Whatever your specific requirements, you will find the complete range of
Ultimate Creative Writing Solutions right here for free:
http://ultimate-creative-writing-solutions.com/
Fiction
Non-fiction
Poetry
Theatre
Film
Television
Articles
Resources
Plus a host of Contests to test the
quality of your creative writing output.
Fiction…
Writing for magazines, pitches and proposals, paying markets, manuscript editing, story writing software, critiques, consultations, online classes.
Poetry For You – Home Study Course…
Learn to view the world as a poet. Understand structure, rhythm, rhyme – and more. Feel confident about approaching the editors who can publish your work, enjoy privileged advice on succeeding in competitions.
Drama Workshop – The Nuts and Bolts of Dramatic Writing…
Well don't just stand there in the open bay door. Come on in, walk across the sawdust-covered floor and take your place at the workbench. Whether you are a novice or an experienced dramatist we have all the tools you'll need to build a script with good structure and a solid foundation.
Getting Started on Writing Screenplays…
Get writing and keep writing: screenwriting courses,
free templates, pro writing programs, workshops, fundamentals
for beginning writers.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-solutions.com/
Beginners Guides – Writing for Television…
From the pilot project to completion, writing television comedy, the real scoop on what it's actually like to be a sitcom writer, the inside scoop on how to successfully pitch a TV show, an inside look at the medium of television, Forum for writing for television and cinema.
Writing Contests to Test the Quality of Your Output…
Numerous monthly contests for writers: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, television.
Why Good Authoring Resources Are Essential…
If you are to produce information products worthy of publication, products that people will want and be willing to pay for, you need access to as many efficient authoring resources as you can locate. You’ll want to be able to visit a comprehensive cyberspace library for additional information– and perhaps even acquire some help with your creative writing.
Articles Galore to Use as You Please…
You are at liberty to use any of the articles listed
for your own promotional purposes providing
always you retain the resource box –
intact as it stands.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-solutions.com/
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Commission the Characters to
Take Over the Plot
When the first and crucial chapter of your book has been put to bed and your scenario is in position, you will do something so radical that it might scare the pants off you:
Commission Your Characters to Take Over the Plot…
Look upon your plot or central theme as the engine room and the characters you have invented as technicians maintaining it and driving the engine. You will have already recorded snatches of conversation between them (you ought to a bundle of these by now) and you will have involuntarily ‘listened in’ on the occasional tête-à-tête emanating from this team of virtual co-workers.
Now hand over management of the plot to them; lock stock and barrel.
Something magical occurs when the characters take over. They edge the storyline along in directions you would never have imagined, and mystically expand the overall theme and sub-plots.
Don’t worry, you are still in command of the story, but you are being fed on a regular diet of gold nuggets gathered up by your virtual co-workers from the inner labyrinth of your subconscious while you have been asleep…
Let the Characters Craft the Dialog
Now they are doing the walking, let them also do the talking. You wouldn’t send a lawyer into a court of law with a statement written by you to plead in your defence. Treat your characters with the same respect. They have by now perfected their own individual voices; allow them to express themselves in their own way; say what they want to say, not what you want them to say.
This is how to cultivate what the pundits call ‘a natural ear for dialog’ where the discourse matches the original voice of the character.
Paint Word Pictures
o Allow the amazing power of words to illustrate scenes in your story;
o Ultilize your words like the colors in a paint-box to flesh out the action.
Compare this brief text with the embellished version immediately underneath…
“As they walked along the prom in high spirits, the pretty young lady linked arms with her youthful companion.”
“As they walked along the prom in high spirits, the pretty young lady in pink cloche hat and purple pleated short skirt linked arms with her youthful companion. He wore outrageously wide yellow Oxford bags topped by a candy striped blazer.”
Do you see the difference?
o The first is a bland statement of fact;
o The second a word picture that sets the action in a definitive period in time and engages the reader to the full in the scene you are painting.
