Laurie E. Rozakis - The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing

The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...116

page_1

Page 1 PART 1 FOLLOWING THE WRITER'S TRADE It is wonderful that even today, with all the competition of records, of radio, of television, of motion pictures, the book has kept its precious character. A book is somehow sacred. A dictator can kill and maim people, can sink to any kind of tyranny and only be hated, but when books are burned the ultimate in tyranny has happened. This we cannot forgive Peopleautomatically believe in books. This is strange but it is so. Messages come from behind the controlled and censored areas of the world and they do not ask for radios, for papers and pamphlets. They invariably ask for books. They believe in books when they believe nothing else. John Steinbeck John Steinbeck, winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Literature, recognized that books convey an authority that no other media can command. Plumbers may make more money, car mechanics may keep us tooling along, and fine chefs definitely make life more delicious. But writers fulfill a need that no one else can: they nurture our souls. This section of the book shows you why creative writing is so worthwhile.

page_1

If you like this book, buy it!

page_10

Page 10 Why Write? Several years ago, my local school district held a Celebrate the Arts day. I was invited to be a guest speaker on the writing process. Because it had been a while since I had shaved both legs on the same day, I decided to spiff up a bit and get a free lunch. The first speaker on the panel, a local novelist with two published books to his credit, stood straight and tall. Writing is a tremendous amount of fun, he proclaimed. The words flow like honey, he said. Writing was as easy as falling off a log, shooting fish in a barrel, or stealing candy from a baby. Liar, liar, pants on fire, I thought. The previous week I had fallen off a ladder trying to get some leaves out of the gutter, and that was not fun. And many days, neither is writing. It is often lonely, hard, and as mucky as leaf removal. The words seldom flowed like honey. I eat too much candy and clean too many cabinets to avoid writing. But still I keep at it. Why? Creative writers have a story to tell. The story may be fiction or nonfiction. It may be a play, a script, a poem. Whatever form the writing takes, it must be expressed. Creative writers have a need to write, as much as they have a need to breathe, eat, and sleep. And their task is equally important to humanity. Creative writing is as crucial today as it was to the Egyptians sweating over their papyrus and the medieval monks hunched over their illuminated manuscripts. Perhaps the very qualities that would seem to make writing pass are the reasons it's more important than ever. As we litter the Information Superhighway with embarrassing, poorly written trash and communicate in itty-bitty sound bites, we need a medium that allows us to communicate, think, discover, and learncreatively. What, Me Write? As any good ball player will tell you, you can't steal second base and keep one foot on first. So what stops most people from writing? It's not lack of talent, whatever talent is. It's fear. Who am I? most beginning writers think. What right do I have to think I can be a writer? Besides, no one will listen to me. Nonsense. You are a person with a unique story to tell. I've been teaching creative writing for more than (gulp) 25 years. I've been publishing my work for nearly 20 years. And I tell you that everyone has a story that should be told. Take this quick quiz to learn why you should be writing.

page_10

If you like this book, buy it!

page_100

Page 100 Fill in as many details as you can to help you create three-dimensional characters. Character Worksheet Name: _____________________________________________________________________ Physical description: Age: ______________________________________________________________________ Height and weight: ___________________________________________________________ Eyes: _____________________________________________________________________ Hair: _____________________________________________________________________ Special abilities: _____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Personal data: Education: _________________________________________________________________ Occupation: ________________________________________________________________ Social class: ________________________________________________________________ Religion: ___________________________________________________________________ Ethnicity: ___________________________________________________________________ Hobbies: ___________________________________________________________________ Marital status: _______________________________________________________________ Children: ___________________________________________________________________ Friends: ____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Ambitions: __________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Family: Place in family: _______________________________________________________________ Immediate family members: ______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Pets: _______________________________________________________________________ (text box continues on next page)

page_100

If you like this book, buy it!

page_101

Page 101 (text box continued from previous page) Personality: Main personality traits: ________________________________________________________ Disposition: ________________________________________________________________ Self-image: _________________________________________________________________

Next page

1234567...116

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing»

Look at similar books to The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Shari L. Just

The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Visualization

Alan Wall

Writing Fiction

Deborah Perlberg

The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing for Young Adults

Casey Clabough

Creative Writing

Moustaki

The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing Poetry: CIG to Writing Poetry

Lajos Egri

The Art of Dramatic Writing

Holtje

The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing Business Books

Hamand

Creative Writing Exercises For Dummies

Hallie Ephron

The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel: All the Tools You Need to Write and Sell Your First Novel

Jules Horne

Dramatic Techniques for Creative Writers: Turbo-Charge Your Writing

Monteleone

The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing a Novel, 2nd Edition

Thomas Monteleone

The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing a Novel

Discussion, reviews of the book The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.