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Book Cover
Book
Author Jason, Philip K., 1941-

Title Creative writer's handbook / Philip K. Jason, Allan B. Lefcowitz
Edition Fifth edition
Published New York : Pearson Longman, [2010]
©2010

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  808.025 J3944/C  AVAILABLE
Description xvi, 411 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Contents Anthology of poems -- Preface to fifth edition -- Part 1: Writer's Concerns -- 1: Working like a writer -- Pleasure and passion -- Attitudes -- Writer participates in writing -- Digression: for the classroom user -- Working habits -- Word about intentions -- 2: Journal/research/invention -- Why keep a journal? -- Keeping journals -- Your journal -- What to write in the journal -- Journal excerpts -- Getting started -- Keeping up -- What will you do with it all? -- Relationship between invention and research -- Searching and imaging -- Word about resources -- Summary -- 3: Point of view -- What is it? -- Who will do the telling? -- Decision and its consequences -- Range of perspectives -- Third person -- First person -- Sex education / Dorothy Canfield Fisher -- 4: Language is your medium -- There is no such thing as a synonym -- Choosing well -- Accuracy -- Precision -- Concreteness -- Appropriateness -- Idiomatic usage -- Some diction problems -- Overwriting -- Over modification -- Saying it twice -- Excessive variation -- Latinate diction -- Archaic diction -- Sonic boom -- Passives and operators -- Figures of speech -- Style -- Evoking styles -- Incompatible styles -- Style checklist -- Summary -- Part 2: Concerns Of The Poet -- 5: Elements of poetry -- Overview -- Line -- Line and meter -- Lines and rhymes -- Line and free verse -- Lines in combination -- Imagery -- Sound patterns -- Off-rhyme -- 6: Practicing poetry -- 1: Imitation -- 2: Fixed forms -- 3: Memory poem -- 4: Formula poems -- 5: Ritual poems -- 6: List poems -- 7: Dramatic poems/character poems -- 8: Event poems -- 9: Personification poems -- 10: Epistolary poems -- 11: Time warp poems -- 12: Advice poems -- 13: Picture poems -- 14: Music poems -- 15: Poems on poems -- 16: Found poems -- 7: Poetry problems -- Out of tune -- Archaic diction -- Anonymous voice -- Appalling abstraction -- Unintentional humor -- Jarring diction -- For the sake of rhyme -- Clash of poetic elements -- Writing past the poem -- Treasure burying -- Saying too much -- False start -- Punch-line endings -- Ineffective line break -- Out of order -- Derivative drivel --
Part 3: Concerns Of The Storyteller -- 8: Elements of fiction -- Nature of fiction -- Plot and what it does -- Setting -- Point of attack -- Character and characterization -- Action -- Outer view: appearance -- Inner view: thought -- Dialogue -- Indirect discourse -- Other means for characterization -- Functionaries and stock characters -- Naming characters -- Relationship of character, plot, and setting -- Note on the novel -- 9: Narration and its techniques -- Exposition -- Flashbacks -- Scene and summary -- Verisimilitude -- Problems -- Needless complication -- Misuse of dialogue -- Sudden comfort -- Sudden omniscience -- Ping-pong -- Pogo stick -- Wrong technique -- Descriptive clutter -- Other problems -- 10: Creative nonfiction -- Nature of creative nonfiction -- How the writer convinces the reader -- Exposure of self -- Testable elements hold up to the test -- Anecdotes must feel universal -- Virtues in nonfiction -- Problems in creative nonfiction -- Finding materials -- Reading -- Exploring yourself -- Fact behind the facts / Philip Gerard -- 11: Stories and nonfiction -- You won't remember this / Kate Blackwell -- Very short story / Ernest Hemingway -- Boarding house / James Joyce -- Sunday in the park / Bel Kaufman -- First day / Edward Jones -- Just married / Tony Earley -- Chinese medicine / Hilary Tham -- Grandmother's nose / Robert Coover -- Part 4: Concerns Of The Playwright -- 12: Elements of drama -- Nature of drama -- Storytelling with people and things -- 1: Belling the cat -- 2: Sunday in the park -- Final note -- Characters -- Presenting character -- Stock characters and character development -- Some final points -- Characters in place and time -- Beats -- Setting -- 13: Dialogue and its problems -- Dialogue: the essence of drama -- Principles and common errors -- Your exposition is showing -- Contractions and formality -- Interruptions and other ways of creating verisimilitude -- Fake dialogue of the dialogue dummy -- Designators, or stealing the actors' and directors' jobs -- Long speeches -- Grunting and pausing -- Accents, dialect, and verbal ties -- Swearing and vulgarity -- Locker room raillery -- Scene from The day they shot John Lennon / James McLure -- 14: Plays and screenplays -- Procedure -- Procedure / Joyce Carol Oates -- Discussion -- Off hand -- Off hand / Michael Wallerstein -- Discussion -- Word on plays for film and television -- Summary --
Part 5: Writer's Business -- 15: From drafting to revision to submission -- Feedback -- Look of the thing -- Poetry -- Prose -- Drama -- Revision -- When to revise -- Now to revise -- Checklist for mechanics -- Proofing and submitting -- Some possible problems -- Finding a home for your work -- Publication markets -- Play and film markets -- Before you write that check -- Test kit for scams -- Cover letters -- Manuscript checklist -- What about copyright? -- Glossary of key terms -- Acknowledgments and credits -- Index
Summary Product Description: This handbook is the perfect reference for beginning creative writers. It offers abundant illustrations, exercises, and useful techniques in all genres. While emphasizing problem-solving and the mastery of literary conventions, this handbook also takes the apprentice writer on a journey from inspiration to revision
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Authorship.
Genre/Form Literature.
Author Lefcowitz, Allan B.
LC no. 2008043024
ISBN 9780136050520 paperback
0136050522 paperback