JIM GREEN is a bestselling author in the realms of both fiction and non-fiction.
http://how-to-write-cutting-edge-fiction.com
Commission Your Characters to Take Over the Plot…
Look upon your plot or central theme as the engine room and the characters you have invented as technicians maintaining it and driving the engine. You will have already recorded snatches of conversation between them (you ought to a bundle of these by now) and you will have involuntarily ‘listened in’ on the occasional tête-à-tête emanating from this team of virtual co-workers.
Now hand over management of the plot to them; lock stock and barrel.
Something magical occurs when the characters take over. They edge the storyline along in directions you would never have imagined, and mystically expand the overall theme and sub-plots.
Don’t worry, you are still in command of the story, but you are being fed on a regular diet of gold nuggets gathered up by your virtual co-workers from the inner labyrinth of your subconscious while you have been asleep…
Let the Characters Craft the Dialog
Now they are doing the walking, let them also do the talking. You wouldn’t send a lawyer into a court of law with a statement written by you to plead in your defence. Treat your characters with the same respect. They have by now perfected their own individual voices; allow them to express themselves in their own way; say what they want to say, not what you want them to say.
This is how to cultivate what the pundits call ‘a natural ear for dialog’ where the discourse matches the original voice of the character.
Paint Word Pictures
o Allow the amazing power of words to illustrate scenes in your story;
o Ultilize your words like the colors in a paint-box to flesh out the action.
Compare this brief text with the embellished version immediately underneath…
“As they walked along the prom in high spirits, the pretty young lady linked arms with her youthful companion.”
“As they walked along the prom in high spirits, the pretty young lady in pink cloche hat and purple pleated short skirt linked arms with her youthful companion. He wore outrageously wide yellow Oxford bags topped by a candy striped blazer.”
Do you see the difference?
o The first is a bland statement of fact;
o The second a word picture that sets the action in a definitive period in time and engages the reader to the full in the scene you are painting.
JIM GREEN is a bestselling author in the realms of both fiction and non-fiction.
http://how-to-write-cutting-edge-fiction.com
Monday, 10 March 2008
Some Thoughts on Crafting Fiction
Like any idea you conceive in life, fiction starts and ends in the mind; first in the conscious, then the subconscious, and finally digging deeper into the labyrinth of ageless wisdom; the subconscious, the ever-lasting fountain of imagination and inspiration.
I will not attempt here to teach you how to write fiction because quite frankly I do not believe it can be done with modular instruction. Crafting invented stories and converting them into novels and novellas is a highly personalized art form which writers approach in a myriad of disparate ways.
What I will do on the other hand is provide you with some personal thoughts on crafting fiction; thoughts derived from my own experience.
WHY I WRITE FICTION
While I have a preference for non-fiction I also write fiction with a modest but nonetheless marked degree of success.
Some writers take one route, some the other; I take both - but only after I managed to master the first: non-fiction.
Why should this be so?
I discovered early on in my writing career that coming to terms with the disciplines of crafting non-fiction dramatically improved my ability to create fiction and to attract proposals for publication of my increasing output.
So why do I write fiction?
Quite simply, to amuse myself, to stretch my reach, to challenge my imagination - and when my offerings are published and other people tell me they like what I create, so much the better.
Having proposals for works of fiction accepted for publication is never easy but with contracts in my pocket for all ten outpourings to date, I am not complaining…
Having proposals for works of fiction accepted for publication is never easy but with contracts in my pocket for all ten outpourings to date, I am not complaining…
HOW I WRITE FICTION
Functioning in scenarios where I feel comfortable, relaxed, confident, and at ease makes writing fiction a joyous occasion and provides me with a sense of fulfilment.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Hitting the High Spots Without
The Support of a Mainstream Publisher
Traditional publishing houses don't always get it right when it comes to spotting winners.
Nowadays they operate under considerable pressure with profit margins cut to the bone as major retailers, online and offline act more and more like supermarkets in their demands.
As a result, mainstream publishers tend only to accept proposals on what they reckon will sell in big numbers.
I was a victim of this policy just recently.
Despite acquiring bestseller status with my first 2 books on the topic of retirement ('Your Retirement Masterplan' and 'Earn Money in Retirement') I came unstuck with the third entry.
'Maximising Mindpower to Enrich Your Retirement' (ISBN: 1933817364 EAN: 9781933817361) was turned down flat on the basis that it did not fit in with the publisher's profile (whatever that means...).
