Creative Writing For Dummies

Maggie Hamand, PhD, is a novelist, nonfiction author, journalist, and publisher. She was the winner of the first World One-Day Novel Cup in 1994 with the novel The Resurrection of the Body, which was written in 24 hours and subsequently optioned for film and television. Her novel Virgin & Child was the 2020 Morning Star Book of the Year.

INTRODUCTION 1 PART 1: GETTING STARTED 5 CHAPTER 1: You and Your Writing 7 CHAPTER 2: Getting into the Write Mindset 25 CHAPTER 3: Finding Material to Work With 39 PART 2: INTRODUCING THE ELEMENTS OF CREATIVE WRITING 51 CHAPTER 4: Creating Characters 53 CHAPTER 5: Giving Characters a Voice with Dialogue 67 CHAPTER 6: Choosing a Narrator 81 CHAPTER 7: Describing Your World 95 CHAPTER 8: Plotting Your Way 107 CHAPTER 9: Setting Up a Solid Structure 125 CHAPTER 10: From Drafting to Rewriting and Editing: Making Your Work Shine 141 PART 3: WRITING FICTION 153 CHAPTER 11: When Less is More: Crafting Short Stories 155 CHAPTER 12: Writing the Novel 171 CHAPTER 13: Once Upon a Time: Writing for Children 187 CHAPTER 14: Penning Plays 201 CHAPTER 15: Writing Screenplays 213 CHAPTER 16: Rhymes and Reasons: Writing Poetry 227 PART 4: EXPLORING NONFICTION 239 CHAPTER 17: Breaking into Journalism 241 CHAPTER 18: Writing from Life: Giving a Voice to the Past 255 CHAPTER 19: Crafting Narrative Nonfiction 273 CHAPTER 20: Travel Writing: Tales for Armchair Explorers 285 CHAPTER 21: All About Blogging 293 PART 5: FINDING AN AUDIENCE 301 CHAPTER 22: Finding Professionals to Publish Your Book 303 CHAPTER 23: Staying in Control with Self-Publishing 321 CHAPTER 24: Becoming a Professional 341 PART 6: THE PART OF TENS 357 CHAPTER 25: Ten Top Tips for Writers 359 CHAPTER 26: Ten Ways to Get Noticed 365 INDEX 371