Research Writing

From his best-selling series, The Art of World Building, author Randy Ellefson provides more than 3000 World Building Prompts to inspire creators for everything they might want to invent.

With intelligence and precision, Ellen Bryant Voigt parses out the deft and alluring shape of poetic language in The Art of Syntax. Through brilliant readings of poems by Bishop, Frost, Kunitz, Lawrence, and others, Voigt examines the signature musical scoring writers deploy to orchestrate meaning. "This structure―this architecture―is the essential drama of the poem's composition," she argues. The Art of Syntax is an indispensable book on the writer's craft by one of America's best and most influential poets and teachers.

Joanne Fedler, a beloved writing teacher and mentor, has written Your Story to help all people, even those who don't necessarily identify as 'writers', value their life stories and write them in such a way that they transcend the personal and speak into a universal story. She shows how to write from your life, but for the benefit of others.

What does it take to have a long writing life? Drawing on her years of writing, teaching, and practicing Zen, Natalie Goldberg shares the experiences that have opened her to new ways of being alive - experiences that point the way forward in our lives and our writing. The "great spring" of this book title refers to the great rush of energy that arrives when you think no life will ever come again - the early yellow flowering forsythia, for example.

Flash fiction is changing the way we tell stories. Carving away the excess, eliminating all but the most essential, flash fiction is putting the story through a literary dehydrator, leaving the meat without the fat. And it only looks easy. Enter Going Short: An Invitation to Flash Fiction. In this, her treatise on the form, veteran writer Nancy Stohlman takes us on a flash fiction journey: from creating, sculpting, revising, and collecting stories to best practices for writers in any genre.

Reporting on China has long been one of the most challenging and crucial of journalistic assignments. Nonetheless, American media coverage of China has profoundly influenced U.S. government policy and shaped public opinion not only domestically but also, given the clout and reach of U.S. news organizations, around the world. This book tells the story of how American journalists have covered China—from the civil war of the 1940s through the COVID-19 pandemic—in their own words.

Do you want to connect with readers and listeners on a deeper level? Do you want your books to stand out in a sea of content by being authentic and personal in your writing whatever the genre? Are you interested in creative self-development? If yes, Writing the Shadow is for you. This is a book of my heart and it contains many personal stories—but this book is really about helping you reach readers and listeners with your words—and move to the next level in your writing.

In the voices of 20 landmark memoirists - including New York Times best-selling authors Cheryl Strayed, Sue Monk Kidd, and Pat Conroy - a definitive book on the craft of autobiographical writing, indispensable for amateur and professional writers alike. For fans of Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir and Judith Barrington's Writing the Memoir, this follow-up to editor Meredith Maran's acclaimed writers' handbook, Why We Write, offers inspiration, encouragement, and pithy, practical advice for bloggers, journal-keepers, aspiring essayists, and memoirists.

Afghan-American journalist Fariba Nawa delivers a revealing and deeply personal exploration of Afghanistan and the drug trade which rules the country, from corrupt officials to warlords and child brides and beyond.

In February 1943, a group of journalists - including a young wire service correspondent named Walter Cronkite and cub reporter Andy Rooney - clamored to fly along on a bombing raid over Nazi Germany. Seven of the 64 bombers that attacked a U-boat base that day never made it back to England. A fellow survivor, Homer Bigart of the New York Herald Tribune, asked Cronkite if he’d thought through a lede. "I think I’m going to say," mused Cronkite, “that I’ve just returned from an assignment to hell."

Publishing veteran and best-selling author J. Thorn reveals his proven system for writing delicious scenes based on his legendary "Supercharge Your Scene" challenge successfully completed by thousands of authors. This tight yet comprehensive book teaches you what you absolutely must know about writing snappy scenes, whether you're a plotter or pantser, short story dynamo or lifelong novelist, rock star indie or a trad pub professional. Developed from decades of classroom experience and used to revise millions of words, Thorn teaches you how to use simple tools to master your craft.

Creating a unique, immersive setting one place at a time. Creating Places is a detailed how-to guide on inventing the heart of every imaginary world - places. It includes chapters on inventing planets, moons, continents, mountains, forests, deserts, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, and interesting locales. Extensive, culled research on each is provided to inform your world-building decisions and understand the impact on craft, story, and audience.

«Estas conferencias se titulan Confesiones de un joven novelista, y cabría preguntarse por qué, teniendo en cuenta que ya he cumplido más de setenta años. Pero resulta que publiqué mi primera novela, El nombre de la rosa, en 1980, de modo que empecé mi carrera como novelista hace cosa de treinta años. Me considero, por lo tanto, un novelista muy joven y ciertamente prometedor».

Setting up your life to write a PhD has a single goal: to ensure that PhD students have the support, preparation and context to succeed. Too often words and phrases like 'burnout' or 'writer's block' are used to mask a complexity of motivational, task or time management issues. But writing is difficult. Writing a PhD is even harder.

Do you want to write but can't seem to get started? Are you struggling to finish your novel or frustrated by your slow progress? Perhaps you are starting to worry that you aren't cut out for the writing life.... Let best-selling novelist and host of the Worried Writer podcast Sarah Painter show you how to skip past negativity, free-up writing time, cope with self-doubt, and beat procrastination. Packed with honest, supportive, and hard-won advice, this is your practical guide to getting the work done.

Following the success of several recent inspirational and practical books for would-be writers, Poemcrazy is a perfect guide for everyone who ever wanted to write a poem but was afraid to try. Writing workshop leader Susan Wooldridge shows how to think, use one's senses, and practice exercises that will make poems more likely to happen.

Art-Write:The Writing Guide for Visual Artists has a single intention: to teach artists how to write about their own artwork. This concise and current career resource is filled with achievable advice on how to write for art promotion and sales. The audiobook offers a step-by-step approach to create a professional artist statement, with thinking and writing exercises to ease the process and develop authentic and clear content.

Though it is foundational to the craft of writing, the concept of voice is a mystery to many authors, and teachers of writing do not have a good working definition of it for use in the classroom. Written to address the vague and problematic advice given to writers to “find their voice,” Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto recasts the term in the plural to give writers options, movement, and a way to understand the development of voice over time.

Breaking into freelance writing has gotten much easier for word-savvy entrepreneurs like you. But even in the golden age of content creation, you still need to know what it takes to launch and consistently pitch your services so you can grow and scale your freelance writing side hustle into a full-fledged career you really love. Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business is an easy-to-understand, introductory, and nontechnical approach to the world of freelance writing.

Whether you’re new to freelance life, thinking of taking the leap, or more experienced, the messiness and challenges of self-employment can trip you up if you’re not prepared. Survival Skills for Freelancers is your secret weapon to help you do what you love and love what you do.