9780470059104

Includes advice on perfecting dialogue, plot, and endings Turn your bright idea into a brilliant novel With a published author advising you on how to write a great novel, and a literary agent on how to get a publishing deal, this guide gives you the complete inside track on the art and science of breaking into the fiction publishing industry. It takes you step-by-step from concept to contract so you have all the tools you need to tell your story with skill, and approach agents and publishers with confidence. * Structure your novel * Develop believable characters * Put the seven basic stories to work * Troubleshoot and edit your work * Get a good agent * Negotiate a deal

George Green is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. He has written two novels, Hound and Hawk.

Lizzy Kremer is an agent at David Higham Associates, one of the UK's leading literary agencies.

Introduction.About This Book.Conventions Used in This Book.What You''re Not To Read.Foolish Assumptions.How This Book is Organised.Part 1:.Part II.Part II.Etc.Icons Used in this Book.Where to Go From Here.PART 1 : Starting Out.Chapter One.Overview - The World in Which We Write.New writers often have an unrealistic idea of the environment in which they operate. This chapter will - gently - suggest the need for some realism, practicality and common sense, without losing sight of the extraordinary thing that writing is.The Market.The Reader.The Odds and How To Better Them.Genre.A Brief Note on Ethics.Writing is Editing.Time Management.Knowing Yourself.This is Just How Depressed You May Get.Reading - Learning to be a Brain-Surgeon.Reading - Not Re-inventing the Wheel.Blue-Sky Thinking and Where to Do It.Trust The Process.Chapter 2 : Tools, Technical Stuff and Hitting the Ground Running.This chapter will take a non-prescriptive view of these matters, while emphasising that there is a level of industry expectation below which the writer must not fall.[Grammar - Attacked by a Gerund and Bitten on the Datives.Spelling - For This, Thy Spell-Check, Bill We Thank You.Style - Be Told, but Don''t Be Fooled.Presentation - Just Be Told].Kit - A Nice Pen and Awarding Yourself a Doughnut.Taking The First Step - Page One.Part II: Writing.Chapter 2 : Structuring the Story .This chapter will talk about taking an overview of the story.The Big Picture Not the Small Stuff.Planning the Novel.Pitching the High Concept - "About-ness".Archetypes : what they are and why you need them.Chapter 3 : The Hero''s Journey.This chapter will talk about The Hero''s Journey as a model for story-telling, not as a template for all stories, but as a useful way of understanding the whole idea.The 12 Stages of the Journey.Star Wars and Lord of the Rings: The Hero as John Wayne Soap Operas: The Hero as My Dad.Heroes where Nothing Really Happens: a note on Lit Fic.Chapter 4 : The Six...Seven...Ten Basic Stories. Whatever.This chapter will suggest that an awareness of the idea of Seven Basic Stories will save the writer time and will clarify the process of story-telling.What''s Your Story?Don''t Borrow, Steal.Don''t Tell Narrative, Tell Story.A Very Brief Note on Plagiarism.Chapter 5 : The Story Arc.This chapter will suggest that the idea of a Story Arc is indispensable to the writer."Start with an earthquake and move up from there." .The Graph of Action.Light and Shade.Pacing.The Three-Act Structure.Chapter 6 : Character and Personality.This chapter will suggest way of creating and building interesting characters."Hang On, isn''t that Our Barry he''s talking about?".Using yourself and your friends.Mixing people up.What makes a character interesting?Good Guys and Bad Guys.Chapter 7 : Relationships.This chapter will go further into character, suggesting ways that characters can be made more complex and their relationships with others made more convincing.Helpers and Hinderers.What''s My Motivation?That''s a Lucky Coincidence.The Back-story - what''s your alibi?Interrogating the character .Chapter 8 : Dialogue.This chapter will explain the difference between dialogue and speech, and will show how dialogue can be used to move a story along.Lurking at Bus-Stops: The Alan Bennett Problem.Like, er, it isn''t...um, like talking, knowarImean?Register and Tone - Good Manners and High Class.Dialect and Phonetics - Writing It Like It Sounds, innit?PART 3 : Moving.Chapter 9 : Plotting .This chapter will move the writer from the beginning into the middle of the story.Tackling that tricky First Really Big Crisis.Peaks and Troughs.Pumping Up the Volume #1.Chapter 10 : Conflict .This chapter will emphasise the importance of the different types of conflict.Star Wars and Lord of the Rings: Big Swords and All That Soap Operas: Heroes Without Light Sabres.Internal and External Conflicts.Pumping Up the Volume #2.Chapter 11 : Complication.This chapter will emphasise the importance of complication and the layering

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Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies

Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies

0470059109

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