The renowned novelist and author of This Year You Write a Novel shares a “compact but insight-rich” guide to fiction writing (Publishers Weekly). In his essential writing guide, This Year You Write Your Novel, Walter Mosley supplied aspiring writers with the basic tools to write a novel in one year. In this complementary follow up, Mosley guides the writer through the elements of not just any fiction writing, but the kind of writing that transcends convention and truly stands out. For writers who want to approach the genius of Melville, Dickens, or Twain, The Elements of Fiction is a must-read. Mosley demonstrates how to master fiction’s most essential elements: character and char-acter development, plot and story, voice and narrative, context and description, and more. The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from the blank page to the first draft to rewriting, and rewriting again. Throughout, The Elements of Fiction is enriched by brilliant demonstrative examples that Mosley himself has written here for the first time.

“Charming and erudite," from the author of Rationality and Enlightenment Now, "The wit and insight and clarity he brings . . . is what makes this book such a gem.” —Time.com Why is so much writing so bad, and how can we make it better? Is the English language being corrupted by texting and social media? Do the kids today even care about good writing—and why should we care? From the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now. In this entertaining and eminently practical book, the cognitive scientist, dictionary consultant, and New York Times–bestselling author Steven Pinker rethinks the usage guide for the twenty-first century. Using examples of great and gruesome modern prose while avoiding the scolding tone and Spartan tastes of the classic manuals, he shows how the art of writing can be a form of pleasurable mastery and a fascinating intellectual topic in its own right. The Sense of Style is for writers of all kinds, and for readers who are interested in letters and literature and are curious about the ways in which the sciences of mind can illuminate how language works at its best.

Queneau uses a variety of literary styles and forms in ninety-nine exercises which retell the same story about a minor brawl aboard a bus.

Photographed over the course of a year in New York, Tennessee, India, and Sweden and organised by season, Jansdotter shares her sources of inspiration and how she and her friends mix and match her key pieces while working, playing, resting, and travelling.

Presents a decade-by-decade guide to the most influential looks of the past century, matching red-carpet gowns to famous celebrities while providing original designer sketches, photos of rare couture, and interviews with a range of authorities.

From the rising-star designer and author of the hit blog, Elements of Style, a full-color, fully illustrated book packed with honest advice, inspiration, ideas, and lessons learned about designing a home that reflects your personality and style. Elements of Style is a uniquely personal and practical decorating guide that shows how designing a home can be an outlet of personal expression and an exercise in self-discovery. Drawing on her ten years of experience in the interior design industry, Erin combines honest design advice and gorgeous professional photographs and illustrations with personal essays about the lessons she has learned while designing her own home and her own life—the first being: none of our homes or lives is perfect. Like a funny best friend, she reveals the disasters she confronted in her own kitchen renovation, her struggles with anorexia, her epic fight with her husband over a Lucite table, and her secrets for starting a successful blog. Organized by rooms in the house, Elements of Style invites readers into Erin’s own home as well as homes she has designed for clients. Fresh, modern, and colorful, it is brimming glamour and style as well as advice on practical matters from choosing kitchen counter materials to dressing a bed with pillows, picking a sofa, and decorating a nursery without cartoon characters. You’ll also find a charming foreword by Erin’s husband, Andrew, and an extensive Resource and Shopping Guide that provides an indispensable a roadmap for anyone embarking on their first serious home decorating adventure. With Erin’s help, you can finally make your house your home.

The BBC primetime series, The Great British Sewing Bee, is back. The companion book to the sixth series of this flagship BBC show, The Great British Sewing Bee: Sustainable Style accompanies sewers at all levels on their creative journey to reduce, reuse and recycle – ultimately creating their own considered closet. Starting with the essentials, sewers will learn how to maintain and care for their sewing machine, find out the secrets to using an overlocker (and what to do if you don’t have one) and the key to pattern matching. With a guide that demystifies the fitting process, and with expert sewing tips on making alterations, you’ll be able to choose from 27 projects, for both women and men, that will ease you into the world of sustainable sewing. For burgeoning dressmakers, this book showcases a vast array of sustainable and natural fabrics, reveals how to breathe life into old garments and entices the would-be sewer to dress handmade. Interspersed with sustainable tips, from advice on keeping an eco-friendly sewing space and how to better care for your garments, to guidance on recycling old clothes, using up fabric scraps and making repairs, this book is an indispensable reference to a more considered approach to sewing, that will encourage you to create long-lasting projects to cherish. With womenswear sizes ranging from 8 to 22 and menswear sizes ranging from XS to XL, along with five downloadable pattern sheets, expert sewers Caroline Akselson and Alexandra Bruce cover everything you need to build your sewing repertoire and grow in confidence as you sew yourself sustainable.