The vast majority of screenplay and writing books that focus on story development have little to say about the initial concept that inspired the piece. Developing Story Ideas: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling, Third Edition provides writers with ideational tools and resources to generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms. Celebrated filmmaker and author Michael Rabiger demonstrates how to observe situations and themes in the writer’s own life experience, and use these as the basis for original storytelling. This new edition has been updated with chapters on adaptation, improvisation, and cast collaboration’s roles in story construction, as well as a companion website featuring further projects, class assignments, instructor resources, and more. Gain the practical tools and resources you need to spark your creativity and generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms, including screenplays, documentaries, novels, short stories, and plays Through hands-on, step-by-step exercises and group and individual assignments, learn to use situations and themes from your own life experience, dreams, myth, and the news as the basis for character-driven storytelling; harness methods of screenplay format, dialogue, plot structure, and character development that will allow your stories to reach their fullest potential
The vast majority of screenplay and writing books focus on story development and have little to say about the initial concept that generated the piece. Developing Story Ideas offers students and other young artists a spectrum of resources and a structure of writing practice so that anyone can quickly and reliably generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms. It first shows you how to observe situations, acts, and themes-and use these observations as the basis for storytelling. Exercises and projects help you draw an artistic self-profile to summarize what you most need to investigate in your creative work. Micahel Rabiger, a renowned teacher, author, educator, and mentor, proves we all have the inner resources and life experiences to be creative. He guides aspiring writers step by step to come up with quality story ideas in a broad range of forms: a screenplay, short story, documentary, or play. * Feeling stuck? Learn to quickly and reliably generate creative ideas for stories, scripts, and more * Exercises and projects help you quickly develop a wealth of material * Step-by step approach suitable for beginners.
This book shows the reader how to take timeless storytelling structures and make them immediate, now, for fiction that's universal in how it speaks to the reader's heart and contemporary in detail and impact.Each chapter includes brief excerpts and descriptions of fiction from many times, many genres - myth and fairy tale, genre and mainstream fiction, film plots of all types, short story and novel.Find 20 fundamental plots that recur through all fiction - with analysis and examples - that outline benefits and warnings, for writers to adapt and elaborate in their own fiction.Ronald B. Tobias has spent his career as a writer moving from genre to genre, first as a short story writer, then as an author of fiction and nonfiction books and finally as a writer and producer of documentaries for public television. He is currently a professor in the Department of Media and Theatre Arts at Montana State University and the author of the Insider's Guide to Writing for Screen and Television. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Writing a book is fun and easy--yes, FUN AND EASY--but it may not always feel that way. How do you find the time to write? How do you keep momentum? How do you deal with the horror of showing anyone a single sentence of your work-in-progress? The answers remain fun and easy, and author Elizabeth Sims will take your hand, dispel your worries, and show you how it's done in this stress-free guide to accomplishing your dream of writing your book. In You've Got a Book in You, Elizabeth is that encouraging voice guiding you through the entire process, from finding the right time and place to gathering all of your creative tools to diving right in and getting it done--page by page, step by step. It's easier than you think, and it all starts right here, right now. "This guide is witty, warm, and wise--and wonderfully down-to-earth as well. Elizabeth Sims doesn't just tell you that you've got a book in you, she shows you how to pour it out using your own creative spirit, common sense, and persistence." ~Lori L. Lake, author of The Gun Series and The Public Eye Mystery Series "If you're searching for the spark of inspiration to get started writing a book, and the nourishment to sustain you to THE END, Elizabeth Sims's You've Got a Book in You will show you how to find it in yourself." ~Hallie Ephron, award-winning author of There Was an Old Woman "You won't find an easier-to-follow or more inspirational writing guide." ~L.J. Sellers, author of the bestselling Jackson mysteries "By focusing the high beams of her intelligence (and humor!) on the twisty trail of book-writing, in You've Got a Book in You, Elizabeth Sims proves herself a true writer's friend. As she guides you from the creation of a "working title" through her (brilliant!) "Making-It-Better Process," this well-established pro plays her most impressive cards--stacking the deck in favor of YOU!" ~Jamie Morris, Director, Woodstream Writers "Elizabeth Sims packs a twelve-week writing course into 280 pages. Inspirational and yet extremely hands-on, You've Got a Book In You will give newbies confidence to forge ahead and will remind veteran writers why they began writing in the first place--for the joy of it. I won't be surprised when the brilliant terms 'stormwriting' and 'heartbrain' become part of every writer's lexicon." ~Julie Compton, author of Tell No Lies and Keep No Secrets "The book is encouraging and inspiring, practical and witty. As a seasoned writer, I appreciate the reminders about the importance of putting yourself on a writing schedule. No more excuses. The many 'writing blasts' are very helpful and will get any writer out of the starting blocks. I especially enjoyed the section, 'Writing with the Masters.' What better way to get inspired, get a feel for different styles, and get jump-started on your writing? Excellent advice that I plan to incorporate in my future classes. I concur with Sims that 'writer's block' is greatly exaggerated. Is there any other profession that claims such a phenomenon? 'Excuse, me, but I have 'book-keeping block,' 'playing music block,' or 'painting block' today? I don't think so. Get yourself on a schedule, read some Sims, write with the masters, and you'll be on your way. You'll be glad you met this friend on your journey to becoming a successful writer." ~Gesa Kirsch, Ph.D., Professor of English, Director of Valente Center for the Arts and Sciences, Bentley University
Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.
