William Noble

What makes a book a page-turner? How do you grab your readers right from the start and hold them through the last sentence? How do you make your plot twist and turn and keep the action moving without losing continuity? You do it by generating drama and developing it using conflict, action and suspense. You make your reader burn to know what's going to happen next. You create tension...and build it...to the breaking point. William Noble shows you how to intensify that pressure throughout your story. You'll learn exactly what constitutes conflict, action and suspense, how they relate to other important ingredients in your story, and - perhaps most important - how to manipulate them. Through thorough, step-by-step instruction, you'll learn how to... set the stage with techniques and devices that enhance drama introduce suspense from the very beginning of your story build suspense through cliff-hangers, dialogue, mood, character development, point of view, subtlety and indirection, and time and place bring all that conflict, action and suspense to a gripping conclusion There are all sorts of ways to create tension in your prose - from using adjectives and nouns that drip with imagery to making quick scene cuts and transitions to accelerating the pace. Learn them here. Then use them, and your story will plunge your readers into a river of worry...and the current will carry them to The End.

Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict, Action & Suspense

William Noble has chosen parts of three previous books to guide writers through the art of writing a novel. He starts by asking three questions - what's happening?, who am I?, where am I? -- and then uses these answers to create a solid foundation for developing a story. With this structure in place, writers move on to motivating the story, establishing a sense of place, and creating tension. Includes new information on developing characters and using point of view to get the story across. Each of the three books that make up this volume were also main selections of the Writer's Digest Book Club.

A Guide to Story Development

Three Rules for Writing a Novel

A Writer's Guide to the Uses and Misuses of Dialogue

Shut Up! He Explained

In this one volume are personal selections by the author from his three classics, Steal this Plot!; Make That Scene; and "Shut up!" He Explained. Selecting parts of three of his previous books to guide you though the art of writing a novel, William Noble starts by asking three questions: What's happening? Who am I? Where am I? and then uses the answers to create a solid foundation for developing a story. With this structure in place, he demonstrates how to move on to motivating the story, establishing a sense of place, and creating tension. Noble has added new material on developing characters and using point of view to help you get your story across. "The 'what' section, dealing with plot motivators and 'story spicers' and comprising a third of the book, is worth the price alone." -From an Amazon.com review

Dramatic nonfiction is the relating of factual information in a manner that makes it as gripping as fiction. Using the techniques and guidelines offered in this book, writers will be able to create nonfiction works that rise to the level of great literature without sacrificing credibility. Dramatic techniques such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, character development, and scene intercuts are explained, and guidelines for the use of such devices are furnished. Recognising that dramatic or creative nonfiction is now an important part of the literary landscape, this book teaches writers how to best craft exciting true accounts.

Writing Dramatic Nonfiction

This comprehensive directory of writers' conferences and workshops gives authors of all types easy access to those being held in the United States and Canada starting in 1996. Included are entries from more than 40 states and provinces; each entry offers practical information about where, when, and how the workshops and conferences are given. Conferences are listed for all writers, from screenwriters to children's writers, and the text includes important details about marketing, agents and editors, and also about contests and scholarships. Of added interest are the author's interviews with six directors of writers' conferences, who tell how and why they came to be involved, and what special characteristics their conferences offer; and a short history of the modern writers' conference, beginning with the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in 1926, which shows how the idea has grown and changed and exploded during the past 70 years.

The Complete Guide to Writers' Conferences and Workshops

Fiction writing guide to creating dramatic tension and suspense. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Conflict, Action, and Suspense

If one hears one thing from every single writing instructor it’s, “Show, don’t tell.” “Don’t tell us he’s afraid of losing her, show us!” “Don’t tell us it’s a richly decorated room, show us!” “Don’t tell us the Russian tundra is cold, show us!” Easier said than done, and no one ever wrote a book on how to do it, that is until William Noble wrote this classic work a decade ago. From the use of dialogue to employing melodrama to developing incidents and anecdotes, Show Don’t Tell explains how to entertain your readers instead of lecturing to them. Written in Noble’s absorbing voice, Show Don’t Tell illustrates how to develop a dramatic framework using similes and metaphors, a focused point of view, steady pacing, increasing tension, and an appeal to the senses to create solid dramatic impact. In other words, how to show, not tell! Perfect for novelists, short story writers, and those interested in writing creative nonfiction.

William Noble

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