Product Description
A powerful motivator for aspiring writers, Grit for the Oyster offers wit, wisdom, and inspiration to take that first step and persevere through the writing journey. More than a how-to, this confidence-building book is designed to draw readers to a closer relationship with God, to affirm their calling to write, and to offer pithy practical guidance from successful writers like Terri Blackstock, Martha Bolton, James Scott Bell, Liz Curtis Higgs, Dr. Gary Chapman, and David Kopp. ... Read more

Product Description
Gerard Genette builds a systematic theory of narrative upon an anlaysis of the writings of Marcel Proust, particularly 'Remembrance of Things Past.'

Adopting what is essentially a structuralist approach, the author identifies and names the basic constituents and techniques of narrative and illustrates them by referring to literary works in many languages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a must for any writer
I have had 5 books published (nonfiction) and have been working on a novel.I wish I had studied this book when I was a student.It is superb--essential, in my opinion, for anyone writing fiction.It is not, however, an easy read.

Besides being a writer, I am also a doctor and a commercial aircraft pilot.This book reminds me of getting an instrument rating, when "the lights come on" in understanding aviation.For the first time, I feel that I truly understand the nature of narrative.

The Seminal Work in Narrative Theory
This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to look seriously at narrative theory.Genette's analysis of the construction of time in narrative discourse is the still the model for theorists writing since then.Such categories as order, frequency, and duration in the narrative presentation of story-time show how narrative decisions on the part of authors can have dramatically different rhetorical effects.Genette views these narrative strategies as a form of rhetorical figuration and gives them terms drawn from classical rhetoric (e.g., "prolepsis" for a flashing forward, "analepsis" for a flashback).Genette's work is one of the clearest of all the French theorists of the 1970s and 1980s who became popular among literary critics and theorists in the US.His work is easily the most empirical of his academic geration of French theorists and perhaps the most likely to be useful in generations to come. ... Read more

Product Description
Turn readers into writers. Using a single or small number of genre specific works, this new book explores the tools all beginning writers need. The book includes a review list of key concepts, exercises for getting started, and numerous writing tips. It features beautiful full colour illustrations; fun, engaging writing tools with step-by-step instructions; detailed writing tips; and, table of contents, glossary and index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great compilation
First, this is a quite well-written 'manual.' It is conversational (read: not boring), not overly complicated, and it also does not talk down to kids. It covers many forms of writing, and seems to be a compilation (based on the sections and their lengths) of:

Once upon a Time: Writing Your Own Fairy Tale (Writer's Toolbox)
Sincerely Yours: Writing Your Own Letter (Writer's Toolbox)
Words, Wit, and Wonder: Writing Your Own Poem (Writer's Toolbox)
It's All About You: Writing Your Own Journal (Writer's Toolbox)
Share a Scare: Writing Your Own Scary Story (Writer's Toolbox)
Just the Facts: Writing Your Own Research Report (Writer's Toolbox)

Each section outlines the necessary tools (for example: setting, characters, plot, dialogue, etc), gives examples of each, and follows along a story (or letter, or report, etc) to show each tool in action. At the end of each section it also includes a concise summary of the tools used in that genre, and then a couple pages of getting started exercises and writing tips.

Comprehensive without being overwhelming, instructional without being dry. A perfect fit for us! ... Read more

Product Description
A book which should appeal to both literary theorists and to readers of the novel, this study invites the reader to consider how the plot reflects the patterns of human destiny and seeks to impose a new meaning on life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Opened new doors for me.
Of the 35-40 books I've read on story and plot construction, Peter Brooks, "Reading for the Plot", has helped me reach the furthest understanding in the dialectic nature of story/plot and the deep affect some have the ability to transmit.After reading this book, my perception has changed on how to view/interpret narrative discourse.In a world of "how-to" books that treat the subject as if you were trying to bake a cake, Peter Brooks shames them by treating plot with the respect it deserves.

One of the best books I have read on the novel.
Peter Brooks shows, through a series of sensitive analyses of ninetenth and twentieth century novels (and also Freud's case history of the "Wolf Man") what can be got out of novels by attending to what is sometimes thought to be the dryest, most uninteresting thing about them: their plots. Brooks' main argument is that "plot" is not something static - like a skeleton keeping a story together - but something that is continually shaping and being shaped by stories as they develop through time. Brooks main mentor in this book is Sigmund Freud, but Reading for the Plot is very far from the kind of psychoanalytic criticism that seeks to explain Hamlet's neuroticisms in terms of his relationship with Gertrude. Rather, Brooks relates Freud's theories to narratives themselves, showing how, for example, narratives simutaneously engender and thwart readers' desire for "closure." The essay on Dickens' Great Expectations is particularly illuminating, probablybecause Great Expectations is a novel whose very title describes the kind of plot-philia Brooks is talking about. ... Read more

Product Description
This widely used text provides invaluable guidelines for reading literature creatively.The fourth edition presents various critical approaches to studying and evaluating the elements of literature, including fiction, drama and poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Much Needed school text book
After waiting two weeks at the university book store, I decided to just look for and order this item online.Amazon actually got the item to me a day earlier than expected.The book is in excellent condition. The book is required for my 1020 English Writing class and it an easy read and has great explanations and examples included.

