Covers all elements of effective and grammatically-correct writing, including electronic formats, for any type of situation from research papers to business memos.

They say there's nothing new under the sun, and the Christian fiction industry certainly didn't spring full blown with the advent of the Left Behindseries in 1996. Remember Christyby Catherine Marshall? Published in 1967, its inspiration was the life of Marshall's mother - and the Christy Award, presented annually since 1999 to recognize novelists and novels in several categories of Christian fiction, was named after it. What makes Christian fiction? There are several givens, despite the subgenres- the Christian worldview must be woven throughout both the book's plot and its character development. But must it put proselytizing before telling a good story? How much sex - if any! - is okay in a Christian romance? Is it all right to approach edgy subjects in a Christian mystery? Is it possible to seamlessly integrate a Christian message in a crackling good yarn? In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian FictionRon Benrey - himself the author of successful Christian fiction - offers readers chapter and verse of writing Christian women's, romance, thrillers and mysteries, warfare, historical, biblical, speculative, and young adult fiction that deliver strong, inspirational messages and sell!

A fifty percent revision of a popular Complete Idiot's Guide that now, more than ever, offers readers a thorough, creative writing class in a book, with Dr. Laurie Rozakis as their teacher. The book is refocused to more of an academic approach. Readers can begin to unlock their creativity from the first page, with fabulous exercises that help them explore their talents and experiment with different genres and forms of writing, including: • •Short stories •Narrative nonfiction •Memoirs •Magazine articles •Poetry •Drama •Blogging and freewriting

You've always known writing comedy was about more than just being funny. But how do you create a joke and work it into a script or a stand-up routine? Comedian, writer, and teacher Jim Mendrinos has the answers. In The Complete Idiot s Guide to Comedy Writing, Mendrinos gives readers the principles he teaches in his popular courses, from understanding what funny is and how to find it, to how to actually construct comedy. Working through the basic constructions and forms including premises, points of view, and twists, he shows the variations of written, verbal, and physical comedy. With useful exercises, Mendrinos helps writers refine their writing, appeal to their audience, and even break writer's block by learning techniques for brainstorming, free association, lists, and finding infinite points of view.

Erotic romance reigns supreme as a big category of women's fictions; a billion-dollar business serviced by a new breed of uninhibited writer. This book is the necessary how-to for first-timers and a terrific guide for seasoned professionals as well, who are putting their racy (and lucrative) fantasies to paper. Now, for the first time, a veteran erotic romance author shows exactly what to do and how. The first book to guide writers to succeed in this mutli-million dollar genre. Explores how to set up a plot and write good, steamy sex scenes. From a best-selling experienced author. Includes resource section for research tools and further reading. Interviews with top editors in the field. Foreword by Kate Duffy, editorial director at Kensington Publishing and founding editor of the genre.

Helps readers write memoirs, personal essays, and life stories of every length and type.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). “Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”