Research Writing

For the emerging author, the publishing world can be overwhelming. You’ve written the book, and you’re ready to share it with the world, but don’t know where to start. Traditional, independent press, hybrid, self-publishing, and online social platforms—all are valid publishing paths. The question is, which one is right for you? Finding Your Path to Publication is an introduction to an industry that remains a mystery to those on the outside. Learn how each publishing option works, what to expect from the process start to finish, how to identify red flags, and avoid common pitfalls.

When it comes to writing books, are you a "plotter" or a "pantser"? Is one method really better than the other? In this instructional book, author Libbie Hawker explains the benefits and technique of planning a story before you begin to write. She'll show you how to develop a foolproof character arc and plot, how to pace any book for a can't-put-down reading experience, and how to ensure that your stories are complete and satisfying without wasting any time or words.

Ceux qui n'ont pas d'objectifs ne risquent pas de les atteindre. Si vous voulez vivre de vos écrits, avoir un plan pour y arriver vous permettra d'y arriver plus vite. Vous êtes un auteur. Vous transformez les pensées dans votre tête en actifs de propriété intellectuelle de valeur. Vous comprenez à quel point le mot écrit peut être puissant. Il est maintenant temps d'utiliser vos mots pour créer un business plan afin de faire passer votre carrière d'écrivain à l'étape suivante, quelle que soit votre situation.

Are you ready to raise your writing game? Discover advanced creative writing techniques to take your fiction, drama, and poetry to a new level! Dramatic techniques are all about bold, clear, high-impact writing. Once you discover the craft concepts used by screen and stage writers to bring stories to life, you’ll never look back. This practical guide to dramatic concepts will give you confidence in structure, plotting and character, and may even blow your mind. At the very least, you’ll kick yourself for not discovering them sooner.

The Zettelkasten method is the perfect way to harness the power of technology to remember what you read and boost creativity. Invented in the 16th century and practiced to its fullest extent by a German sociologist who wrote 70 books and hundreds of articles, the Zettelkasten method is exploding in popularity. Writers of all types are discovering that digital tools make the method more powerful than ever, turning your digital life into an “external brain” or “bicycle for the mind”.

Meet the man behind the biggest persona either side of the Mississippi, in this audio companion to the Ken Burns film of the same name. Burns, Geoffrey Ward, and Dayton Duncan pull together a treasure trove of information on the man formerly known as Samuel Clemens, using published and unpublished sources. Also, browse all Mark Twain titles.

Compelling characters are what keeps readers turning pages and buying books—from fantasies to mysteries to the great literary novel. But how to do you create characters that feel three-dimensional and real on the page? Counsellor and author Eileen Cook shares common psychological techniques to help you build your characters and take your story to the next level. This book covers understanding your character's backstory and how it impacts their choices in your book by doing a structured counselling interview, personality structure, and the Stages of Change.

C'est une vérité communément admise qu'un auteur en possession d'un peu de temps et d'une idée n'a besoin de rien de plus urgent que la motivation. Maintenant, si vous me pardonnez d'adapter cette citation de Jane Austen aux circonstances, je vais vous exposer ma pensée : Vous pouvez avoir à la fois une idée révolutionnaire et tout le temps du monde, mais cela ne sert pas à grand-chose si la motivation fait défaut. Si celle-ci est également présente, des questions peuvent surgir, qui dépassent quelque peu les nouveaux auteurs.

Do you carry a story inside you—one that stirs beneath the surface, whispering to be told? Are you a story catcher, inspired to gather and tell the stories of this time? Or perhaps you are a story carrier—one who tends to and keeps old stories alive so they may breathe among us once more. If so, you already know that storytelling is more than just words. It’s a vessel for profound alchemy and transformation. With Sacred Storytelling, you’ll be taken on an immersive journey with master storyteller Leah Lamb into the art of conscious storytelling as a living, ancient practice.

Calvin Trillin has reported serious pieces across America for The New Yorker, covered the civil rights movement in the South for Time, and written comic verse for The Nation. But one of his favorite subjects over the years—a superb fit for his unique combination of reportage and humor—has been his own professional environment: the American press.

Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job.

A book for any Canadian who has wanted to self-publish. Get an overview of publishing a book, and answers to some Canadian-specific questions. What is withholding? How do I stop it? What's an ISBN and will I need to mortgage my house to buy one? Should I use Canadian spellings in my book? What publishing platforms are out there? If you’re a Canadian who has always wanted to write and self-publish, this book will give you a great overview of the industry, answer some of the most common questions people have, and get your career off on the right foot.

For everyone who's ever wanted to write a memoir but is having trouble starting, finishing, or is stuck somewhere in between. Here's the place to get the answers to your questions (and to the questions you didn't know to ask) in one concise volume.

Whether you email just a little or never stop, here, at last, is an authoritative and delightful audiobook that will tell you how to write the perfect email anywhere. Send also points out the numerous (but not always obvious) times when email can be the worst option and might land you in hot water (or even jail!). In short: absolutely e-ssential.

"The Elements of Style" is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and it was published by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage," ten "elementary principles of composition," "a few matters of form," a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused," and a list of 57 "words often misspelled."

Everything you need to run your business as an author. This is not a book on creativity or the craft of writing. This is not a book for hobbyists. This is a book that will take your writing into the realm of actually paying the bills. You will learn how to go from being an author to running a business as an author.

In this second edition, Saller adds new chapters, on the dangers of allegiance to outdated grammar and style rules and on ways to stay current in language and technology. She expands her advice for writers on formatting manuscripts for publication, on self-editing, and on how not to be “difficult”. Saller’s own gaffes provide firsthand (and sometimes humorous) examples of exactly what not to do. The revised content reflects today’s publishing practices while retaining the self-deprecating tone and sharp humor that helped make the first edition so popular.

Who else wants their dream book written today? If you can speak out loud, then you have what it takes to become a lightning-fast, best-selling author. Most people dream of writing a book, but those manuscripts end up shoved away in dusty drawers, half-finished and abandoned to be eaten by moths. Many of them are great writers, many of them have great ideas. Yet so many people come to the conclusion that they'll never finish their books.

What good will it do to skillfully craft a written argument if you lose your audience? Simple emails, formal reports, blogs, presentations, articles—they need punch to gain influence. Clear structure and logic alone won’t do. To engage readers, you need to make mentally stimulating choices in language—choices that electrify your readers’ mental hotspots. Veteran journalist Bill Birchard reveals the secret of making that happen. He blends the findings from a global cadre of psychologists and neuroscientists with lessons from his long, successful career as a professional writer.

You need two things to write great stories. Craft. And magic--real magic, meaning access to the mysterium. Are you called to write? Do you have stories that need to be told? Do you feel the magic in great writing and desire to harness that same power and energy? Do you re-read what you've written and wish it were more shiny? Do you worry that you should have studied writing with better teachers? If this is what you feel, then we offer you "Craft and Current," everything you need in one neat package about the size of a bank bag--affordable, accessible, activating, altering.