Elements of Craft for Mystery Fiction
Master the elements of craft for mystery fiction with this essential list of books. Learn plot, suspense, character development, and more to write captivating whodunits.
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Elements of Fiction Writing - Description
by Monica Wood
Description is most powerful when it's visible, aural, tactile. Make your descriptions fresh and they'll move your story forward, imbue your work with atmosphere, create that tang of feeling that editors cry for and readers crave. Monica Wood helps you squeeze the greatest flavor from the language. She segments description like an orange, separating its slices to let you sample each one. You'll learn about: Detail, and how you can use description to awaken the reader's senses of touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight Plot, from advancing story using only relevant description—and how to edit out sluggish, reader-stopping writing Style, and the use of description to create a mood that matches your story's content Point of view, how selecting omniscient, first person or third person limited narrative influences the descriptive freedom you have Creating original word depictions of people, animals, places, weather and movement Wood teaches by example, developing stories with characters in various situations, to show you how you can apply description techniques. You'll also see samples of work by such noted writers as Mark Helprin, Anne Tyler and Raymond Carver. And you'll find the dos and don'ts, lists and descriptive alternatives to common verbs and nouns, and tips for editing your work.
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The Elements of Mystery Fiction
by William G Tapply
The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing the Modern Whodunit has guided and inspired mystery writers—veterans as well as beginners—for nearly a decade. Here William G. Tapply, with more than 20 popular mystery and suspense novels under his belt, isolates the crucial “elements” of the mystery novels that publishers want to publish and readers want to read: original plots, clever clues, sympathetic sleuths, memorable villains, multi-dimensional supporting characters, true-to-life settings, sharp narrative hooks, and, of course, smooth writing. In clear, readable prose using examples from many of our best contemporary mystery novelists, Tapply shows how the writer can create the pieces and fit them together to make a story you can’t put down. This new expanded edition of Elements contains original chapters by some of our best contemporary writers and most prominent personalities in the publishing world discussing writing and business issues that are vital to mystery writers in the 21st century.
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How to Write Killer Fiction
by Carolyn Wheat
Examines ways to help you write fiction for mystery and suspense.
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Plot & Structure (Write Great Fiction)
by James Scott Bell
Craft an Engaging Plot How does plot influence story structure? What's the difference between plotting for commercial and literary fiction? How do you revise a plot or structure that's gone off course? With Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, you'll discover the answers to these questions and more. Award-winning author James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including: • Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and ends • Easy-to-understand plotting diagrams and charts • Brainstorming techniques for original plot ideas • Thought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapter • Story structure models and methods for all genres • Tips and tools for correcting common plot problems Filled with plot examples from popular novels, comprehensive checklists, and practical hands-on guidance, Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure gives you the skills you need to approach plot and structure like an experienced pro.
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The Seven Basic Plots
by Christopher Booker
This volume provides an analysis of stories' plot structures and their psychological meanings, attempting to distill all of storytelling down to a few archetypes. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., the author leads readers through the changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have 'lost the plot' by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose. He analyzes why evolution has given us the need to tell stories and illustrates how storytelling has provided a uniquely revealing mirror to mankind's psychological development over the past 5000 years.
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Emotional structure : creating the story beneath the plot ; a guide for screenwriters
by Peter Dunne
No summary available.
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Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint (Write Great Fiction)
by Nancy Kress
Create Complex Characters How do you create a main character readers won't forget? How do you write a book in multiple-third-person point of view without confusing your readers (or yourself)? How do you plant essential information about a character's past into a story? Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by award-winning author Nancy Kress answers all of these questions and more! This accessible book is filled with interactive exercises and valuable advice that teaches you how to: • Choose and execute the best point of view for your story • Create three-dimensional and believable characters • Develop your characters' emotions • Create realistic love, fight, and death scenes • Use frustration to motivate your characters and drive your story With dozens of excerpts from some of today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint provides you with the techniques you need to create characters and stories sure to linger in the hearts and minds of agents, editors, and readers long after they've finished your book.
