A completely updated guide for first-time novelists Completely revised to include new interviews with best-selling authors; more detailed information on writing genre fiction from paranormal romance to cozy mysteries; and everything a writer needs to know about self-publishing and ebooks to get started. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Writing a Novel, Second Edition, is an indispensable reference on how to write and publish a first novel. • Expert author with over thirty published novels • Includes interviews with new best-selling novelists • Features new material on writing genre fiction and self-publishing

The aim of this volume is to bring together contributions from international research on writing and motivation. It not only addresses the basic question of how motivation to write can be fostered, but also provides analyses of conceptual and theoretical issues at the intersection of the topics of motivation and writing. What emerges from the various chapters is that the motivational aspects of writing represent a rich, productive and partially still unexplored research field. This volume is a step in the direction of a more systematic analysis of the problems as well as an effort to present and compare various models, perspectives and methods of motivation and writing. It addresses the implications of writing instruction based on the 2 main approaches to writing research: cognitive and socio-cultural. It provides systematic analysis of the various models, perspectives, and methods of motivation and writing. It brings together the international research available in this burgeoning field.

Featuring 37 essays by distinguished literary scholars, A Companion to the American Novel provides a comprehensive single-volume treatment of the development of the novel in the United States from the late 18th century to the present day. Represents the most comprehensive single-volume introduction to this popular literary form currently available Features 37 contributions from a wide range of distinguished literary scholars Includes essays on topics and genres, historical overviews, and key individual works, including The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, Beloved, and many more.

This book documents the results of a multi-year project that investigated the goals for writing improvement among 45 students and their instructors in intensive courses of English as a Second Language (ESL) then, a year later, in academic programs at two Canadian universities. The researchers present a detailed framework to describe these goals from the perspectives of the students as well as their instructors. The goals are analyzed for groups of students from particular backgrounds internationally, for changes over time, and in relation to the ESL and academic courses. The authors use activity theory, goal theory, various sociolinguistic concepts, and multiple data sources (interviews, observations, stimulated recalls, questionnaires, and text analyses) to provide a contextually-grounded perspective on learning, teaching, writing, second-language development, and curriculum policy. The book will interest researchers, educators, and administrators of ESL, university, college, and literacy programs around the world.

Writing Audio Drama is a comprehensive and intelligent guide to writing sound drama for broadcasting and online production. The book uses new and original research on the history of writing radio plays in the UK and USA to explore how this has informed and developed the art form for more than 100 years. Audio drama in the context of podcasting is now experiencing a global and exponential expansion. Through analysis of examples of past and present writing, the author explains how to originate and craft drama which can explore deeply psychological and intimate themes and achieve emotional, truthful, entertaining, and thought-provoking impact. Practical analysis of the key factors required to write successful audio drama is covered in chapters focusing on audio play beginnings and openings, sound story dialogue, sustaining the sound story, plotting for sound drama and the best ways of ending audio plays. Each chapter is supported by extensive companion online resources expanding and supporting the writers and subjects discussed and explored, and extensive information on how to access online many exemplar and model sound dramas referenced in the chapters. This textbook will be an important resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking modules and courses on radio drama, theatre and media drama, audio theatre, audio drama, scriptwriting, media writing.

This book examines the materiality of writing. It adopts a multimodal approach to argue that writing as we know it is only a small part of the myriad gestures we make, practices we engage in, and media we use in the process of trace-making. Taking a broad view of the act of writing, the volume features contributions from both established and up-and-coming scholars from around the world and incorporates a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives, from fields such as linguistics, philosophy, psychology of perception, design, and semiotics. This interdisciplinary framework allows readers to see the relationships between writing and other forms of "trace-making", including architectural drawings, graphic shapes, and commercial logos, and between writing and reading, with a number of illustrations highlighting the visual data used in the forms and studies discussed. The book also looks forward to the future, discussing digital media and new technology and their implications for trace-making. This pioneering volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers in multimodality, literacy, cognitive neuroscience, design theory, discourse analysis, and applied linguistics.

American national trade bibliography.