Writing Essays about Lit
The textbook arrived quickly (within a few days of the order), and was in excellent condition!It was most helpful to get it so quickly!

Best Reference Guide For Writing
I've been studying writing in college for 3 years now and this is the best book I've come across because it is super explanatory.The book probes your mind and gives you "universal" questions to ask when writing about anything.It really spells out the writing process in an easy to comprehend way.

A guide to college writing
This is an well-organized book that offers advice to a writer in a college level course, or as a reference tool for other writing classes.Although the book is somewhat dated in content, it is still a good source forinformation.Each chapter is subdivided into different categories, whichmake it easy to reference material. The beginning chapters deal withchoosing a topic and how to analyze literature.The analyzation ofmaterial is split into different categories such as literature, fiction,drama, and poetry.Under each section there is a division that helps inthe definition of `good literature.'For example, the literature is splitinto sections of literature as language, aesthetic, fictional, true,expressive, and affective.Under each section in the chapter there is adescription of what the section entails and how the writer can distinguishwhether the work in question applies to the rule or doesn't apply.Chapterseven contains a list of the different types of criticisms that are usuallyused in literature, such as Historical Criticism and BiographicalCriticism.This chapter has a description of what the type of criticismmeans and how it is applies to literature of different genres.Chaptereight helps in the evaluation of literature on the basis if it answers someof the 13 questions listed and described in the chapter.The next twochapters help in the production of good essay content.There is, as inmost books, a section on how to document sources, how to handle quotations,and the format of the paper.The last chapter contains six sample essaysfor the writer to look at and see how all the parts of this book arecontained within a single piece of writing. Overall, I found this bookto a helpful guide or source book.If unsure of something, it is an easyguide to look back at and find a definition and how to apply it to a paper. Although it is not the only book that provides this information, I believethat it presents it in such a way that it is user friendly for beginningwriters. ... Read more

Product Description
Written from the perspective of a developmental editor advising an author with a newly completed book draft, this article details a step-by-step method for revising and editing novel-length fiction or creative/narrative non-fiction manuscripts. It is a holistic, integrated process that applies to writers at every skill level and at any stage of their project. Writers may follow the system completely or selectively.

Based on the premise that writers benefit more from undertaking this work on their own than from hiring professionals to do it for them, The CT Method explores concepts and logistical details relevant to writers who plan to seek an agent or publisher as well as those who may choose to self-publish.While most of these self-revision and self-editing strategies and tactics will be relevant to writers working on shorter pieces, the process will be most useful to long-form stories. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent resource for authors
I recently finished the first draft of a book I've been working on for several years.I wanted to do all the editing I could on my own before sending my manuscript to a professional editor.After doing a lot of research I purchased 3 books to help me in that process - one of them was "The CT Method" by David Schlosser.I love this book for its simple and practical format.Schlosser has done all authors a tremendous service by providing these useful and insightful editing steps.The couple of bucks spent on this book will save me hundreds, if not more, in professional editing services. ... Read more

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"This important anthology sheds much light on the aesthetic and moral role of writers in representing the Shoah. By including both survivors and non-witnessing authors in their study, the Raphaels emphasize the universal and ongoing nature of this crucial issue." --Alan L. Berger, author, Children of Job: American Second-Generation Witnesses to the Holocaust "The Raphaels have gathered for us--teachers, students, readers--a collection of short stories built on silence: from the unspeakable events of the Holocaust through the profound silence of history to the decorous silence of racism and probity. 'The story [of the Holocaust] is never-ending,' says the introduction. Without this book we'd know less than we must know to stay alive." --Hilda Raz, editor, The Prairie Schooner Anthology of Contemporary Jewish Writing Both survivors of the Holocaust and those who were not there agree that it is impossible to tell what happened as the Nazi Final Solution was put into effect. No writing can adequately imagine the concentration camps, ghettos, and death camps. And that is precisely why writers must tell--and retell--what happened there. In When Night Fell, Linda Schermer Raphael and Marc Lee Raphael have collected twenty-six short stories that tell of the human toll of the Holocaust on those who survived its horrors, as well as later generations touched by its memory. The stories are framed by discussion of the current debate about who owns the Holocaust and who is entitled to speak about it. Some of the stories included here are by internationally acclaimed authors. Others may be new to many readers. When Night Fell is a fitting memorial to this genocidal horror, putting eloquent voice to human endurance that is--almost--beyond words.The authors included in When Night Fell:S. Y. Agnon, Yehuda Amichai, Aharon Appelfeld, Sholem Asch, Giorgio Bassani, Rachmil Bryks, Chaver Paver, Ida (Stein) Fink, Pierre Gascar, Chaim Grade, Henryk Grynberg, Rachel Haring Korn, Arnost Lustig, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk, Hans Peter Richter, Isaiah Spiegel, Leonard Tushnet, S. L. Wisenberg, and Jerzy Zawieyski. ... Read more

