award-winning guide from the author of the bestselling Outlining Your Novel, you will discover the universal underpinnings that guarantee powerful plot and character arcs. An understanding of proper story and scene structure will help you to not only perfectly time your story's major events, but will also provide you with an unerring standard to use in evaluating your novel's pacing and progression.

Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."

The fastest way to succeed as an author is to write more books. How do you do that with a day job, family, school or all your other time commitments? The secret I,s efficiency. 5,000 Words Per Hour will help you maximize your writing time by building effective habits that both measure and increase your writing speed. Create an effective writing habit. Track and improve your WPH.

Whether you simply want to jot down family folklore to share with future generations or wish to try your hand at writing a best-selling novel, Just Write! provides gentle yet realistic guidance for those who want to write their first book. With her humorous—yet realistic—explanations of the writing process, Lauren Bingham is here to help you make your first book become a reality. You’ll receive the encouragement you’ve been craving, as well as the empathy a new writer needs.

Thanks to comedy writing guru John Vorhaus (author of The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not), writing situation comedy is easier than ever. In The Little Book of Sitcom, you'll find a whole trove of tools, tricks, and problem-solving techniques that you can use - now, today - to be the sitcom writer of your wildest dreams. Ready to write? Ready to have fun? The Little Book of Sitcom is the big little book for you.

The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature.

In Sometimes the Magic Works, New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks shares his secrets for creating unusual, memorable fiction. Spanning topics from the importance of daydreaming to the necessity of writing an outline, from the fine art of showing instead of merely telling to creating believable characters who make readers care what happens to them, Brooks draws upon his own experiences, hard lessons learned, and delightful discoveries made.

Let outlines help you write a better book! Writers often look upon outlines with fear and trembling. But when properly understood and correctly wielded, the outline is one of the most powerful weapons in a writer's arsenal.

Ayn Rand discusses how a writer combines abstract ideas with concrete action and description to achieve a unity of theme, plot, characterization, and style, the four essential elements of fiction. Here, too, are Rand's illuminating analyses of passages from famous writers, rewrites of scenes from her own works, and fascinating rules for building dramatic plots and characters with depth.

"Writing is structure,” William Goldman said, but too often aspiring writers plunge into their work without grasping this fundamental principle. Story structure is one of the most important concepts for a writer to understand - and ironically, one of the least frequently taught. In this book, New York Times best-selling author William Bernhardt explains the elements that make stories work, using examples spanning from Gilgamesh to The Hunger Games.

When you think of unforgettable characters from books you’ve read, who comes to mind? James Bond, Harry Potter, Scarlett O’Hara, Elizabeth Bennett, Atticus Finch, Sherlock Holmes? These are just some of the most iconic characters in fiction. They are so memorable that even decades or centuries later, they still captivate our imagination. But what exactly is it about them that keeps generations so invested in them? Writers apply certain rules and tricks with their characters to make their stories shine. With this guide, you’ll find out exactly what they are.

When it comes to writing books, are you a "plotter" or a "pantser"? Is one method really better than the other? In this instructional book, author Libbie Hawker explains the benefits and technique of planning a story before you begin to write. She'll show you how to develop a foolproof character arc and plot, how to pace any book for a can't-put-down reading experience, and how to ensure that your stories are complete and satisfying without wasting any time or words.

They say writing is rewriting. So why does the second part get such short shrift? Refuse to Be Done will guide you through every step of the novel writing process, from getting started on those first pages to the last tips for making your final draft even tighter and stronger.