James Scott Bell
Description
Jump-start your creativity with a selection of fun exercises, including “What-If Moments” and “The First-Line Game.” Mr. Bell cites best-selling authors such as Alice Sebold and Mickey Spillane to demonstrate the importance of creating unique elements: a twist, a character, a setting, a relationship. Find out how to create the ever-important elevator pitch.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
An “arena of conflict" is where your lead realizes he or she needs to overcome a challenge. Mr. Bell introduces you to the concept of a “mirror moment” and provides examples of authors who have demonstrated this technique, such as Margaret Mitchell, Suzanne Collins, Mario Puzo, Harper Lee, Thomas Harris, and Dashiell Hammett.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Get helpful tips for a revision schedule, learn why you need to take a cool-off period before taking a first pass, gain tricks for helping you re-read with fresh eyes, and use shortcuts for marking places you need to come back to so you can read straight through. Mr. Bell also provides excellent advice about using outside readers, both professionals and “beta readers.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell introduces the five functions of dialogue and breaks down the importance of vocabulary, syntax, and specifics like regionalism to help build the character. Examine examples from Margaret Mitchell, John Howard Lawson, Charles Webb, and others. Explore the importance of subtext, or what is underneath the words, and how it can suggest secrets, fears, memories, yearnings, or hopes.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Using a proprietary system of his own invention, Mr. Bell introduces you to the foundational principles of a successful novel: LOCK (Lead, Objective, Confrontation, Knockout). He demonstrates how famous authors such as Stephen King, David Baldacci, and others utilize these fundamental elements. Plus, review the five types of endings and discover the pros and cons of each.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
See how James M. Cain, Harlan Coben, Anne Lamott, Ken Follett, James Clavell, and Dean Koontz often use a jolt or disturbance to hook a reader in, and how that often contributes to the book becoming a best seller. Look at other elements you'll need to include in the first act that will build up the character bonding and tension, which will keep readers riveted.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell challenges you with exercises like determining the opposite of what a reader would assume a response should be, curving the language, and assigning “roles” to your characters to better form relationships, conflict, and realistic conversations. Also, gain tips for invoking silence, such as white space and inner monologues, and dive into the nuts and bolts of grammar in dialogue.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell shows you how to map the hot spots so you don’t get bogged down writing it. He unpacks the power of authors who have mastered delivering an emotional punch, such as John Steinbeck, John Harvey, and Raymond Chandler. He also introduces an exercise that helps you create strong yet concise emotional moments, and examines the power of metaphors to deepen emotional connection.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Even if you have an agent, you're still responsible for some aspects of marketing. Mr. Bell introduces you to the most important marketing tools. Get tips on selecting a marketable title, creating taglines, finding customers, using social media, building a website, using emails and newsletters, and knowing which self-publishing tools are worth the investment.
10) Make a Scene
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
See how Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Michael Connelly use an emotional beat (emotion, analysis, and decision) to build conflict and tension in a scene and keep it going. Dissect the elements to create and use a successful hook and how to end each chapter on a prompt that will make the reader want to keep reading.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell provides an overview of the most common blunders that could knock you out of the running for publication before you even get started, including awkward flashbacks and fluffy dialogue. Using examples from best-selling writers including Sarah Pekkanen, Mark Twain, and Toni Morrison, he re-evaluates some of the most common writing advice, busting common misconceptions and myths.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Get a comprehensive, eye-opening, and illuminating survey of the entire writing process, as well as a full breakdown of how dozens of best-selling authors have implemented best practices in their own writing. As an aspiring author, you will gain a wealth of tools that will not only improve your ability to write, but will also increase your enjoyment of the craft.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell reveals two ways to bring your characters to life, along with a myriad of techniques you can put into practice, including a timeline, a voice journal, a simple relationship grid, and the areas you should plan to research. Plus, learn how minor details such as patterns of speech, dress, physical appearance, mannerisms, tics, eccentricities, and even names can have a major impact.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mickey Spillane noted, “The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book.” Mr. Bell has already provided the tools to get your reader hooked with the first chapter, and potentially the first line! Now, he provides the five strategies that will help you end your book in a way that gets your reader craving your next title.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Is self-publishing a viable option? Mr. Bell spends an entire lesson breaking down the pros and cons of the self-publishing alternative. Gain a plethora of tips of how to find success when self-publishing and learn how to sort through the details like covers, formatting, picking a platform, marketing, and how to price your book.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Dive into the writing styles of “pantsers” versus “plotters” and get a better understanding of whether you want to aim for a plot-driven or a character-driven story. And using the writings of John Grisham, Ernest Hemingway, Lee Child, and others, evaluate the traditional mythical structure of a three-act story.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Understand how weaving in smaller conflicts and challenges (subplots and parallel plots) is a great way to expand a story’s range. See how authors successfully integrate subplots into their main story lines. Mr. Bell introduces a formula for determining how many subplots your book should have and a simple grid you can use to manage multiple plots.
18) Voice and Style
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Through examples from Janet Evanovich, Elmore Leonard, Douglas Adams, Tom Robbins, Dashiell Hammett, John D. MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, and others, gain the knowledge to master your voice by getting into your character. Then, delve into the rudimentary lessons of a good writer: showing versus telling, avoiding narrative summaries, writing great descriptions, and using telling details.
19) Tell Me a Story
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell introduces you to the seven critical success factors of fiction and shows you how best-selling writers put them into practice. He explores literary genres through the success of best sellers written by authors such as Harper Lee and Gillian Flynn. He then outlines the 10 characteristics a serious writer must possess.
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
Mr. Bell introduces you to the different kinds of beginnings and investigates the benefits of using a prologue. With examples from Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Ken Kesey, John Gilstrap, Mickey Spillane, David Morrell, and others, you’ll learn how to start your scenes with a bang, raise big questions, and then switch things up in the next scene so readers are on the edge of their seats.