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Publish a book?

Publish a book?
If you've never truly considered writing a book, take another look at the rubbish filling bookshelves at airport kiosks. The "authors" of that stuff are laughing all the way to the bank. While English majors and real literary types are screaming at each other in the stuffy halls of academia or the pages of The New Yorker, these clowns are quietly rehashing tired plots and making millions for it. You're a smart person, so we see no reason you shouldn't take a crack at making bank as well. (Heck, even if you're a ding-bat, we think you should give it a try. Al Gore's books sold millions.) Here's how you too can tap into the wallets of all those gullible readers out there. 1. The first rule of getting a book published is to avoid writing a book. Agents -- what do they do, exactly? An agent is a separate individual who performs much of this filtering process. Agents, in turn, don't particularly like reading 300-page manuscripts either. But you say, "Wait.

General Fiction Getting Around... Career Essentials Getting Started Queries & Manuscripts Market Research Classes & Conferences Critiquing Crafting Your Work Grammar Guides Research/Interviewing Writing Contests The Writing Business Income & Expenses Selling Reprints Collaboration Pseudonyms Negotiating Contracts Setting Fees/Getting Paid Rights & Copyright Tech Tools The Writing Life The Writing Life Rejection/Writer's Block Health & Safety Time ManagementColumn: Ramblings on the Writing Life Fiction Writing - General General Techniques Characters & Viewpoint Dialogue Setting & DescriptionColumn: Crafting Fabulous Fiction Fiction Writing - Genres Children's Writing Mystery Writing Romance Writing SF, Fantasy & Horror Flash Fiction & More Nonfiction Writing General Freelancing Columns & Syndication Newspapers/Journalism Topical Markets Travel Writing Photography Creative Nonfiction Memoirs/Biography International Freelancing Business/Tech Writing Other Topics Poetry & Greeting Cards Screenwriting

short stories at east of the web A game of Scrabble has serious consequences. - Length: 4 pages - Age Rating: PG - Genre: Crime, Humor A semi-barbaric king devises a semi-barabaric (but entirely fair) method of criminal trial involving two doors, a beautiful lady and a very hungry tiger. - Length: 7 pages - Genre: Fiction, Humor ‘Bloody hell!’ - Genre: Humor Looking round he saw an old woman dragging a bucket across the floor and holding a mop. - Length: 3 pages Henry pours more coal onto the hearth as a gust of wind rattles through the cracked window frame. - Length: 14 pages - Genre: Horror ulissa Ye relished all the comfortable little routines and quietude defining her part-time job at The Bookery, downtown’s last small, locally-owned bookstore. - Length: 8 pages - Age Rating: U The forest looked ethereal in the light from the moon overhead. - Length: 15 pages - Age Rating: 18 Corporal Earnest Goodheart is crouched in a ditch on the edge of an orchard between Dunkirk and De Panne. - Genre: Fiction - Length: 20 pages

One Sentence - True stories, told in one sentence. Common Errors in English Usage Use the search form below to find words and phrases on this site. About this Search Engine E e.g. / i.e. each early adapter earmarks / hallmark earth, moon easedrop ecology / environment economic / economical ecstatic ect. -ed / -t edge on eek / eke efforting ei / ie either / or, neither / nor either are / either is eighteen hundreds / nineteenth century electrocute elegy / eulogy elicit / illicit ellipses email embaress emergent / emergency emigrate / immigrate eminent / imminent / immanent empathy / sympathy emphasize on emulate / imitate end result enamored by endemic / epidemic engine / motor English / British enjoy to enormity / enormousness enquire / inquire ensuite ensure / insure enthuse entomology / etymology envelop / envelope envious / jealous enviroment epic / epoch epicenter epigram / epigraph / epitaph / epithet epitomy eponymous equally as equivocate / equal -er / -est error / err -es espouse / expound / expand et al.

Telescopic Text & Joe Davis 2008 - StumbleUpon How to Plot and Write a Novel: Plan Your Novel Writing with the Snowflake Method Many novelists mull over story ideas, letting them ripen and develop over time. When the story is ready to be told, instead of just sitting down and starting to type, try the Snowflake Method. This step-by-step way to write a novel begins with essential elements and becomes more detailed with each step. Essential Elements for Novel Structure Snowflakes have a structure which begins with a simple form and adds more elements to create complex patterns. Novelist and physicist Randy Ingermanson created the Snowflake Method to break novel-writing into steps that build on each other in the same way. 1. 2. 3. The time-saving factor for novelists here is that at this point, a writer knows whether or not the story has problems. Expand on the Beginning Novel-Writing Steps 4. 5. 6. Plot problems will arise and new insights and ideas will appear through these steps. Revise and Expand into Scenes 7. 8. 9. 10. Ingermanson stresses that the Snowflake Method is not to be hurried. Not for All Writers

Write Your Name in Elvish in Ten Minutes Write Your Name in Elvish in Ten Minutes You want to write your name in Elvish, but every place you go seems to make it harder than it ought to be. Elvish writing looks beautiful and mysterious, but does it really have to be impossible to understand? Here's the alphabet. That's it. Generally the vowels go above the consonants, but sometimes, in the case of Y and silent E, they go below. The straight line underneath is just one way to make one character do the work of two. The line above a consonant means that a nasal N or M precedes the consonant in question. Here's one last example with two different letter combinations. I am often asked how to handle double vowel situations. That's all you need to get started. Please be aware that there are many ways to write English words in Elvish. Good luck! Ned Gulley Want an Elvish tattoo? Want an Elvish t-shirt? Return to the Star Chamber

50 of the Best Websites for Writers There are tons of reference sites on the web that can help you find a job or write a poem, essay or story. Here is a list of the best 50 websites for writers. Reference Websites Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam Webster is the perfect place to look up words and find information. The site offers a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, podcasts, word games and a lot of other things that may be of interest to writers and word-lovers. General Writing Websites Writer's Digest - Probably one of the best all-around websites for writers, Writer's Digest offers information on writing better and getting published. Fiction Writing Websites About.com - About.com publishes a Guide to Fiction Writing with general information about fiction writing and a number of community forums for both current and aspiring writers. Nonfiction Writing Websites Bella Online - This site offers a large collection of resources for nonfiction writers. Websites for Freelance Writers and Authors

The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget “Great moments often catch us unawares….” By Kent Nerburn There was a time in my life twenty years ago when I was driving a cab for a living. It was a cowboy’s life, a gambler’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss, constant movement and the thrill of a dice roll every time a new passenger got into the cab. What I didn’t count on when I took the job was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a rolling confessional. We were like strangers on a train, the passengers and I, hurtling through the night, revealing intimacies we would never have dreamed of sharing during the brighter light of day. And none of those lives touched me more than that of a woman I picked up late on a warm August night. I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. When I arrived at the address, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground-floor window. So I walked to the door and knocked. After a long pause, the door opened.

20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Gets Wrong I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes. But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms. Which and That Lay and Lie Moot Nor

CALLIHOO Writing Helps--Feelings Table Character Feelings You can describe your character's feelings in more exact terms than just "happy" or "sad." Check these lists for the exact nuance to describe your character's intensity of feelings. SF Characters | SF Items | SF Descriptors | SF Places | SF EventsSF Jobs/Occupations | Random Emotions | Emotions List | Intensity of Feelings

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