Build a Believable World How essential is setting to a story? How much description is too much? In what ways do details and setting tie into plot and character development? How can you use setting and description to add depth to your story? You can find all the answers you need in Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting by author and instructor Ron Rozelle. This nuts-and-bolts guide - complete with practical exercises at the end of each chapter - gives you all the tips and techniques you need to: • Establish a realistic sense of time and place • Use description and setting to drive your story • Craft effective description and setting for different genres • Skillfully master showing vs. telling With dozens of excerpts from some of today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting gives you all the information you need to create a sharp and believable world of people, places, events, and actions.

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.

Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares his secrets for creating killer plots, fleshing out your first ideas, crafting compelling characters, and staying sane in the process. Read the guide that New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called "The best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read."

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.

Even if you have great characters, outstanding dialogue and a gripping plot, your story isn't complete without the appropriate setting. Setting is the unifying element in most fiction, working in concert with plot, characterization and point of view. Here you'll explore how to use setting as the basis for creating dramatic, engaging stories. Focusing on detail, language and observation, Jack Bickham's invaluable instruction will not only improve your ability to create a strong setting, but also enhance your writing skills as a whole. You'll learn:- the function of setting within the fiction writing process- how setting works with plot, characterization and point of view- the effect of setting on unity- ways to generate story ideas through setting- techniques for creating setting- how to use setting as a thematic device- methods for using setting to stimulate your reader's senses- how to incorporate factual information for texture and authenticity- exercises for improving your powers of observation- tips for recording ideas, events and descriptions using notebook entriesOver the course of his esteemed career, Jack Bickham published more than 80 novels and instructional books, including Writing Novels That Sell and the 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them). A former creative writing professor, he instructed thousands of writers through his classes, seminars and Writer's Digest magazine articles.

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.

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.

Take your fiction to the next level! Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists. Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share - regardless of genre - then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace. You'll learn to: • establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place • weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story • create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page • explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers • sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish • develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors - including novelist Anne Perry - Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career.

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.

"This book belongs on every fiction writer's bookshelf. Anyone who has ever had a story to tell and is dying to get it down on paper will find guidance and inspiration in GMC. The presentation is clear, immediate, and relevant to all writers--from novices to seasoned professionals. Experienced author Debra Dixon has done a magnificent job of demystifying the toughest aspect of fiction writing: that of a giving a story shape, form and urgency." -- Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling and RITA® Award winning author of over 40 novels and novellas "One of the best in her craft." -- Toronto Star "Goal, Motivation & Conflict is one of my all time favorites." -- Jane Porter (Flirting With Forty), award winning and bestselling author with 10 million books in print, in twenty languages and 25 countries Goal, motivation, and conflict are the foundation of everything that happens in the story world. Using charts, examples, and movies, the author breaks these key elements down into understandable components and walks the reader through the process of laying this foundation in his or her own work. Learn what causes sagging middles and how to fix them, which goals are important, which aren't and why, how to get your characters to do what they need for your plot in a believable manner, and how to use conflict to create a good story. GMC can be used not only in plotting, but in character development, sharpening scenes, pitching ideas to an editor, and evaluating whether an idea will work. Be confident your ideas will work before you write 200 pages. Plan a road map to keep your story on track. Discover why your scenes aren't working and what to do about it. Create characters that editors and readers will care about.