Before there were workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says author and teacher Prose. Prose invites you on a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the very best writers and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is moved...

Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine shares her secrets of making magic with your writing--Publisher-provided summary.

A New York Times Notable Book

The Professor and the Madman is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—and literary history.

The making of the OED was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray,

...

"Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name ... one that's all his own. Dad is known as Big Thunder, but Little Thunder doesn't want to share a name"-- Provided by publisher.

Presents a humorous and informative guide to writing that combines helpful style rules with story ideas and writing prompts as well as advice on how to write a story that is both engaging and correct.

"The Elements of Style is the ultimate guide to writing in American English, written by Cornell University Professor William Strunk, Jr. This edition presents the original 1918 edition, still used by college students as a guide to succinct and clear writing. Stunk's rules on active voice, sentence structure, using commas and semi colons and more allow readers to avoid common pitfalls and keep their writing concise and impactful. These rules are accompanied...

In February 2002, a reporter in Oregon contacts New York Times Magazine writer Michael Finkel with a startling piece of news: a young, highly intelligent man named Christian Longo, on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for killing his entire family, has recently been captured in Mexico, where he'd taken on a new identity--Michael Finkel's. The next day comes another bit of news: a note from the editors, explaining that Finkel has falsified an article...

"From New York Times bestselling author Heather Morris comes the memoir of a life of listening to others. In Listening Well, Heather will explore her extraordinary talents as a listener-a skill she employed when she first met Lale Sokolov, the tattooist at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the inspiration for her bestselling novel. It was this ability that led Lale to entrust Heather with his story, which she told in her novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz and...

"He can teach the speech at the beach. With rhyming, carefully leveled text and comedic, colorful illustrations, this book provides plenty of examples of long vowel sounds with consonant digraphs and encourages readers to try the sounds for themselves"-- Provided by publisher.

In this invaluable book of tips, wisdom, and practical guidance, Mosley teaches you how to: create a daily writing regimen that fits your lifestyle; develop a narrative voice that suits the tale; hook readers with dynamic characters; get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story. Offering both motivation and instruction, the author provides the tools you need to turn out a first draft in just three months, and then revise...