On The Bookshelf: Essential Books For Storytellers and Storymakers

Books To Add To Your Collection And Inspire Your Writing

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Writers

GRATITUDE by Oliver Sacks

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No writer has succeeded in capturing the medical and human drama of illness as honestly and as eloquently as Oliver Sacks. During the last few months of his life, he wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death.“It is the fate of every human being,” Sacks writes, “to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.”Together, these four essays form an ode to the uniqueness of each human being and to gratitude for the gift of life. “My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” —Oliver Sacks  Add to your bookshelf

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ERNEST HEMINGWAY ON WRITING by Larry W. Phillips

Throughout Hemingway’s career as a writer, he maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing—that it takes off “whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk’s feathers if you show it or talk about it.” This book contains Hemingway’s reflections on the nature of the writer and on elements of the writer’s life, including specific and helpful advice to writers on the craft of writing, work habits, and discipline. The Hemingway personality comes through in general wisdom, wit, humor, and insight, and in his insistence on the integrity of the writer and of the profession itself. Add to your collection

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STORYTELLER: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF ROALD DAHL

Now in paperback—Donald Sturrock’s Storyteller is “a major literary biography…packed with intimate details, sharply intelligent commentary, and surprising revelations” (The Washington Post) of one of the greatest writers in the twentieth century, whose work still delights millions around the world today.A single -minded adventurer and an eternal child who gave us the iconic Willy Wonka and Matilda Wormwood, Roald Dahl lived a life filled with incident, drama and adventure. In Storyteller, the first authorized biography of Dahl, Donald Sturrock—granted unprecedented access to the Dahl estate’s archives—draws on personal correspondence, journals and interviews with family members and famous friends to deliver a masterful, witty and incisive look at one of the greatest authors and eccentric characters of the modern age, whose work still delights millions around the world today. Add to your bookshelf   

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DARKNESS VISIBLE: A MEMOIR OF MADNESS by William Styron

A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is William Styron’s true account of his descent into a crippling and almost suicidal depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression’s psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery. Add to your collection

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MEMOIRS  For the “old crocodile,” as Williams called himself late in life, the past was always present, and so it is with his continual shifting and intermingling of times, places, and memories as he weaves this story. When Memoirs was first published in 1975, it created quite a bit of turbulence in the media though long self-identified as a gay man, Williams’ candor about his love life, sexual encounters, and drug use was found shocking in and of itself, and such revelations by America’s greatest living playwright were called “a raw display of private life” by The New York Times Book Review. As it turns out, thirty years later, Williams’ look back at his life is not quite so scandalous as it once seemed; he recalls his childhood in Mississippi and St. Louis, his prolonged struggle as a “starving artist,” the “overnight” success of The Glass Menagerie in 1945, the death of his long-time companion Frank Merlo in 1962, and his confinement to a psychiatric ward in 1969 and subsequent recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, all with the same directness, compassion, and insight that epitomize his plays.And, of course, Memoirs is filled with Williams’ amazing friends from the worlds of stage, screen, and literature as heoften hilariously, sometimes fondly, sometimes notremembers them: Laurette Taylor, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando, Vivian Leigh, Carson McCullers, Anna Magnani, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, and Tallulah Bankhead to name a few. And now film director John Waters, well acquainted with shocking the American public, has written an introduction that gives some perspective on the various reactions to Tennessee’s Memoirs, while also paying tribute to a fellow artist who inspired many with his integrity and endurance. Add to your collection

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CONVERSATIONS WITH PICASSO: Conversations with Picasso offers a remarkable vision of both Picasso and the entire artistic and intellectual milieu of wartime Paris, a vision provided by the gifted photographer and prolific author who spent the early portion of the 1940s photographing Picasso’s work. Brassaï carefully and affectionately records each of his meetings and appointments with the great artist, building along the way a work of remarkable depth, intimate perspective, and great importance to anyone who truly wishes to understand Picasso and his world.  Add to your collection

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HENRY MILLER ON WRITING : Some of the most rewarding pages in Henry Miller’s books concern his self-education as a writer. He tells, as few great writers ever have, how he set his goals, how he discovered the excitement of using words, how the books he read influenced him, and how he learned to draw on his own experience. Add to your collection

