'Creating Writers' puts the six traits of writing in context, showing how they are best taught - within writing workshops and as a way of enriching the writing process. This edition organizes all materials by trait, features new one-page writing guides, and offers an increased emphasis on literature.
All fiction is character-driven, according to William Bernhardt, despite what you might have heard elsewhere. If your characters don’t interest readers, even the most exciting plots will fail. “Action is character,” Aristotle wrote, but what does that mean, and how can you use that fundamental principle to create dynamic fiction that will captivate readers? This book explains the relationship between character and plot, and how the perfect melding of the two produces a mesmerizing story. Using examples spanning from The Odyssey to The Da Vinci Code, Bernhardt discusses the art of character creation in a direct and easily comprehended manner. The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply these ideas to their own work. William Bernhardt is the author of more than fifty novels, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid series of legal thrillers. Bernhardt is also one of the most sought-after writing instructors in the nation. His programs have educated many authors now published by major houses. He is the only person to have received the Southern Writers Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (U Penn) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (OSU), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." The Red Sneaker Writing Center is dedicated to helping writers achieve their literary goals. What is a red sneaker writer? A committed writer seeking useful instruction and guidance rather than obfuscation and attitude. Red sneakers get the job done, and so do red sneaker writers, by paying close attention to their art and craft, committing to hard work, and never quitting. Are you a red sneaker writer? If so, this book is for you.
The Writer's Journal Workbook is a lively prompt for creative writers looking for help in setting themselves regular creative tasks, goals and challenges. Packed with step-by-step activities, advice and suggestions, the writer is guided through practical exercises and encouraged to put pen to paper. Are you stuck in a writing rut and don't know how to move forward? Do you lack a daily routine and need a structure to set daily or weekly writing time for yourself? Do you want somewhere to gather your writing ideas and scribbles together in one place? This workbook is the perfect place for the budding writer who wants a spark of inspiration, to sharpen their ideas and perfect their skills at their own pace. The workbook is composed around a series of have-a-go exercises with ample space (double spread) for the user to write and doodle in. This Journal Workbook will become the must-have companion for creatives on the go.
Drawing upon recent research projects undertaken by the co-authors, and other research within the wider research community, this timely book makes connections to projects and initiatives that are unfolding on the national and international scene. Highly Commended for the UKLA Academic Book Award 2013.
This unique and comprehensive text offers an original approach to teaching creative writing by exploring ideas, giving advice, and explaining workshop activities and has many contributors from some of today's most popular children's authors including: Jacqueline Wilson, Roger McGough, Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman and David Almond.Creating Writers is a practical writing manual for teachers to use with upper primary and lower secondary level pupils that covers poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
Writing should be for an audience other than a teacher, and for a purpose beyond getting a grade. Connecting their classroom experience to research about writing, as well as to framing documents in the field, two seasoned writing teachers distill the lessons they’ve learned about creating confident adolescent and young adult writers. Troy Hicks and Andy Schoenborn outline a fundamental stance to their approach—to invite, encourage, and celebrate students’ writing—that is then echoed in the book’s three-part structure. There are numerous classroom activities and assignments on topics from creating writing goals to supporting revision, examples of student work, and questions to guide teachers’ reflections. In this book for any teacher of writing, from middle school through college, readers are invited to try strategies and allow students’ voices to emerge, while discussing with colleagues how these approaches might work for them, too.
"I'm done. What should I do now?" If you hear this question all too often during the independent work portion of writing workshop, Leah Mermelstein has a solution for making this time more productive for both students and teachers. Mermelstein argues that the "third essential element," creating self-directed writers, is key to the success of writing workshops. Using a wealth of classroom anecdotes, student samples, and specific teaching language, Mermelstein illustrates how even the youngest students can become self-directed learners. Her strategies include: creating an appropriate physical environment along with daily rituals and routines, scaffolding instruction with write-alouds and interactive writing; and planning unites, focus lessons, conferences, and shares that are aimed at helping kids become self-directed.
Instructors from the nation's most popular writing school share their insights into how to perfect the craft of screenwriting, covering such fundamentals as plot, character, dialogue, point of view, theme, setting, voice, and more and analyzing five outstanding sample screenplays--Tootsie and The Shawshank Redemption, among others. Original.