Help! For Writers
210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
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Help! For Writers
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Narrated by:
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Roy Peter Clark
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By:
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Roy Peter Clark
About this listen
The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head. In Help! For Writers, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face.
In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers 10 short solutions to each problem. Out of ideas? Read posters, billboards, and graffiti. Can't bear to edit yourself? Watch the deleted scenes feature of a DVD, and ask yourself why those scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. Help! For Writers offers 210 strategies to guide writers to success.
©2011 Roy Peter Clark (P)2011 Gildan Media CorpListeners also enjoyed...
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Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Franz Kafka, David Foster Wallace, and more. In Process, acclaimed journalist Sarah Stodola examines the creative methods of literature's most transformative figures. Each chapter contains a mini biography of one of the world's most lauded authors, focused solely on his or her writing process.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
- By Davina Rush on 04-10-15
By: Sarah Stodola
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The Memoir Project
- A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text For Writing & Life
- By: Marion Roach Smith
- Narrated by: Marion Roach Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 195
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 168
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.
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5 out of 5 stars
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amazing what you can learn from brevity
- By Schwartz-Burrill on 09-15-11
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The Stephen King Companion
- Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror
- By: George Beahm
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper, Claire Christie
- Length: 24 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, best-selling novels, and film adaptations.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Kingopedia: Books, Movies, Bio and Art
- By tru britty on 02-28-16
By: George Beahm
-
The Creative Habit
- Learn It and Use It for Life
- By: Twyla Tharp
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 777
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 676
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 673
All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with 32 practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable 35-year career.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A much-needed shout-out to good habits
- By cvstuart on 03-27-13
By: Twyla Tharp
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Save the Cat!
- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
- By: Blake Snyder
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,767
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,433
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,419
Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don't waste your time
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-20
By: Blake Snyder
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Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story
- A Life of David Foster Wallace
- By: D. T. Max
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 384
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 342
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 341
David Foster Wallace was the leading literary light of his generation, a man who not only captivated readers with his prose but also mesmerized them with his brilliant mind. In this, the first biography of the writer, D. T. Max sets out to chart Wallace’s tormented, anguished, and often triumphant battle to succeed as a novelist as he fights off depression and addiction to emerge with his masterpiece, Infinite Jest.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Max avoids hagiography or a sycophant's biography
- By Darwin8u on 06-11-13
By: D. T. Max
-
Memory Craft
- Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History
- By: Lynne Kelly
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Groundbreaking anthropologist and memory champion Lynne Kelly reveals how we can use ancient and traditional mnemonic methods to enhance and expand our memory.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
So grateful this is on Audible!
- By happy_reader on 02-19-22
By: Lynne Kelly
-
So We Read On
- How the Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures
- By: Maureen Corrigan
- Narrated by: Maureen Corrigan
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 240
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 201
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 200
Conceived nearly a century ago by a man who died believing himself a failure, it's now a revered classic and a rite of passage in the reading lives of millions. But how well do we really know The Great Gatsby? As Maureen Corrigan, Gatsby lover extraordinaire, points out, while Fitzgerald's masterpiece may be one of the most popular novels in America, many of us first read it when we were too young to fully comprehend its power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Reading Gatsby as an adult reveals its greatness!