Italo Calvino, [*** "Mindesthonorar 50 Euro. Gilt auch fîr die ausschlieñlich digitale Nutzung jeglicher Art, maximale Laufzeit Internet: 1 Jahr. Keine Nutzung als PR-Bild" ****** "Minimum fee 50 euros. Fee also applies for digital use only, of all kinds. Maximum duration for use in Internet: 1 year. Image not for use in PR" ***] (Bildtechnik: Farbraum AdobeRGB, Bildgr∑ñe: 9.34 MByte vorhanden)
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ITALO CALVINO: LETTERS, 1941-1985 A remarkable portrait of a great writer at work.This is the first collection in English of the extraordinary letters of one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Italy’s most important postwar novelist, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) achieved worldwide fame with such books as Cosmicomics, Invisible Cities, and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. But he was also an influential literary critic, an important literary editor, and a masterful letter writer whose correspondents included Umberto Eco, Primo Levi, Gore Vidal, Leonardo Sciascia, Natalia Ginzburg, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Luciano Berio. This book includes a generous selection of about 650 letters, written between World War II and the end of Calvino’s life. Selected and introduced by Michael Wood, the letters are expertly rendered into English and annotated by well-known Calvino translator Martin McLaughlin. Add to your collection

8th January 1993: Headshot portrait of African-American author Maya Angelou wearing black sweater with a pearl necklace, smiling and holding flowers in one hand. (Photo by Stephen Matteson Jr/New York Times Co./Getty Images)

CONVERSATIONS WITH MAYA ANGELOU: One of so many talents could only be expected to talk superbly, too. Here in over two dozen interviews is the voice of Maya Angelou (1928–2014) telling with strength, warmth, honesty, and dignified pride of her impact upon a difficult world and ultimately of her triumph.She has written poetry and a stream of dynamic autobiographies that include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Gather Together in My Name; Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas; andOh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. In Conversations with Maya Angelou she spreads out the facts of her remarkable history for our examination and in sharing these conveys a salubrious philosophy and a zest for life. Add to your collection

MORE WRITERS & COMPANY: New Conversations with CBC Radio’s Eleanor Wachtel: Interviews with Isabel Allende, Martin Amis, John Berger, Harold Bloom, E.L. Doctorow, Amitav Ghosh, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jamaica Kincaid, Oliver Sacks, Carol Shields, Jeanette Winterson and more. Add to your collection

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THE UNABRIDGED JOURNALS OF SYLVIA PLATH. A major literary event–the complete, uncensored journals of Sylvia Plath, published in their entirety for the first time. Sylvia Plath’s journals were originally published in 1982 in a heavily abridged version authorized by Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes. This new edition is an exact and complete transcription of the diaries Plath kept during the last twelve years of her life. Sixty percent of the book is material that has never before been made public, more fully revealing the intensity of the poet’s personal and literary struggles, and providing fresh insight into both her frequent desperation and the bravery with which she faced down her demons. The complete Journals of Sylvia Plath is essential reading for all who have been moved and fascinated by Plath’s life and work. Add to your collection



Creativity

DARE TO BE CREATIVE! by Madeleine L’Engle: A lecture presented at the Library of Congress, November 16, 1983. This much loved author of children’s books talks about “daring to disturb the universe” and censorship of books. Add to your collection

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THE CREATIVITY QUESTION Albert Rothenberg, a psychiatrist, and Carl R. Hausman, a philosopher, have prepared a truly comprehensive interdisciplinary book of readings on creativity. This group of selections from the works of writers in psychiatry, philosophy, psychology, psychoanalysis, and education brings together, for the first time, major theoretical works, outstanding empirical findings, and discussions of the definition and nature of creativity. The organization of The Creativity Question is unique: it illustrates the various approaches and basic assumptions underlying studies of creativity throughout the course of history up to the present time. The main body of selections appears under the categories of descriptions, attempts at explanation, and alternate approaches. As specific orientations to creativity can be traced to particular initiating thinkers and investigators, there is a special chapter on seminal accounts containing selections from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Galton, and Freud. Another chapter includes recent illustrations of special types of exploratory trends: creativity of women, brain research, synectics, extrasensory perception, behaviorism, and creativity computer programming. Add to your collection

ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING: ESSAYS ON CREATIVITY by Ray Bradbury: “Bradbury, all charged up, drunk on life, joyous with writing, puts together nine past essays on writing and creativity and discharges every ounce of zest and gusto in him.”–Kirkus Reviews  “Zen and the Art of Writing is purely and simply Bradbury’s love song to his craft.”–Los Angeles Times. Add to your collection

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ABOUT WRITING: SEVEN ESSAYS, FOUR LETTERS, & FIVE INTERVIEWS: Award-winning novelist Samuel R. Delany has written a book for creative writers to place alongside E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Lajos Egri’s Art of Dramatic Writing. Taking up specifics (When do flashbacks work, and when should you avoid them? How do you make characters both vivid and sympathetic?) and generalities (How are novels structured? How do writers establish serious literary reputations today?), Delany also examines the condition of the contemporary creative writer and how it differs from that of the writer in the years of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the high Modernists. Like a private writing tutorial, About Writing treats each topic with clarity and insight. Here is an indispensable companion for serious writers everywhere. Add to your collection

