Creating the Story

Rule and Wheeler encourage writers to look inward for their fictional material. . . . They offer plenty of accessible concrete advice on matters large and small.
—English Journal

Here, gathered in one book, are all the tips and tricks-of-the-trade that published writers have been passing along to new writers in classes and in individual conferences for years. Authors Rebecca Rule and Susan Wheeler have created a text that teaches students how to scrutinize published prose so they can teach themselves writing skills and techniques. Creating the Story is filled with short, no-nonsense, practical guides that writers of all ages can dip in and out of as they have need. The exercises that conclude each section not only help writers develop essential skills, but also yield ideas for stories.

Readers will learn such practical skills as: writing scenes, summarizing and stretching time, using flashbacks, moving characters from one place in time to another, having characters think on the page, writing about love and violence, choosing the most effective tense to use, and much more.