Contents
Introduction
1. From Concept to plot
The Search For a Concept * The Suppose Game to Expand the Concept *
Structuring Your Story * Plot and Pace * Length and Symmetry * Tips on Plotting
2. A Cast of Characters
The Star * The Co-Star * Supporting Cast * The Bit Players * Walk-On
Roles* Directing the Show * Sensitivity for the Opposite Sex * Imaginary vs. Real Life *
Tips on Characterization
3. Writing Believable Dialogue
Spoken Revelations to Advance the Story * Pitfalls of Dialect * Speech
Patterns * Cursing for Effect and Foreign Words * Who said What in Conversation * How Not
To Do It
4. The Narrator’s Voice
Onstage Voice in First Person * First-Person Bugaboos * Offstage Voice
in Third Person * Multiviewpoint Stories * Details through Exposition * Tricks and
Techniques * Odds ‘n’ Ends to Sculpture the Story
5. Craft Your Own Voice
A Writer’s Style * The Sounds of Technique * Getting from Here to
There with Transitions * Clarity and Cliches * Images Through Simile and Metaphor *
Distinct Voices in Cadence and Rhythm * Action, Conflict, and Suspense * Echoes and Sparks
to Ignite Style
6. The Mechanics of Storytelling
The Working Outline * Spontaneity with a Bare Bones Outline *
Structure and Spontaneity with a Detailed Outline * Outlines for Editors * A Sample
Outline * Unpublished Authors Rarely Write Outlines
7. Inspiration vs. Perspiration
Angst and Antidotes of Writer’s Block * The Hoariest Myth
of Creativity * One Writer’s Viewpoint * A Typical Workday for a Pro * Hardcover vs.
Paperback * Titles are Forever * How to Polish Prose
8. How to Market Your Novel
Do-it-yourself Marketing * Query Letters * Multiple Submissions * You
and Your Editor * Who Needs an Agent? * Contacts and Clout * A Hunger to Write
Take a look at a review on
"How To Write Novels That Sell".
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