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Dynamic Characters
by Nancy Kress
A truly unforgettable story is defined by its characters. Their motivations, their changes, their actions compel us to read on, anxiously trying to discern what will happen next. In Dynamic Characters, award-winning author and Writer's Digest columnist Nancy Kress explores the fundamental relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. Kress balances her writing instruction with hands-on checklists to help you build strong characters from the outside in. Blending physical, emotional and mental characterization, you'll learn to create characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations, make physical and emotional transformations, and power the plot from beginning to end.
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The Writer's Quotebook
by Jim Fisher
If you have ever stared a page that remains stubbornly blank; if you have ever wondered why writers write, or whether good writers are born or made; if you are a novelist, playwright, poet, or journalist, or simply delight in the written word, The Writer's Quotebook is for you. Whether you keep it in your office, on your coffee table, next to your keyboard or your bed, this rich compendium of over one thousand quotations will inspire, invigorate, and illuminate the often challenging, sometimes humorous, but always fascinating task of those who bring words to life. From William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway to Doris Lessing and Joyce Carol Oates, more than five hundred published writers put pen to paper on what the literary life is all about. Selections come from seasoned professionals as well as those just establishing their voice, and they represent a variety of nationalities and genres. The book is divided into three sections. The first part is devoted to the creative process, including thoughts on where writers get their ideas, the role of inspiration, what kind of people write, and where talent comes from. In part two, the subject shifts to writing as a craft. Here, authors ponder the creation of protagonists and points of view, the writing of dialogue, setting and description, creating plots, and the anatomy of style. The final third of the book deals with the challenges and rewards that come with the writing life. Subjects in this section include the economic realities of writing, classes, conferences, and workshops, dealing with rejection and bad reviews, writing habits and rituals, despair, alcohol, suicide, and fame. Articulated with elegant metaphor, in straightforward prose, or with wry wit, the carefully selected and thoughtfully organized quotations come together to form a narrative that entertains, informs, and in the case of aspiring writers, shows the way to better writing.
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Writer's Guide to Character Traits
by Linda Edelstein
From Sex to Schizophrenia: Everything You Need to Develop Your Characters! What makes a person commit a white-collar crime? Who is a likely candidate to join a cult? Why do children have imaginary friends? How does birth order affect whether or not a person gets married? When does mind over matter become a crippling problem? Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition answers all of these questions and many others. With more than 400 easy-to-reference lists of traits blended from a variety of behaviors and influences, you'll gain the knowledge you need to create distinctive characters whose personalities correspond to their thoughts and actions - no matter how normal or psychotic they might be. In this updated and expanded edition, you'll also find: • Comprehensive instruction on how to use this book • New statistical information to help you create true-to-life characters • Corresponding exercises that show you how to put the material to work in your stories • A quick-reference index to make cross-referencing a snap • Idea sparkers to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page Plus, you'll learn about common - and not so common - psychological, physical, and relationship disorders; delve into the minds of criminals; find out what it takes to be a professional athlete, scientist, and truck driver; discover what life is like for a gang member, suicidal teen, and alcoholic; and more. In Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition, note psychologist and author Dr. Linda Edelstein takes you beyond generic personality types and into the depths of the human psyche where you're sure to find the resources you need to make your characters stand out from the crowd.
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Creating Characters
by Marisa D'Vari
Authors and screenwriters will get a creative boost with this lively and exciting catalogue of creative writing techniques which they can instantly employ to create memorable, realistic characters. D'Vari reveals the creative secrets of highly paid screenwriters and best-selling authors.
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Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint
by Orson Scott Card
Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made. &break;&break;This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your memory, your imagination and your soul. &break;&break;Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative options–the choices you'll make in creating fictional people so "real" that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families. &break;&break;You'll learn how to: &break; draw the characters from a variety of sources, including a story's basic idea, real life–even a character's social circumstances&break; make characters show who they are by the things they do and say, and by their individual "style"&break; develop characters readers will love–or love to hate&break; distinguish among major characters, minor characters and walk-ons, and develop each one appropriately&break; choose the most effective viewpoint to reveal the characters and move the storytelling&break; decide how deeply you should explore your characters' thoughts, emotions and attitudes
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Creating Characters
by Dwight V. Swain
A jargon-free manual on the basics of developing interesting fictional characters Vibrant, believable characters help drive a fictional story. Along with a clever plot, well-drawn characters make us want to continue reading a novel or finish watching a movie. In Creating Characters, Dwight V. Swain shows how writers can invent interesting characters and improve them so that they move a story along. ?The core of character,” he says in chapter 1, ?lies in each individual story person's ability to care about something; to feel implicitly or explicitly, that something is important.” Building on that foundation?the capacity to care?Swain takes the would-be writer step-by-step through the fundamentals of finding and developing ?characters who turn you on.” This basic but thought-provoking how-to is a valuable tool for both the novice and the seasoned writer.