Product Description
Illustrating their conviction that fiction-writing and fiction-reading are natural and mutually nourishing activities, the editors of ABOUT THESE STORIES: Fiction for Fiction Writers and Readers, have compiled a text of 18-24 short stories, many contemporary designed for creative writing or introduction to fiction courses. Each story is followed by an essay from one of the editors, suggesting approaches to reading, seeing structure and technique, and interpreting the work. As the editors point out, the stories included embody useful answers to questions important to writers, concerning plot, point of view, characterization, and atmosphere. They illustrate methods of dealing with fictional material that students can learn from and draw on for their own creative or interpretive work. The essays are natural responses to the stories they accompany, and will inspire story writers to write more stories and story readers to have their say in writing about these stories. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Creative Writing Textbook
Editors Huddle, Orth, and Shepherd put themselves on the line by writing revealing "critical responses" to each of the sixteen "professional" short stories in this anthology.To top this off,they conclude the volume with a student short story (critiqued by a fellowstudent), then offer one story apiece, with cross-commentary, from theirperspective as writing teachers.Thus, twenty stories and twenty shortcommentaries comprise this useful anthology, representing writers asdiverse as Kafka and Chekhov, Carver and Mishima, Reynolds Price and BarryHannah. ... Read more

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Twenty-Five Great Essays provides an outstanding collection of classic and contemporary writing as part of Longman's Penguin Academics Series of low-cost, high-quality offerings.

Customer Reviews (3)

More than Great Essays
This books brings some of the greatest essays to you, as well as provide various reflective questions.This would be a great book to use in your first year of college or if you were homeschooling your child.One of the things I found extremely valuable about this iteration of essays is that they provide a brief history of each of the great authors.This is one of the best short essay books of our time.

Twenty-Five Great Essays (Penguin Academics Series) (3rd Edition)
The seller said it was new and when we got it, it looked pretty new but it had pencil writings.It would have been nice if it was mentioned on the sale.

A good and inexpensive teaching tool
If you are an instructor of English Composition or an introductory literature class, this slim volume, edited by Robert DiYanni, is fairly comprehensive and represents a wide range of subjects and styles. Much lighter in weight and price than most anthologies (and, face it, how many pages of those fat anthologies do you really teach from?), TWENTY-FIVE GREAT ESSAYS is extremely practical. The anthology includes writers like: James Baldwin, Stephen Jay Gould, E.B. White, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Ehrlich, George Orwell, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

I don't always agree with the commentaries that precede each essay, and I don't find all the "Possibilities for writing" questions after each essay that valuable. Still, it is a worthwhile and practical collection that will appeal to teachers and students alike.

Rocco Dormarunnno
Instructor, The College of New Rochelle ... Read more

Product Description
The first collection from the archives of this beloved literary journal

Featuring remarkable works from dozens of acclaimed writers, this is an anthology of the best poems, short stories and essays that first appeared in The Kenyon Review, one of the world's most influential literary journals. This who's who of literature contains pieces by current National Book Award winner Ruth Stone and:
William Carlos Williams, Randall Jarrell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Federico Garcia Lorca, E.L. Doctorow, John Berryman, Dylan Thomas, Allen Tate, Marianne Moore, F.O. Matthiessen, Muriel Rukeyser, Bertolt Brecht, John Crowe Ransom, Wallace Stevens, Robert Lowell, W.H. Auden, Sean O'Faolain, James Wright, Flannery O'Connor, Konstantinos Kavaphes, Peter Taylor, Delmore Schwartz, Thomas Pynchon, Sylvia Plath, James Dickey, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, Julio Cortázar, Robert Hass, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett, Lewis Hyde, Galway Kinnell, Derek Walcott, Woody Allen, Rita Dove, Italo Calvino, Louise Erdrich, Gerald Early, Reginald McKnight, Philip Levine, Yusef Komunyakaa, Richard Howard, Eavan Boland, Ha Jin, Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas Glave, Charles Wright
... Read more