Writing

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ON WRITING – A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT: Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. “Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told. Add to your collection

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BOTH FLESH AND NOT: ESSAYS DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

Brilliant, dazzling, never-before-collected nonfiction writings by “one of America’s most daring and talented writers.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review).Both Flesh and Not gathers fifteen of Wallace’s seminal essays, all published in book form for the first time.Never has Wallace’s seemingly endless curiosity been more evident than in this compilation of work spanning nearly 20 years of writing. Here, Wallace turns his critical eye with equal enthusiasm toward Roger Federer and Jorge Luis Borges; Terminator 2 and The Best of the Prose Poem; the nature of being a fiction writer and the quandary of defining the essay; the best underappreciated novels and the English language’s most irksome misused words; and much more.Both Flesh and Not restores Wallace’s essays as originally written, and it includes a selection from his personal vocabulary list, an assembly of unusual words and definitions.  Add to your collection

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THE WRITING LIFE: In this collection of short essays, Annie Dillard—the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood—illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experience, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions. Add to your collection

WHY WE WRITE: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do Paperback  – January 29, 2013 by Meredith Maran   (Editor) Twenty of America’s bestselling authors share tricks, tips, and secrets of the successful writing life. Anyone who’s ever sat down to write a novel or even a story knows how exhilarating and heartbreaking writing can be. So what makes writers stick with it? In Why We Write, twenty well-known authors candidly share what keeps them going and what they love most—and least—about their vocation. Add to your collection

THE WAR OF ART: BREAK THROUGH THE BLOCKS AND WIN YOUR INNER CREATIVE BATTLES by Steven Pressfield: The Art of War meets “The Artist’s Way” in this no-nonsense, profoundly inspiring guide to overcoming creative blocks of every kind. Add to your collection

ADVICE TO WRITERS: A COMPENDIUM OF QUOTES, ANECDOTES, AND WRITERLY WISDOM FROM A DAZZLING ARRAY OF LITERARY LIGHTS:  Jon Winokur, author of the bestselling The Portable Curmudgeon, gathers the counsel of more than four hundred celebrated authors in a treasury on the world of writing. Here are literary lions on everything from the passive voice to promotion and publicity: James Baldwin on the practiced illusion of effortless prose, Isaac Asimov on the despotic tendencies of editors, John Cheever on the perils of drink, Ivan Turgenev on matrimony and the Muse. Here, too, are the secrets behind the sleight-of-hand practiced by artists from Aristotle to Rita Mae Brown. Sagacious, inspiring, and entertaining, Advice to Writers is an essential volume for the writer in every reader. Add to your collection

HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE: AND HOW TO READ ONE: In this entertaining and erudite New York Times bestseller, beloved professor Stanley Fish offers both sentence craft and sentence pleasure. Drawing on a wide range of  great writers, from Philip Roth to Antonin Scalia to Jane Austen, How to Write a Sentence is much more than a writing manual—it is a spirited love letter to the written word, and a key to understanding how great writing works. Add to your collection

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BIRD BY BIRD: SOME INSTRUCTIONS ON WRITING AND LIFE – Anne Lamott:  Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my  brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird.'” Add to your collection

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by William Strunk Jr.: The only style manual to ever appear on a bestseller list now refreshed by one of our most beloved illustrators. Every English writer knows Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. The book’s mantra, make every word tell, is still on point. This much-loved classic, now in its fourth edition, will forever be the go-to guide when in need of a hint to make a turn of phrase clearer or a reminder on how to enliven prose with the active voice. The only style manual to ever appear on bestseller lists has explained to millions of readers the basic principals of plain English, and Maira Kalman’s fifty-seven exquisite illustrations give the revered work a jolt of new energy, making the learning experience more colorful and clear. Add to your collection

THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE:  Herbert Spencer’s classic examination of effective writing. Add to your collection

WHY I WRITE: Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are. Penguin’s Great Ideas series features twelve groundbreaking works by some of history’s most prodigious thinkers, and each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-drive design that highlights the bookmaker’s art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped the world. Add to your collection