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Creating Character Emotions
by Ann Hood
In this unique book, Ann Hood will help you find fresh, creative images, words and gestures to evoke feelings in your fiction. In 36 "mini-lessons," Hood sheds new light on love, hate, fear, grief, guilt, hope, jealousy and other major emotions. Each lesson offers instruction on rendering that particular sentiment; "good" and "bad" examples illustrating how writers have succeeded and where others have gone wrong; and imaginative exercises for putting the feeling into words.
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Malicious Intent
by Sean Mactire
Explores the fact and fiction of who criminals are, why they commit their atrocities, how they choose their victims, and how the police catch them.
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Dialogue (Write Great Fiction)
by Gloria Kempton
Craft Compelling Dialogue When should your character talk, what should (or shouldn't) he say, and when should he say it? How do you know when dialogue--or the lack thereof--is dragging down your scene? How do you fix a character who speaks without the laconic wit of the Terminator? Write Great Fiction: Dialogue by successful author and instructor Gloria Kempton has the answers to all of these questions and more! It's packed with innovative exercises and instruction designed to teach you how to: • Create dialogue that drives the story • Weave dialogue with narrative and action • Write dialogue that fits specific genres • Avoid the common pitfalls of writing dialogue • Make dialogue unique for each character Along with dozens of dialogue excerpts from today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Dialogue gives you the edge you need to make your story stand out from the rest.
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Writing Dialogue
by Tom Chiarella
Whether you're writing an argument, a love scene, a powwow among sixth graders or scientists in a lab, this book demonstrates how to write dialogue that sounds authentic and original. &break;&break;You'll learn ways to find ideas for literary discussions by tuning in to what you hear every day. You'll learn to use gestures instead of speech, to insert silences that are as effective as outbursts, to add shifts in tone, and other strategies for making conversations more compelling. Nuts and bolts are covered, too - formatting, punctuation, dialogue tags - everything you need to get your characters talking.
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On Dialogue
by David Bohm
Bohm explores the purpose, methods, and meanings of the multi-faceted process he refers to simply as "dialogue." He offers tools that facilitate a true exchange of ideas between people.
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Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction
by Patricia Highsmith
Originally published in Great Britain by Polar Press Limited.
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Writing As a Small Business
by Nash Black
In today's world, authors need to have business savvy. Yet so many find themselves long on creativity, but short on tax knowledge, business expertise, or marketing skills. Writing as a Small Business is the perfect guide to help writers navigate through the world of creative self-employment. In Writing as a Small Business, you'll learn: ?Çó Why it is to your advantage that the IRS considers you a small business * How to fill out tax forms* How to engage in recordkeeping that can make you audit-proof * How to handle advances on royalties, grants and gratuities* Why rejection letters are valuable* How to protect your work and your computer from bugs* How to prepare for the future and protect your familyAnd in a section specially for writers Nash Black takes you into the world of publishing, where you learn what it takes to merchandise and sell your work. Writing as a Small Businessthe creative peoples bible for those who work from their home. Nash Black has the skills and experience to start you on your way and guide you through the process of an IRS audit. Their work is the first book you should add to your reference shelf after a dictionary.Barbara Morgan, Morgan Real Estate, 47 years serving the housing needs of the Bluegrass, Lexington, KY.
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Tools for Mystery Writers
by Anne Hart
Tools for Mystery Writers emphasizes the rules that work well to create best-selling fiction. Also included is how to write from personality preference research and how to write from the upward gush of your character's infancy. A book of handy rules and research for all fiction writers of mystery, suspense, historical novels, stories, and scripts or plays. Also included is how to write about relationship issues in mystery and suspense fiction. How do mystery writers use personality research to develop and drive their characters and plots in novels and stories?