Product Description
This exceptional anthology of British and American prose provides a chronological survey of over ninety of the most important and popular essays written in the twentieth century. Essays in Context acquaints students with the development and evaluation of the essay form while also introducing them to the key historical, cultural, social, and intellectual issues of the last century. The text is organized into eighteen themes to highlight the various patterns of thought and feeling that developed throughout the century. Comprehensive biographic headnotes for the authors and a timeline of historic events help students to place the authors and their works in context. Extensive discussion questions--organized under two headings, "Understanding and Analysis" and "Comparison"--follow each selection, motivating students to evaluate the work and relate it to other selections in the text. The volume also includes footnotes and an opening chapter on how to read essays. The selections have been thoroughly annotated to explain terms, people, events, and literary allusions. An ideal text for courses in composition and expository writing, Essays in Context provides students with a framework for understanding and interrogating an extensive range of authors, from Mark Twain and T.S. Eliot to bell hooks and Leslie Marmon Silko. ... Read more

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Why write in the first place, other than your grocery list? Eric Nicol believes it's the second-most satisfying thing you can do lying down. But it's not enough to want to write. You must need to write.

Now, after 73 years of scribbling - he wrote for the school newspaper at Lord Byng High School in Vancouver, British Columbia - Eric holds forth on dangling participles, punctuation, and literary jargon. What's more, he answers the burning question: "How much should creative writers depend on editors to correct their grammar?"

Then Eric provides a wide selection of essays to demonstrate how it's done. These include a dramatic demonstration of the chutzpah of a big Tom wild turkey and its harem on a B.C. Gulf Island, the discovery that Eric's one-way-view window in the bathroom has been installed incorrectly, the trials and tribulations of computers and the creative process, and a riposte to the query, "Are nipples really necessary on guys?"

Pure Nicol. Minted in Canada. Priceless!

Product Description
Aspiring writers are often discouraged by the solitary nature of their work. Many long for a community of peers with whom to share work, empathy, and informed and objective opinions. With The Company of Writers, seasoned writer and writing teacher Hilma Wolitzer provides a captivating, compassionate, and practical guide that shows writers how to find their own creative edge and form support networks.

Wolitzer devotes the first part of the book to creating writing workshops while the second part suggests specific topics for discussion within the group or to address on your own.

Wolitzer also includes valuable tips on building a writer's reference library, useful and provocative exercises, and generous advice from other writers.Whether you are a workshop veteran or a writing-group novice, Wolitzer's experience and encouragement will help you prepare to take creative risks and find useful feedback-and inspiration.Amazon.com Review
"Writing fiction is a solitary occupation," Hilma Wolitzer says, "but not really a lonely one." Perhaps not, but camaraderie is nice, too. Never mindthat Wolitzer's first writing-workshop experience was completely humiliating; the workshop leader, Anatole Broyard, later handed her an encouraging note, and she was hooked. Presenting one's work to a writing group, Wolitzer says, is "like having several editors examining the work." Here, she offers advice on forming writing groups and keeping them together. She suggests that the participants bring a combination of honesty and charity to the group, and that they take care to address problems (bossy members, rivalries, absenteeism, and the like) as they arise. She offers recommendations on how to run workshop sessions, including how to critique one another's work. "I always write [my comments] in pencil," she says, "to emphasize that they are only suggestions, not commandments."

In the second half of her book, Wolitzer focuses on a different element offiction writing in each chapter--plot, setting, dialogue, humor, writing about sex, writing for children, and screenwriting. These are not tutorials; theyoffer Wolitzer's thoughts and experiences, and those of other writers. Theidea behind the book is that these are "focus sessions" to be taken up by aworkshop group, but they don't need that tie-in. Any fiction writer,affiliated with a group or not, can appreciate Wolitzer's musings. Wolitzerneedn't have tried to mold her thoughts into the writing-workshop premise.Her words reflect a life lived in the company of writers--living, dead, famous, and little-known--and that is enough. --Jane Steinberg ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A must read for writers
This is an excellent book, a must read for writers. Hilma Wolitzer gives some great strategies for being part of a writing group and provides insight and encouragement for the personal journey. I loved this book.

Practical inspiration for anyone writing creatively
This is the first book of nonfiction by the author of six wonderful novels -- including some bestsellers -- and a longtime writing instructor. It's a warm and encouraging book by a warm and generous writer (she contributed to my own book on the creative process, Writing in Flow, and I was impressed at that time by her articulateness) about how and why to get involved in a supportive writing community. Rather than fall into an existing group, perhaps composed of wannabes who don't know how to critique usefully or who will feel competitive with each other, you might take Wolitzer's advice and take charge of rounding up like-minded others. She includes rich detail about how to operate such a group, plus lots of concrete advice and suggestions from other authors on the actual writing: dialogue, sex scenes, setting, much more. Smoothly written and enjoyable to read. Marvelously inspiring. ... Read more