As I was of the opinion that this was the best book I'd ever written, I decided to have it published privately which I did in August 2007.
Amazingly, and with no promotion on my part, it would appear to be attracting inordinate attention online and is currently featuring prominently on 1000s of websites including Amazon, Google Books, The Reading Warehouse, and a miscellany of major and minor online booksellers.
Despite the fact the book is not stocked by offline booksellers, sales are starting to flood in - and I do mean 'flood'...
The moral of this delightful situation: if you have written a book of any description which you are convinced other people will want to read but haven't yet found a publisher who agrees - do it yourself. With the ever-growing incidence of POD (print on demand) the costs are negligible.
After all, DIY did John Grisham no harm; the sole vehicle of distribution for his first book was the boot of a car.
JIM GREEN is a bestselling author with 30+ traditionally published titles to his credit.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
Nowadays they operate under considerable pressure with profit margins cut to the bone as major retailers, online and offline act more and more like supermarkets in their demands.
As a result, mainstream publishers tend only to accept proposals on what they reckon will sell in big numbers.
I was a victim of this policy just recently.
Despite acquiring bestseller status with my first 2 books on the topic of retirement ('Your Retirement Masterplan' and 'Earn Money in Retirement') I came unstuck with the third entry.
'Maximising Mindpower to Enrich Your Retirement' (ISBN: 1933817364 EAN: 9781933817361) was turned down flat on the basis that it did not fit in with the publisher's profile (whatever that means...).
As I was of the opinion that this was the best book I'd ever written, I decided to have it published privately which I did in August 2007.
Amazingly, and with no promotion on my part, it would appear to be attracting inordinate attention online and is currently featuring prominently on 1000s of websites including Amazon, Google Books, The Reading Warehouse, and a miscellany of major and minor online booksellers.
Despite the fact the book is not stocked by offline booksellers, sales are starting to flood in - and I do mean 'flood'...
The moral of this delightful situation: if you have written a book of any description which you are convinced other people will want to read but haven't yet found a publisher who agrees - do it yourself. With the ever-growing incidence of POD (print on demand) the costs are negligible.
After all, DIY did John Grisham no harm; the sole vehicle of distribution for his first book was the boot of a car.
JIM GREEN is a bestselling author with 30+ traditionally published titles to his credit.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
Friday, 7 March 2008
Feel Free to Use Any of
My Expert How To Articles
You are welcome to use any or all of the following articles for inclusion in your ezine or web pages providing always:
1. You replicate the article in its entirety
2. You do not change the content
3. You include the resource box
How To Excel In The Race To Keep Pace With Online Marketing
How To Avoid The Costly Mistakes That Cripple Small business
The Bestseller Lying Dormant In Your Mind – And How To Access It!
Can You Really Sell Your Writing Output On Radio?
Why women excel in small business
What It Takes To Start An Offline Business In Retirement
Fleshing out the Mystery Ingredient that Leads to Multiple Editions and Bestsellers
The Questions People Ask About Writing Niche Non-Fiction Bestsellers
How My First Published Work Almost Hit the Dump Truck
Turning Retirement Planning into a Profitable Pursuit
Do You Long To See Your Books Published And Selling From The Major Chains?
Time-Saving Skills to Get More from Your Writing
The Bestseller Lying Dormant In Your Mind – And How To Access It!
Are Smart Pages As Clever As They Are Cracked Up To be?
This Piece of Software Does It All
Work at Home and Make Money Writing for Profit
Choosing a Topic for Writing a How-To Book
Using the Internet to Test Market Your Writing Output
Researching your first writing project
Where to Look for Your Next Project when You Are Writing for Profit
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article1.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article2.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article3.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article4.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article5.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article6.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article7.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article8.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article9.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article10.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article11.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article12.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article13.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article14.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article15.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article16.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article17.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article18.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article19.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article20.html
1. You replicate the article in its entirety
2. You do not change the content
3. You include the resource box
How To Excel In The Race To Keep Pace With Online Marketing
How To Avoid The Costly Mistakes That Cripple Small business
The Bestseller Lying Dormant In Your Mind – And How To Access It!
