Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I: Getting Started with Creative Writing Exercises 5
Chapter 1: Preparing to Create Your Writ ten Masterpiece 7
Chapter 2: Sketching Out Ideas 21
Part II: Realising That Character Is Everything 35
Chapter 3: Developing Your Characters’ Backgrounds 37
Chapter 4: Creating Drama through Dialogue 47
Chapter 5: Embodying Your Characters 57
Chapter 6: Developing Your Dialogue-Writing Skills 65
Chapter 7: Conveying Characters’ Thoughts in Style 77
Chapter 8: Choosing and Using Different Points of View 87
Chapter 9: Creating Complicated, Well-Rounded Characters 105
Part III: Painting the Picture with Description 125
Chapter 10: Navigating the Locations in Your Stories 127
Chapter 11: Appreciating the Power of the Senses 137
Chapter 12: Getting Things Done: Describing Action and Activity 147
Chapter 13: Building Character with Objects and Possessions 155
Chapter 14: Using Description to Create Atmosphere and and Suspense! 167
Chapter 15: Managing Metaphors, Similes and Symbols 187
Chapter 16: Describing the Inef fable: Saying What Can’t Be Said 203
Part IV: Developing Your Plot and Structure 213
Chapter 17: Writing a Gripping Opening 215
Chapter 18: Plot ting Your Way to Great Stories 225
Chapter 19: Making Good (Use of) Time in Your Writing 235
Chapter 20: Structuring a Longer Work of Fiction 247
Chapter 21:Tightening the Tension to Enthral Readers 257
Chapter 22: Expanding Your Ideas into Larger Narratives 267
Chapter 23: Approaching the Grand Finale: The End’s in Sight! 279
Part V: Polishing Your Product: Revising and Editing 299
Chapter 24: Reviewing and Rewriting Your Work 301
Chapter 25: Whipping Your Work into Shape 313
Chapter 26: Polishing Your Work for Publication 321
Part VI: The Part of Tens 331
Chapter 27: Ten Top Aids for Writers 333
Chapter 28: Ten Great Ways to Stay the Course 339
Index 345