- By Mark on 10-06-14
By: Maureen Corrigan
-
Babel No More
- The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
- By: Michael Erard
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 45
We all learn at least one language as children. But what does it take to learn six languages...or seventy? In Babel No More, Michael Erard, "a monolingual with benefits," sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like Italian cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages; Emil Krebs, a pugnacious German diplomat, who spoke sixty-eight languages; and Lomb Kat, a Hungarian who taught herself Russian by reading Russian romance novels.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Heavy on anecdote, light on science
- By S. Yates on 07-15-16
By: Michael Erard
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Smart Thinking
- Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done
- By: Art Markman
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 700
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 586
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 586
Think smart people are just born that way? Think again. Drawing on diverse studies of the mind, from psychology to linguistics, philosophy, and learning science, Art Markman, Ph.D., demonstrates the difference between "smart thinking" and raw intelligence, showing listeners how memory works, how to learn effectively, and how to use knowledge to get things done. He then introduces his own three-part formula for listeners to employ "smart thinking" in their daily lives.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
I feel asleep in class
- By Lee on 12-14-12
By: Art Markman
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The Riddle of the Labyrinth
- The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
- By: Margalit Fox
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 148
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Story4 out of 5 stars 133
In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative. When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece's Classical Age, he discovered a cache of ancient tablets, Europe's earliest written records.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Discovery and Translation of Linear B Script
- By Sires on 01-11-14
By: Margalit Fox
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The Enchanted Hour
- The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction
- By: Meghan Cox Gurdon
- Narrated by: Meghan Cox Gurdon
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 263
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 234
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Story5 out of 5 stars 231
A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful, and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
advice to take to heart
- By Brian on 04-30-20
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Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
- By: Umberto Eco
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
In this exhilarating book, we accompany Umberto Eco as he explores the intricacies of fictional form and method. Using examples ranging from fairy tales and Flaubert, Poe and Mickey Spillane, Eco draws us in by means of a novelist's techniques, making us his collaborators in the creation of his text and in the investigation of some of fiction's most basic mechanisms.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
big ideas presented simply
- By Ashton on 01-31-14
By: Umberto Eco
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The Book You Were Born to Write
- Everything You Need to (Finally) Get Your Wisdom onto the Page and into the World
- By: Kelly Notaras
- Narrated by: Kelly Notaras
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story5 out of 5 stars 43
A guide to writing a full-length transformational nonfiction book, from an editor with two decades' experience working with authors from all walks of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Both Funny and Informative
- By Emily C. Maher on 02-15-21
By: Kelly Notaras
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Ten years ago, Roy Peter Clark, America's most influential writing teacher, whittled down almost 30 years of experience in journalism, writing, and teaching into a series of 50 short essays on different aspects of writing. In the past decade, Writing Tools has become a classic guidebook for novices and experts alike and remains one of the best loved books on writing available. This new edition includes five brand-new, never-before-shared tools.
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A creative writer's shelf should hold at least three essential books: a dictionary, a style guide, and Writing Fiction. Janet Burroway's best-selling classic is the most widely used creative writing text in America, and for more than three decades, it has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn the craft.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Editing is an invisible art where the very best work goes undetected. Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. In What Editors Do, Peter Ginna gathers essays from 27 leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children's publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers - and readers - everywhere.
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2 out of 5 stars
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This writer's approach might work for some, but. .
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The Mental Game of Writing: How to Overcome Obstacles, Stay Creative and Productive, and Free Your Mind for Success
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The keys to success as a writer are yours for the thinking! All success begins in the mind. For writers, the mind fuels the imagination and creates stories. But for authors who are productive and resilient, and see a good return on their efforts, there is another factor at work. They are winning the mental game of writing. Successful writers have the ability to inspire themselves to produce consistently, improve systematically, overcome obstacles and keep up a positive mental attitude. In this book, #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell takes you through the mental landscape of ...
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5 out of 5 stars
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good practical advice
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The Craft of Scene Writing
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No one comes out of a movie talking about structure. What audiences love and remember about a movie are great scenes. Marlon Brando in the back seat in On the Waterfront giving his "I could'a been a contender" speech. Meg Ryan's fake orgasm in Katz's Deli in When Harry Met Sally with the climactic punch line: "I'll have what she's having." In Superbad, Jonah Hill professing "I love you" to his friend Michael Cera by touching his nose with a "boop".
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2 out of 5 stars
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Abridged and censored- not the full book!
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Stein on Writing
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Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent advice and examples for better writing.
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20 Master Plots
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The best stories linger in the hearts and minds of readers for decades. These tales gain their power through plots that connect with the audience on both an emotional and intellectual level. Ronald B. Tobias details these 20 time-tested plots. Each is discussed and analyzed, illustrating how a successful plot integrates all the elements of a story. Tobias then reveals how to use these plots effectively in your own work.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Some Good Ideas
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The Author's Checklist
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Over time, literary agent Elizabeth Kracht noticed that many submissions had similar problems, so she began to make a list of the pitfalls. She knew that even excellent projects could be rejected based on these surmountable issues because those on the receiving end of proposals most often don’t have the time to walk writers through needed adjustments. The checklist Kracht has created helps writers make their manuscripts good to go. It offers short, easy-to-implement bites of advice, illustrated by inspiring - and cautionary - real-world examples.