Can You Really Sell Your Writing Output On Radio?
Why women excel in small business
What It Takes To Start An Offline Business In Retirement
Fleshing out the Mystery Ingredient that Leads to Multiple Editions and Bestsellers
The Questions People Ask About Writing Niche Non-Fiction Bestsellers
How My First Published Work Almost Hit the Dump Truck
Turning Retirement Planning into a Profitable Pursuit
Do You Long To See Your Books Published And Selling From The Major Chains?
Time-Saving Skills to Get More from Your Writing
The Bestseller Lying Dormant In Your Mind – And How To Access It!
Are Smart Pages As Clever As They Are Cracked Up To be?
This Piece of Software Does It All
Work at Home and Make Money Writing for Profit
Choosing a Topic for Writing a How-To Book
Using the Internet to Test Market Your Writing Output
Researching your first writing project
Where to Look for Your Next Project when You Are Writing for Profit
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article1.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article2.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article3.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article4.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article5.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article6.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article7.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article8.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article9.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article10.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article11.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article12.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article13.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article14.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article15.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article16.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article17.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article18.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article19.html
http://howtoproducts-xl.com/article20.html
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Why It Pays To Listen Even When You Think They’re Nuts
The first published work of the writer of this post became a bestseller as soon as it hit the bookshelves way back in 1995 and it has been topping the lists ever since.
Lucky author, some might say, but then they probably don’t have access to the strategies divulged in the web pages at http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
By and large the content of “Starting Your Own Business” has remained unchanged (apart from essential updating) and although ten years is a fair old run, what goes up must eventually come down.
So with that in mind the author approached the publishing house with a suggestion for a commemorative 10th anniversary edition; new chapters, new cover, new cosmetics, new typesetting.
They loved the idea but balked at producing an entirely new edition per se.
“Why?” he said, “It will start the ball rolling all over again.”
“No it won’t,” they said, “It will kill the golden goose.”
And so instead the publisher opted for a reprint dressed up as a new edition: new imprint, new chapters, new cosmetics, new typesetting – but no new cover; only a subtle color change to preserve continuity.
He thought they were nuts but they were right of course; stop supplying bookstores with a bestseller for five months and you risk consigning it to oblivion for evermore. And a block on supply there must be to allow the trade to dispose of existing stock.
The threat of extinction becomes even more imminent when a giant online bookseller such as Amazon has its supply source put on hold for months ahead.
That’s the price you pay with every new edition of a bestseller.
The author was well pleased with the new production and contacted the publishing house to express his satisfaction, intimating only mild concern over the lack of a new cover design.
“Oh, there will be a new cover,” they said. “We’ll incorporate that on the next reprint of the reprint – now that the brand link has been maintained”.
His idea was good but he hadn’t thought it through to finality.
The publisher house had.
The 4th edition of “Starting Your Own Business” (How To Books ISBN 1845280709) appeared in bookstores worldwide mid-April 2005 and exactly one year on was followed by the much-awaited reprint of the reprint replete with new cover and enhanced formatting.
The book will enter its 5th edition in July 2008...
All things come to pass for those who listen and wait.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
Lucky author, some might say, but then they probably don’t have access to the strategies divulged in the web pages at http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
By and large the content of “Starting Your Own Business” has remained unchanged (apart from essential updating) and although ten years is a fair old run, what goes up must eventually come down.
So with that in mind the author approached the publishing house with a suggestion for a commemorative 10th anniversary edition; new chapters, new cover, new cosmetics, new typesetting.
They loved the idea but balked at producing an entirely new edition per se.
“Why?” he said, “It will start the ball rolling all over again.”
“No it won’t,” they said, “It will kill the golden goose.”
And so instead the publisher opted for a reprint dressed up as a new edition: new imprint, new chapters, new cosmetics, new typesetting – but no new cover; only a subtle color change to preserve continuity.
He thought they were nuts but they were right of course; stop supplying bookstores with a bestseller for five months and you risk consigning it to oblivion for evermore. And a block on supply there must be to allow the trade to dispose of existing stock.