Multiple Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Erik Bork (HBO's BAND OF BROTHERS) presents the seven fundamental characteristics of a great story in any medium. Writers tend to jump into the writing too quickly, without knowing they have a flawed central idea. This book is all about ensuring that doesn't happen!
A cracking good story idea requires five critical elements.Until you have all five, you'll struggle to plot. You'll write a few scenes and run out of gas. You'll feel like the story just isn't going anywhere. And that's because it isn't. It can't. A story won't do what a story needs to do without all five elements.However, once you develop these things, your story will suddenly roar to life. Brown cuts through all the confusion and clearly explains what those five elements are with an abundance of examples. He also reveals the down-to-earth, practical secrets to developing ideas. That means when you finish the book, not only will you'll know exactly what you need to develop, you'll also know how to get it done.No more wasting time. No more struggling, wondering what to do. No more thinking you just don't have what it takes. Humans are built for story. It's wired into our brains. You can develop terrific story ideas on purpose instead of on accident. All you need is a little illumination. Create Story Ideas that Beg to Be Written provides that light, including: The real key to creativity (and you've got loads of it) Why "show, don't tell" causes problems How to make readers care about your characters What really drives your plot And much more. Don't wait another minute. Become a story idea machine today.
One of the preeminent novels by French writer Alexandre Dumas, this swashbuckling tale follows a group of honorable 17th-century swordsmen who must contend with powerful adversaries scheming against the queen. Determined to join the royal guard, young d'Artagnan leaves his country home and travels to Paris, where he unintentionally angers Aramis, Athos, and Porthos, the esteemed Three Musketeers. Eventually winning the trust and admiration of the formidable trio of fighters, d'Artagnan joins them in their quest to thwart the plans of the sinister Cardinal Richelieu.
With her award-winning debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was heralded by the Washington Post Book World as the “21st century daughter” of Chinua Achebe. Now, in her masterly, haunting new novel, she recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria during the 1960s. With the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their two worlds. As we follow these intertwined lives through a military coup, the Biafran secession and the subsequent war, Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise, and intimately, the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place. Epic, ambitious and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a more powerful, dramatic and intensely emotional picture of modern Africa than any we have had before.
Within the splendour of the Time Shield, six hours is equivalent to a minute on earth; but beware, in the midst of its beauty hides a terrible spell-would you dare to enter? Inquisitive seventeen-year-old Sarah Brown had resigned herself to a quiet summer with her aunt in their town Cherryfield - then she meets Mark Louis. Mark Louis de la Mer is an eighteen-year-old fairy-human hybrid, who, in 1908, was hidden in a Time Shield by his supernatural mother following the murder of his father. Due to the unforeseen presence of a Holding Spell within the shield, Mark has since been trapped. He cannot directly access the spell which is hidden within a maze of terror, but Sarah can ... that is, if she consents to. For Sarah to destroy the spell, she will not only need to undergo intense physical training, but also must face her innermost fears. Destroying the Holding Spell is just one part of the trial that awaits them both. His father's evil killers have been on the lookout for him, and Mark's release would bring the supernatural into Cherryfield; parasite imps, fiendish monsters, and last but not the least, his mother's brother Noel - a formidable fairy-sorcerer hybrid. Ancient magic, superheroines, the realms to Faie, Victorian princes, murder and love ... Welcome to The Time Shield Series.
