Write Great Fiction - Description & Setting

Create Complex Characters

How do you create a main character readers won't forget? How do you write a book in multiple-third-person point of view without confusing your readers (or yourself)? How do you plant essential information about a character's past into a story?

Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by award-winning author Nancy Kress answers all of these questions and more!

• Choose and execute the best point of view for your story
• Create three-dimensional and believable characters
• Develop your characters' emotions
• Create realistic love, fight, and death scenes
• Use frustration to motivate your characters and drive your story

With dozens of excerpts from some of today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint provides you with the techniques you need to create characters and stories sure to linger in the hearts and minds of agents, editors, and readers long after they've finished your book.

Craft an Engaging Plot

With Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, you'll discover the answers to these questions and more. Award-winning author and columnist James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including:

• Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and ends
• Easy-to-understand plotting diagrams and charts
• Brainstorming techniques for original plot ideas
• Thought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapter
• Story structure models and methods for all genres
• Tips and tools for correcting common plot problems

Celebrated writing teacher and author Martha Alderson has devised a plotting system that's as innovative as it is easy to implement. With her foolproof blueprint, you'll learn to devise a successful storyline for any genre. She shows how to:

• Use the power of the Universal Story
• Create plot lines and subplots that work together
• Effectively use a scene tracker for maximum impact
• Insert energetic markers at the right points in your story
• Show character transformation at the book's climax

When should your character talk, what should (or shouldn't) he say, and when should he say it? How do you know when dialogue–or the lack thereof–is dragging down your scene? How do you fix a character who speaks without the laconic wit of the Terminator?

• Create dialogue that drives the story
• Weave dialogue with narrative and action
• Write dialogue that fits specific genres
• Avoid the common pitfalls of writing dialogue
• Make dialogue unique for each character

Along with dozens of dialogue excerpts from today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Dialogue gives you the edge you need to make your story stand out from the rest.