WRITER’S CHAPBOOK by George Plimpton: . Many of the interviews have been collected in a series of volumes entitled Writers at Work. From these interviews, The Paris Review’s editor, George Plimpton, has selected the best and most illuminating insights that the writers have provided and arranged them by subject rather than by author. The book is divided into four parts: “The Writer: A Profile” (including the sections “On Reading,” “On Work Habits,” On the Audi-ence,” etc.); Part II is “Technical Matters” (“On Style,” “On Plot,” etc.); Part III is “Different Forms” (“On Biography,” “On Journalism”); and Part IV is “The Writer’s Life,” covering topics like conferences, courses, and teaching, along with a section in which writers provided portraits of other writers. Add to your collection

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THE WAVE IN THE MIND: TALKS AND ESSAYS ON THE WRITER, THE READER, AND THE IMAGINATION: Join Ursula K. Le Guin as she explores a broad array of subjects, ranging from Tolstoy, Twain, and Tolkien to women’s shoes, beauty, and family life. With her customary wit, intelligence, and literary craftsmanship, she offers a diverse and highly engaging set of readings. The Wave in the Mind  includes some of Le Guin’s finest literary criticism, rare autobiographical writings, performance art pieces, and, most centrally, her reflections on the arts of writing and reading. Add to your collection

HOW TO READ A BOOK: THE CLASSIC GUIDE TO INTELLIGENT READING by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren: Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text. Add to your collection

Screenwriting

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STORY: SUBSTANCE, STRUCTURE, STYLE AND THE PRINCIPLES OF SCREENWRITING BY Robert McKee: Robert McKee’s screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the “magic” of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee. Add to your collection

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SCREENWRITING FROM THE SOUL – How often have you gone to the movies and come out of the theater thinking, “I could have written that!” Many of us believe we have what it takes to turn out a Hollywood blockbuster, if only we had the right tools to help us do it. Screenwriting from the Soul is that tool. It simplifies the process, and at the same time acknowledges that writing, especially screenwriting requires a great deal of patience, stamina, and faith. There are many books on the art of screenwriting, but none approaches the subject from the unique perspective of a dialogue between expert and novice. Screenwriting from the Soul is geared to instruct the user in the practicalities, discipline, and emotional resources required to produce that winning screenplay. Written with wit and style in the form of an ongoing series of letters between a highly experienced, successful, but the tired professor and a screenwriting novice, Screenwriting from the Soul is a heartfelt exploration of the screenwriting world that will become a mainstay of the writing program curriculums across the world. It goes far beyond the textbook market to appeal to anyone who has ever wanted to write, or understand Hollywood and the creative process. This master guide helps the reader to · gain new insights and knowledge about screenwriting and the filmmaking industry; gain the necessary skills, techniques, discipline, and mindset to produce successful screenplays; touch upon the crucial spiritual aspects of the craft. Add to your collection

INSIDE STORY: THE POWER OF THE TRANSFORMATIONAL ARC – Whether you’re a beginning screenwriter or an A-list Academy Award winner, all writers struggle with the same thing: to get to the great script inside. Step by step, [his book] guides you through an extraordinary new process that helps identify your thematic intention–what your story is really about–and teaches you how to turn that intention into the driving force behind all your creative choices. The result is a profound relationship between the movement of the plot and the internal development of character, which is the foundation for the transformational arc. The transformational arc is the deeper line of structure found inside the story. Knowing how to work with the arc enhances your ability to: Express your unique point of view; Give meaning and urgency to the line of action; Infuse your characters with richness, subtlety, and surprise; Develop a powerful emotional undercurrent; Make your stories stand out and get attention. Inside story delivers what the name implies: it’s the real inside scoop on how to write a great screenplay with depth, dimension, and substance. It is a must-have book for any serious screenwriter, playwright, or novelist. Add to your collection.

TALES FROM THE SCRIPT: 50 HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITERS SHARE THEIR STORIES – Discover the secrets of Hollywood storytelling in this fascinating collection, in which fifty screenwriters share the inside scoop about how they surmounted incredible odds to break into the business, how they transformed their ideas into box-office blockbusters, how their words helped launch the careers of major stars, and how they earned accolades and Academy Awards. Entertaining, informative, and sometimes startling, Tales from the Script features exclusive interviews with film’s top wordsmiths, including John Carpenter (Halloween), Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia), John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and David hayter (Watchmen). Read along as: Frank Darabont explains why he sacrificed his salary to preserve the integrity of his hard-hitting adapta-tion of Stephen King’s novella The Mist. William Goldman reveals why he’s never had any interest in directing movies, despite having won Oscars for writing All the President’s Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ron Shelton explains why he nearly cut the spectacular speech that helped cement Kevin Costner’s stardom in Bull Durham. Add to your collection

