As a master editor, publisher, novelist, and writing instructor, Sol Stein knows what writers face when they sit down before a blank page. This invaluable guide provides quick and handy A–Z reference help for common and more complicated questions: writer's block, writing a difficult scene, preparing a manuscript for publication or submission, plotting, developing a character, and dozens of other topics, listed alphabetically in the table of contents. Stein enables writers to maintain their creative momentum by immediately returning to a manuscript in progress after finding the solution in this book. The book also includes a section on publishing, which details the publishing process and explains the terms all writers need to know. Packed with insight, anecdotes, and specific information, this guide is a must-have reference on the shelves of aspiring and published authors as well as publishing professionals.

Your future as a writer is in your hands. Whether you are a newcomer or an accomplished professional, a novelist, story writer, or a writer of nonfiction, you will find this book a wealth of immediately useful guidance not available anywhere else. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of useable solutions-- how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place." You will find one of the great unspoken secrets of craftsmanship in Chapter 5, called "Markers: The Key to Swift Characterization." In Chapter 7, Stein reveals for he first time in print the wonderful system for creating instant conflict developed in the Playwrights Group of the Actors Studio, of which he was a founder. In "Secrets of Good Dialogue," the premier teacher of dialogue gives you the instantly useable techniques that not only make verbal exchanges exciting but that move the story forward immediately. You won't need to struggle with flashbacks or background material after you've read Chapter 14, which shows you how to bring background into the foreground. Writers of both fiction and nonfiction will relish the amphetamines for speeding up pace, and the many ways to liposuction flab, as well as how to tap originality and recognize what successful titles have in common. You'll discover literary values that enhance writing, providing depth and resonance. You'll bless the day you read Chapters 32 and 33 and discover why revising by starting at page one can be a serious mistake, and how to revise without growing cold on your manuscript. In the pages of this book, nonfiction writers will find a passport to the new revolution in journalism and a guide to using the techniques of fiction to enhance nonfiction. Fresh, useful, informative, and fun to read and reread, Stein on Writing is a book you will mark up, dog-ear, and cherish.

Each year thousands of fiction writers, from beginners to bestselling author, benefit from Sol Stein's sold-out workshops, featured appearances at writers' conferences, software for writers, on-line columns, and his popular first book for writers, Stein on Writing. Stein practices what he teaches: He is the author of nine novels, including the million-copy bestseller The Magician, as well as editor of such major writers as James Baldwin, Jack Higgins, Elia Kazan, Budd Schulberg, W. H. Auden, and Jacques Barzun, and the teacher and editor of several current bestselling authors. What sets Stein apart is his practical approach. He provides specific techniques that speed writers to successful publication. How to Grow a Novel is not just a book, but an invaluable workshop in print. It includes details and examples from Stein's editorial work with a #1 bestselling novelist as well as talented newcomers. Stein takes the reader backstage in the development of memorable characters and fascinating plots. The chapter on dialogue overflows with solutions for short-story writers, novelists, screenwriters, and playwrights. Stein shows what readers are looking for-- and what they avoid-- in the experience of reading fiction. The book offers guidelines-- and warnings-- of special value for nonfiction writers who want to move into fiction. Stein points to the little, often overlooked things that damage the writer's authority without the writer knowing it. And this book, like no other writing book, takes the reader behind the scenes of the publishing business as it affects writers of every level of experience, revealing the hard truths that are kept behind shut doors.

Whether you are a beginner or an accomplished professional, whether your field is fiction, nonfiction or journalism, Sol Stein's Solutions for Writers is an indispensable guide to enhancing your work. In Stein's own words, 'This is not a book of theory': just practical, immediately useful solutions to help with every type of writing problem. From shaping an opening sentence that hooks the reader to the secret of successful revision, deft character development to pumping up pacing, Solutions for Writers contains a wealth of wisdom from one of publishing's most storied editors. Packed with ideas, examples of techniques in practice, and advice that shines a new light on craft, Sol Stein's writing guide is a timeless classic - a book for writers to mark up, dog-ear, and cherish.

In ths book, Sol Stein, one of the greatest editors of our time, offers help on the most important recurrent problems novelists encounter when learning their craft. With numerous examples from the work of both established bestselling authors and talented newcomers, combined with detailed analysis, he reveals the secrets that can lift a piece of creative writing and give it that spell-binding quality that holds the reader enthralled. The need to give the reader a unique experience, the necessity for conflict between characters, the importance of instant attraction, what makes a character compelling and a plot gripping; why dialogue should never mimic spoken conversation and how misplaced or unnecessary words can slow down the narrative - all this and more is conveyed in this entertaining yet practical book that provides all the benefits of an individual tutorial.

James Baldwin was beginning to be recognized as the most brilliant black writer of his generation when his first book of essays, Notes of a Native Son, established his reputation in 1955. No one was more pleased by the book’s reception than Baldwin’s high school friend Sol Stein. A rising New York editor, novelist, and playwright, Stein had suggested that Baldwin do the book and coaxed his old friend through the long and sometimes agonizing process of putting the volume together and seeing it into print. Now, in this fascinating new book, Sol Stein documents the story of his intense creative partnership with Baldwin through newly uncovered letters, photos, inscriptions, and an illuminating memoir of the friendship that resulted in one of the classics of American literature. Included in this book are the two works they created together–the story “Dark Runner” and the play Equal in Paris, both published here for the first time. Though a world of difference separated them–Baldwin was black and gay, living in self-imposed exile in Europe; Stein was Jewish and married, with a growing family to support–the two men shared the same fundamental passion. Nothing mattered more to either of them than telling and writing the truth, which was not always welcome. As Stein wrote Baldwin in a long, heartfelt letter, “You are the only friend with whom I feel comfortable about all three: heart, head, and writing.” In this extraordinary book, Stein unfolds how that shared passion played out in the months surrounding the creation and publication of Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, in which Baldwin’s main themes are illuminated. A literary event published to honor the eightieth anniversary of James Baldwin’s birth, Native Sons is a celebration of one of the most fruitful and influential friendships in American letters.

This is a tale of two magicians, of high school extortion and violence, and of a criminal trial in which the guilty go free. Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club, The Magician has sold over one million copies. Webster Schott wrote in the New York Times Book Review, “I cannot recall a novel of this type with greater pleasure. Beautiful and gripping.”