This compilation contains the full text of my shorter nonfiction works in a single book: Narrative in Fiction; The Seven Writerly Sins; Creating Realistic Characters; Writing Dialect; Writing Great Beginnings; Writing Flash Fiction; and Self-Editing for Writers. Each title is chock full of tips and techniques, and in this compilation you're getting a truly great deal. Each of these smaller titles began as a handout that accompanied my Writing the World seminars. What you will not get in this work is Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction, Punctuation for Writers, and The Craft of Poetry: Structure and Sound. If you want those, you'll have to purchase them separately, at least for now. But with this book alone, you will learn to write sterling narrative; to avoid the seven worst mistakes most (not some... most) writers make; to create wonderfully well-rounded protagonists and antagonists (and why, for example, the dialogue of a secondary, flat character should be even more memorable than that of the protagonist or antagonist); and to write truly authentic dialect. You'll also study some of the greatest opening sentences and paragraphs in literature and learn how to craft them yourself, and you'll learn to write a complete short story with a beginning, middle and end—setting, characters, conflict and resolution—in 99 words or fewer (excluding the title, which should not exceed 5 words). In short, you will learn the tips and tricks and techniques the author picked up during almost 40 years of writing and editing.