The threat of extinction becomes even more imminent when a giant online bookseller such as Amazon has its supply source put on hold for months ahead.
That’s the price you pay with every new edition of a bestseller.
The author was well pleased with the new production and contacted the publishing house to express his satisfaction, intimating only mild concern over the lack of a new cover design.
“Oh, there will be a new cover,” they said. “We’ll incorporate that on the next reprint of the reprint – now that the brand link has been maintained”.
His idea was good but he hadn’t thought it through to finality.
The publisher house had.
The 4th edition of “Starting Your Own Business” (How To Books ISBN 1845280709) appeared in bookstores worldwide mid-April 2005 and exactly one year on was followed by the much-awaited reprint of the reprint replete with new cover and enhanced formatting.
The book will enter its 5th edition in July 2008...
All things come to pass for those who listen and wait.
http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Why I Packed My Lifetime Knowledge Into A Single File
Well, not quite my lifetime knowledge, but certainly all of my expertise relating to creative writing, achieving publication, and aspiring to bestseller status in every literary work I set out to create.
So why have I done this: pack all my knowledge into a single file?
It was prompted by something in the response I received after giving away my proven formula for getting published; a gift to mark my 75th birthday; a gift that was downloaded hundreds of times in just a few weeks.
Most of the emails were from recipients expressing their gratitude but the remainder disturbed me; they were from writers claiming that no matter how hard they tried, they just could not get their work published.
Now that’s sad, very sad, but undeniably true…
Most writers spend a lifetime trying to get into traditionally published hard copy print but all they end up with is mounting frustration and a pile of rejection slips a mile high.
It’s doubly sad because it needn’t be so; there is a way, a tried and tested way to turn consistent failure on its head and convert it into sustained success; a way in the shape of a series of simple, proven, time-tested strategies that successful writers down the ages have always used to inject their work with the quantifiable bestselling potential that ensures publication in traditional hard copy print.
When I first started writing in earnest I did not know about these age-old, time tested strategies but I was lucky, very lucky, inasmuch as my first piece of creative writing became my first published work and a bestseller.
First published in 1995 “Starting Your Own Business” is still around today, still selling in big numbers in bookstores world wide, and still featuring in the major online bestselling lists.
Now, with a clutch of bestsellers in my portfolio, not only do I know about these timeless strategies, not only do I consciously use them use them in all my writings, but now at last I have managed to package them all together in one single file.
I have done this to put something valuable back into a profession that’s been good to me and to assist aspiring authors following in my footsteps to realize their ambition to become published.
If you would like to see how I packed my lifetime knowledge into a single file you might want to visit http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
So why have I done this: pack all my knowledge into a single file?
It was prompted by something in the response I received after giving away my proven formula for getting published; a gift to mark my 75th birthday; a gift that was downloaded hundreds of times in just a few weeks.
Most of the emails were from recipients expressing their gratitude but the remainder disturbed me; they were from writers claiming that no matter how hard they tried, they just could not get their work published.
Now that’s sad, very sad, but undeniably true…
Most writers spend a lifetime trying to get into traditionally published hard copy print but all they end up with is mounting frustration and a pile of rejection slips a mile high.
It’s doubly sad because it needn’t be so; there is a way, a tried and tested way to turn consistent failure on its head and convert it into sustained success; a way in the shape of a series of simple, proven, time-tested strategies that successful writers down the ages have always used to inject their work with the quantifiable bestselling potential that ensures publication in traditional hard copy print.
When I first started writing in earnest I did not know about these age-old, time tested strategies but I was lucky, very lucky, inasmuch as my first piece of creative writing became my first published work and a bestseller.
First published in 1995 “Starting Your Own Business” is still around today, still selling in big numbers in bookstores world wide, and still featuring in the major online bestselling lists.
Now, with a clutch of bestsellers in my portfolio, not only do I know about these timeless strategies, not only do I consciously use them use them in all my writings, but now at last I have managed to package them all together in one single file.
I have done this to put something valuable back into a profession that’s been good to me and to assist aspiring authors following in my footsteps to realize their ambition to become published.
If you would like to see how I packed my lifetime knowledge into a single file you might want to visit http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com
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