THE 101 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL SCREENWRITERS, 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION: INSIDER SECRETS FROM HOLLYWOOD’S TOP WRITERS – You can struggle for years to get a foot in the door with Hollywood producers–or you can take a page from the book that offers proven advice from twenty-one of the industry’s best and brightest! In this tenth anniversary edition, The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, 2nd Edition peers into the lives and workspaces of screenwriting greats–including Terry Rossio (the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), Aline Brosh McKenna (Morning Glory), Bill Marsilii (Deja Vu), Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (Wanted), and Tony Gilroy (the Bourne franchise). Add to your collection

SECRETS OF SCREENPLAY STRUCTURE – Linda Cowgill’s book articulates the concepts of successful screenplay structure in a clear language, based on the study and analysis of great films from the thirties to present day. Secrets of Screenplay Structure helps writers understand how and why great films work as well as how great form and function can combine to bring a story alive. Add to your collection

HOW NOT TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY: 101 COMMON MISTAKES MOST SCREENWRITERS MAKE – All good screenplays are unique, but all bad screenplays are the same. Flinn’s book will teach the reader how to avoid the pitfalls of bad screenwriting and arrive at one’s own destination intact. Add to your collection

ALTERNATIVE SCRIPTWRITING, FIFTH EDITION: REWRITING THE HOLLYWOOD FORMULA – Alternative Scriptwriting 4E is an insightful and inspiring book on screenwriting concerned with challenging you to take creative risks with genre, tone, character, and structure. Concerned with exploring alternative approaches beyond the traditional three-act structure, Alternative Scriptwriting first defines conventional approach, suggests alternatives, then provides case studies. These contemporary examples and case studies demonstrate what works, what doesn’t, and why. Because the film industry as well as the public demand greater and greater creativity, one must go beyond the traditional three-act restorative and predictable plot to test your limits and break new creative ground. Rather than teaching writing in a tired formulaic manner, this book elevates the subject and provides inspiration to reach new creative heights. Add to your collection

THE SCREENWRITER’S PROBLEM SOLVER: HOW TO RECOGNIZE, IDENTIFY, AND DEFINE SCREENWRITING PROBLEMS – Problems plague every screenwriter, and even most pros’ first drafts inevitably need a bunch of rewrites. Good writers don’t despair; they see their problems as creative springboards to make every subsequent draft better. But how do you know what truly isn’t working in your screenplay? And even when you’ve figured that out, how do you know exactly what changes to make to improve it?In this comprehensive, step-by-step guide, best-selling author Syd Field (Screenplay Hook professional readers by writing the most powerful version of your script’s first ten pages,  and The Screenwriter’s Workbook) helps you identify and remedy common screenwriting problems. Field provides professional secrets that make movies brilliant – secrets that can elevate the quality of your screenplay, and aim it for success.  Add to your collection

SELLING A SCREENPLAY: THE SCREENWRITER’S GUIDE TO HOLLYWOOD – Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody wants to write the great American screenplay. But what do you do after it’s written? How do you sell it? Studio honchos. Development Executives. Independent Producers. What do they want? Do you need an agent or manager to get it into production? Selling a screenplay can mean earning $250,000 or more, so competition is fierce. Syd Field gives you an insider’s look at the movie and TV industry, packed with essential tips from the pros. Selling a Screenplay is a must-have guide for every screenwriter, filled with frank real-life advice from Hollywood’s most powerful deal makers and most celebrated screenwriters. Add to your collection

Poetry

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NINE GATES: ENTERING THE MIND OF POETRY, Essays by Jane Hirshfield:  A Gate Enables passage between what is inside and what is outside, and the connection poetry forges between inner and outer lives is the fundamental theme of these nine essays. Nine Gates begins with a close examination of the roots of poetic craft in “the mind of concentration” and concludes by exploring the writer’s role in creating a sense of community that is open, inclusive and able to bind the individual and the whole in a way that allows each full self-expression. in between, Nine Gates illumines the nature of originality, translation, the various strategies by which meaning unfolds itself in language, poetry’s roots in oral memory and the importance of the shadow to good art. Add to your collection 

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A POETRY HANDBOOK With passion, wit, and good common sense, the celebrated poet Mary Oliver tells of the basic ways a poem is built-meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense. Drawing on poems from Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others, Oliver imparts an extraordinary amount of information in a remarkably short space. “Stunning” (Los Angeles Times). Add to your collection

Songwriting

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SONGWRITERS ON SONGWRITING: This expanded fourth edition of Songwriters on Songwriting includes ten new interviews–with Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz, Lou Reed, and others. In these pages, sixty-two of the greatest songwriters of our time go straight to the source of the magic of songwriting by offering their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on their art. Representing almost every genre of popular music, from blues to pop to rock, here are the figures that have shaped American music as we know it. Add to your collection