Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Learn how to use unpredictability so your readers don't get bored with cliche characters or trite traits, and see how to develop flaws and baggage to make your characters relatable and human. Plus, get hints about building secondary characters, villains, and what it takes to keep a character interesting through an ongoing series.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Many agents and editors rely on their experience and instinct and can tell within the first page whether or not a manuscript is worth reading further. Discuss the two rough categories of red flags: narrative or structural problems and surface-level errors that can lead to a make-or-break decision before the second page. You'll also get invaluable tips on creating a strong opening, including the pivotal first sentence..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Enter the world of utopian and dystopian fiction. After a brief foray into the definition and origin of utopia, dive into Ursula K. LeGuin's short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas and explore the ambiguities of "perfect" worlds. Then, get a deeper understanding of the ways genre functions and how it shapes literature.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Look at the most common reasons for writer's block and get tips for how to change your mental state when you feel blocked. Discover how to find inspiration in unusual places. Finally, Mr. Bell provides advice for dealing with rejection, which all writers face on occasion. Learn how to set your expectations and rejection won't defeat you.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Much like a photographer who can change the angle, lens, lighting, and focus of a scene to evoke emotion from viewers, a writer colors an essay with his or her individual perspective simply by relaying his or her truth of it. This lecture focuses on looking at the world around you with a new lens, showing you how to convey those memories you've kept as an experience rather than just a recounting of facts. You'll travel down the streets of London with...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Cinderella stories go back 7000 years, and Mah Pishani is possibly one of the oldest. This Iranian story provides a very different take on the same themes you've become familiar with. Unlike the bickering evil step-sisters, this version is about finding connection with family and community - in particular among women - and about love that stretches beyond the grave.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
A platform generally refers to an author's visibility and reach to a target audience: who is aware of your work, where does your work appear, and how many people see it. Examine the six components that make up most platforms, and review the requirements for various genres of writing..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
While public intellectual essays don't step outside personal reflection, they do grapple with social issues, often myth-busting popular beliefs. This style of writing is distinct from a portrait or lyric essay. Professor Cognard-Black demonstrates this difference through her own examples and those of well-known public intellectuals, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Salman Rushdie. You'll learn how to trade superficial terminology and over-the-top imagery...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Show, don't tell is the mantra of many writing workshops. But what does this mean? Find out how to choose just the right detail to evoke a scene, develop a character, and advance your story. After arming yourself with several strategies for "showing," you'll consider when it's OK to "tell."
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Understand the vital role metadata plays in positioning your self-published book for success. Examine pricing models to attract a large audience that is hesitant about purchasing from an unknown entity. Learn tips to garner reviews that will help your book get noticed..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Many fictional stories are an attempt to explain why things in the world are the way they are. Dr. Harvey shares several pourquoi tales from around the world, including Kipling's "How the Camel Got His Hump" from his "Just So Stories" published in India. She also shares an African-American tale "Why the Rabbit has Long Ears and a Short Tail" and the 1929 Norse story "Why the Sea is Salty."
13) Point of View
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Dive into the concepts of point of view including: first person, omniscient, second person, and third person (limited and open). Then study how Henry Fielding, Charles Dickens, Mario Puzo, James Clavell, J. D. Salinger, Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John D. MacDonald, Suzanne Collins, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Herman Melville, and others use point of view successfully.
14) The Criminal
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
On the other end of the spectrum from the detective, we find the criminal. Equally important to the success of the story, explore a fascinating cast of notorious characters who have survived through the annals of time. Spend this lecture looking at the cat-and-mouse games that law enforcement and criminals play as you learn just how vital getting this balance right is to the success of the story.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Now that you now have a wealth of strategies for developing character, how do you get your character into your story? Here, you'll run through five different ways authors introduce characters. You'll also see two methods for building a story: the exploratory method and the "iceberg theory" of character creation.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Discuss the value of publishers, then review specific scenarios in which you may not need those benefits. When is self-publishing a viable option for your book? Get invaluable advice on steps you should take if you choose to self-publish, and learn about the tools you will need to succeed..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Professor Cognard-Black introduces you to artistic proofs, which are grounded in your expertise and colored by your own observations and experiences. The most important artistic proof in any essay is ethos-the writer's ethical appeal or credibility. She demonstrates how to effectively use ethos along with logos or rationality to bring reasonableness into your essays, which vital to writing effectively. You'll examine the work of a pair of writers...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Once you have perfected the components already reviewed - a detective, a criminal, clues, and potentially a sidekick - all that remains is solving the mystery. But as you'll learn in this lecture, it's never that simple. Learn what makes for the perfect "big reveal" and why you don't necessarily need one. See how open-ended mysteries walk the line between frustrating and compelling.
19) Nordic Noir
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
The last decade has seen Nordic noir enter the American mainstream, though they have been popular in their homeland for half a century. Professor Schmid takes you through this progressive form of mystery and suspense fiction, showing how many examples of Nordic noir provided a socially conscious look at powerful themes such as complicity with the Nazis, racism, misogyny, corruption, and class.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
Perhaps the most famous of the three defining dystopias of the early 20th century, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has created a vocabulary of ideas we continue to use in political discourse today. Trace the ways Orwell uses language to shape his dystopic vision and the way it both reflects and distorts reality.
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