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Refuse to Be Done
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They say writing is rewriting. So why does the second part get such short shrift? Refuse to Be Done will guide you through every step of the novel writing process, from getting started on those first pages to the last tips for making your final draft even tighter and stronger.
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4 out of 5 stars
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many great tips
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Murder Your Darlings
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
With so many excellent writing guides lining bookstore shelves, it can be hard to know where to look for the best advice. Should you go with Natalie Goldberg or Anne Lamott? Maybe William Zinsser or Stephen King would be more appropriate. Then again, what about the classics - Strunk and White, or even Aristotle himself? In Murder Your Darlings, Roy Peter Clark, who has been a beloved and revered writing teacher to children and Pulitzer Prize winners alike for more than 30 years, has compiled a remarkable collection of more than 100 of the best writing tips.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Surprisingly engaging
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The Situation and the Story
- The Art of Personal Narrative
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- Unabridged
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the truth-speaker who will tell the story a personal narrative needs to tell? That is the question The Situation and the Story asks—and answers. Taking us on a tour of some of the best memoirs and essays of the past hundred years, Gornick traces the changing idea of self that has dominated the century, and demonstrates the enduring truth-speaker to be found in the work of writers as diverse as Edmund Gosse, Joan Didion, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, or Marguerite Duras.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Dare I Say it Was Just Ok?
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The Art of Creative Writing
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As practical as it is inspiring, The Art of Creative Writing remains a timeless, illuminating guide that teaches every writer, and aspiring writer, how to create works that are both compelling and enduring.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Raging misogynist
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Pity the Reader
- On Writing with Style
- By: Kurt Vonnegut, Suzanne McConnell
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Unlistenable
- By Grant Swalwell on 01-06-20
By: Kurt Vonnegut, and others
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Write Great Scenes
- Master Techniques to Create Scenes That Keep Readers Enthralled
- By: Meg Leader
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 1 hr and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
DO YOU want readers to find your stories un-put-downable?DO YOU want to create stories readers love? WRITE GREAT SCENES gives you a key set of tools to becoming a writer whose works readers can't stop reading. The most fundamental building block of any novel isn't the character or the plot or anything except the scenes. If you learn how to write great scenes you'll be well on your way to creating novels readers can't put down. This book breaks down what makes a great scene, the four critical elements every great scene needs, and provides you with an entire toolkit of Page-Turner Techniques ...
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3 out of 5 stars
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I have mixed feelings about this.
- By Suzanne Davis on 11-17-24
By: Meg Leader
What listeners say about Help! For Writers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A. Yoshida
- 06-28-20
Guidance for New Writers
The advice is probably best for journalists and non-fiction writers. Some of it is basic but might be useful to new writers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Old Salt
- 02-03-15
Really Useful Book
Dr Clark helps me understand how working with a writer's group will improve my skills. These skills include Writing, Reading, and Listening.
He also let me know that starting at the end can help me understand how to get from the beginning to my chosen ending.
I am working on a technical book on solving failure modes on electrical generating systems.
Dr. Clark's book has helped me understand how to write, not for me - but for my reader.
The technician who has no schooling on this specific system will be able to solve the basic system failure mode after reading my book and doing the preparation homework.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- LOYL-00
- 12-12-11
helpful advice when writing professionally or not
I found this book to be a good reminding of bad habit we should try to overcome when composing at any level of writing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BranP
- 08-07-18
Much more useful than I would have thought
While I didn't love the narration, I loved the content. These short chapters are perfect for jumpstarting writing when you're stuck.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Robert Jason
- 06-17-20
Good advice, but novelists beware
There's a wealth of good advice here. That's obvious. However, a huge portion of this book pertains to article or essay writing. While I think there are a lot of good parallels to draw, "not liking the subject you were given" is not really a problem of most, dare I say all, novelists. I found a lot of the advice in the book, while good and useful, sadly just didn't pertain to me or my writing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 06-29-18
Roy Peter Clark is the Tony Robbins of writing.
like Forrest Gump's mother, he always has a way of putting things so that I may understand them.
I revisit his work yearly.
always something to learn.
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