Weekend Novelist

Name: Weekend Novelist
Price: 2.54 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780440505945

ISBN-10: 0440505941

ISBN-13: 9780440505945

Edition: N/A

Authors: Robert J. Ray, Jack Remick

30 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Marketplace

4 new & used from $2.54

what's this?

Rush Rewards U
Members Receive:

You have reached 400 XP and carrot coins. That is the daily max!

Description:

During the week Robert J. Ray was a teacher. On weekends he learned the fiction writer's craft and produced his first novel. He ended up selling six books in six years. The same success as a writer can happen to you. His step-by-step program, the same one he uses himself and teaches in his popular fiction-writing class, organizes your writing around the weekends. Each weekend you work through the basics of character, scene, and plot, the construction of the novel in scenes and chapters, and the actual writing and editing of your book.

Book details

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 12/1/1993
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 288
Size: 5.25" wide x 8.00" long x 0.75" tall
Weight: 0.638
Language: English

Robert J. Ray, Ph.D. has written eight novels, five in the Matt Murdock Mystery series. His short fiction has appeared in Tri-Quarterly. Ray teaches writing for the University of Washington's School of Distance Learning. He lives in Seattle. Bret Norrisis the founder of the Norris Literary Agency. He has extensive experience as both a writer and editor of creative manuscripts. He lives in Seattle.

Introduction	p. ix
Using This Book	p. xi
Structuring Your Writing Sessions	p. xi
Finding Your Workspace and Writing Time	p. xii
Collecting Your Writing Tools	p. xiii
Adding Useful Books to Your Bookshelf	p. xiv
Thinking Like a Writer	p. xv
Warming Up	p. xvi
Mind Maps	p. xvii
Listing	p. xvii
Writing Practice	p. xvii
Writing with Friends	p. xvii
Reading Aloud	p. xviii
Exercises	p. xviii
Managing Your Writing	p. xviii
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare	p. xviii
Freeing Your Unconscious	p. xix
Escaping the Internal Editor: Writing Under the Clock	p. xx
Writing to Produce Word Pictures	p. xxi
Weekends 1-6: Plotting Your Novel	p. 1
No More Corner Bookstore	p. 2
The Writing World has Changed, But Plotting Stays the Same	p. 2
Plotting Along a Straight Line	p. 4
Guidelines for Plotting with a Straight Line Structure	p. 6
Exercises	p. 9
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 10
Plotting Along the Curve	p. 12
Guidelines for Plotting the Quest for Your Protagonist	p. 14
Departure	p. 14
Initiation	p. 16
Return	p. 16
Taking Your Protagonist on the Mythic Journey	p. 16
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 18
A Cage for Santiago	p. 18
Escape for Santiago	p. 18
Santiago Takes the Quest	p. 18
Santiago Confronts the Dragon	p. 20
Home for Santiago	p. 20
Exercises	p. 20
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 21
Spinning Your Novel Down the Page	p. 24
After the Sketches, Here Comes the Fireball Prose	p. 24
Choices for the Writer	p. 25
Image and Action	p. 26
Plan B: Ripping Down the Page	p. 27
Exercises	p. 28
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 31
Using the Grid to Play What-If	p. 34
Weekends 7-14: Sculpting Your Characters	p. 35
Determining What Your Characters Want	p. 36
Understanding Character and Motive	p. 37
Developing Characters and Character Roles	p. 37
Finding Motivation for Your Character	p. 39
Building Character Through Discovery	p. 39
Creating a Character Sketch	p. 41
Learning by Example: The Stranger in the Room	p. 42
Guidelines for Creating Your Sketch	p. 43
Exercises	p. 44
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 45
Writing Back Story	p. 49
Learning by Example: Veronica's Back Story	p. 50
Guidelines for Writing Back Story	p. 52
Chronology for the Protagonist	p. 54
Exercises	p. 54
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 55
Writing a Dream	p. 57
Learning by Example: Veronica's Dream	p. 57
Notes on Veronica's Dream	p. 59
Guidelines for Writing a Dream	p. 60
Altering Logical Sequence	p. 61
Letting Go	p. 62
Exercises	p. 63
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 64
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 65
Notes on Paul's Dream	p. 67
Dressing Your Character	p. 68
Learning by Example: Paul Dressing	p. 69
Guidelines for Dressing Your Character	p. 71
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 73
Exercises	p. 73
Character Work is Watching Your Characters Handle Weapons, Money, Jewelry, Furniture, Cooking Utensils, Vehicles, and Wardrobe Items	p. 76
Weekends 15-20: Plotting Your Novel: Plan B	p. 78
Plotting with Sacred Objects	p. 81
Choosing the Perfect Object for Your Novel	p. 81
Objects Tell the Story in The Great Gatsby	p. 83
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 87
Bullet from 1945	p. 88
A Bullet from 1857	p. 89
A Bullet from 2000	p. 90
Guidelines for Plotting with Sacred Objects	p. 92
Exercises	p. 95
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 95
Plotting with More Than One Protagonist	p. 97
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 98
Mini-Guidelines for Working the Double Protagonist	p. 100
The Architecture of Ian McEwan's Amsterdam	p. 100
Lessons from Amsterdam	p. 103
Plotting with More than Two Protagonists	p. 104
Exercises	p. 107
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 108
Plotting with the Working Synopsis	p. 111
Telling Your Story	p. 111
Using Your Synopsis	p. 112
A Synopsis for Cinderella: A Three-Act Structure	p. 113
Write the Ending First	p. 114
Guidelines for Writing Your Synopsis	p. 115
	p. 116
	p. 117
	p. 122
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 125
Exercises	p. 127
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 128
	p. 129
	p. 130
	p. 130
Weekends 21-28: Writing Scenes and Building the Scene Sequence	p. 135
Exploring Reasons to Write Scenes	p. 136
Establishing Rhythm in Your Novel	p. 137
Noting Key Scenes on Your TV Screen	p. 141
Building Scenes and the Scene Sequence	p. 142
Constructing a Scene Sequence	p. 143
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 148
Ritual of Courtship in Jane Eyre	p. 149
Plot and Subplot in the Scene Sequence	p. 150
Exercises	p. 152
Writing the First Encounter Scene	p. 154
The First Encounter in Leaving Las Vegas	p. 156
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 160
Guidelines for Writing Your First Encounter Scene	p. 161
Exercises	p. 163
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 164
Writing Your Climax	p. 167
Constructing a Chain of Events	p. 167
Guidelines for Writing Your Climax	p. 168
Exercises	p. 169
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 170
Writing Your Midpoint	p. 175
Seeing Midpoint on the Big Screen	p. 176
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 178
Guidelines for Writing Your Midpoint	p. 179
Exercises	p. 180
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 181
Weekends 29-49: Writing Your Rough Draft	p. 187
Writing Tips: How to Keep Going	p. 189
Writing Your Rough Draft for Act One	p. 191
Bringing Your Characters Onstage	p. 192
Creating a List of Scenes for Act One	p. 193
Sketching the Opening Scene	p. 195
Guidelines for Writing Your Act One Rough Draft	p. 199
Writing About Place	p. 199
Using Diagrams to Probe Subtext	p. 200
Exercises	p. 202
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 204
Writing Your Rough Draft for Act Two	p. 211
Guidelines for Writing Your Rough Draft of Act Two	p. 211
Finding Act Two	p. 214
Work, Work, Work	p. 215
Writing with Power	p. 217
Crossing into Act Three	p. 218
Exercises	p. 219
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 221
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 222
Writing Your Rough Draft for Act Three	p. 229
Sketching the Fate of Your Protagonist	p. 230
Getting Help from Other Writers	p. 233
Guidelines for Writing Your Rough Draft of Act Three	p. 234
Exercises	p. 237
The Novel-in-Progress: Trophy Wives	p. 238
Where to Go From Here	p. 241
Weekends 50-52: Tapping the Power of Your Manuscript	p. 242
The Weekend Novelist Writes a Memoir	p. 243
Case Study: Writer A	p. 245
The Shape of the Book	p. 247
Exercises	p. 249
Suggested Memoir Readings	p. 249
The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel	p. 250
Tips for Rewriting Your Novel	p. 252
Nouns, Verbs, Word Pictures, Style, and Operation Ratio	p. 253
Exercises	p. 255
The Weekend Novelist Writes a Screenplay	p. 256
Part I: Story	p. 257
Squeezing the Story in Trophy Wives	p. 258
Writing the Screenplay: Trophy Wives	p. 260
Exercises	p. 262
Index	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.