MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Edited by Michael A. Arnzen and Heidi Ruby Miller

To be published by Headline Books, Spring 2011.

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MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction (coming from Headline Books in Spring,
2011) is an amazing anthology of instructional articles for fiction writers looking for advice on how to
improve their writing and better navigate the mass market for genre novels.

Here's what makes MANY GENRES unique:

 This book is like a genre writer's workshop in a bottle!  Every contributor to this book is a
seasoned veteran in the industry or a hot new writer...and many are bestsellers who have won
multiple literary awards for their potent and entertaining genre fiction.
 But more than that, these contributors know how to teach genre fiction. They are all trained
teachers, visiting authors, or published alums from the MFA in Writing Popular Fiction
program offered by Seton Hill University -- the only grad school dedicated to writing
commercially-viable genre novels of quality.
 The book is a hefty volume, with over 130,000 words devoted to genre fiction writing.

To learn more about this title and its contributors, visit: http://manygenres.blogspot.com/

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Putting our Heads Together: An Introduction to Many Genres, One Craft by Michael A. Arnzen

CRAFT
STYLE AND PROCESS
You Have To Start With Something, So It Might As Well Be Something Like This by Gary Braunbeck
Don't Be a Bobble-Head, and Other Bits of Guidance by Timons Esaias
Dumping the Info Dump by Maria V. Snyder
Powerman Writes Women's Fiction: On Writing What You Know by Matt Duvall
Your Very First Editor by Lee Allen Howard
Make Revising Work for You, Not Against You by Adrea Peters
Perfect Disaster: Don't Let Perfectionism Squash Your Creativity by Anne Harris

CHARACTER AND DIALOGUE

M&Ms for Characters by Sharon Mignerey
Tough Love: Make Your Protagonist Suffer by Randall Silvis
SIDEBAR: Be an Archetype, Not a Stereotype by Heidi Ruby Miller
Going Deeper: Point of View beyond the Basics by W.H. Horner
SIDEBAR: A Helpful Tactic: The Template Text by Timons Esaias
Empowering Female Characters by Barbara Miller

PLOT AND STRUCTURE

Demystifying What Editors Want by Venessa Giunta
Give Your Reader Whiplash: Pacing in Fiction by K J Howe
Pick Up the Pace by Tim Waggoner
Deus Ex Machina Undergoing Repairs: Save Your Characters by Letting Them Save Themselves by Mike Mehalek
Blurring the Line: How Reality Helps Build Better Fiction by Scott A. Johnson
Put a Little Love in Your Plot: The Perks and Perils of Romantic Subplots by Ron Edison
SIDEBAR: Prevention: Techniques to Control Romance by Ron Edison

SETTING
Setting as a Character: It's More than a Backdrop by Susan Crandall
Painting Your Setting with Concrete Nouns by Jason Jack Miller
SIDEBAR: Setting Limits: Working in Small Spaces by Jason Jack Miller
Writing from Place across Cultures by Karen Williams
Set in History by Mary Ann Mogus

GENRE
GENRE AND ORIGINALITY
Genre Unleashed by Michael A. Arnzen
No Such Thing as Original Sin by Thomas F. Monteleone
I Write Genre Fiction But Want to Be a Real Writer Someday by John DeChancie
Readers Resent Change by Tess Gerritsen

ROMANCE AND WOMEN'S FICTION

Write from the Heart by Crystal B. Bright
Creating My Niche in Romantic Suspense by Dana Marton
SIDEBAR: Heroes in Romance by Barbara Miller
Talking about Dialogue by Natalie Duvall
A Serious Look at the Funny Bone by Elaine Ervin

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Building Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds by Nancy Kress
Description on the Edge: The Sublime in Science Fiction by Albert Wendland
Cyberpunk Remastered: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Postmodernism by K. Ceres Wright
SIDEBAR: The Brass Tacks of Steampunk by Christopher Paul Carey
To Dream a Dragon by Rachael Pruitt
Sex, Death, and Chocolate in the Middle Ages: Adding Realism to Your Fantasy by Russ Howe

HORROR, MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE THRILLERS

Ruining Everything: Tips for Plotting a Mystery by Victoria Thompson
Talking the Talk in Crime (and Other) Fiction by David Shifren
The Element of Surprise: Psyching-out Readers of Horror, Mystery and Suspense by Michael A. Arnzen
SIDEBAR: Making Modern Monsters by Michael A. Arnzen
Dark and Story Nights: Mood and Atmosphere in Horror by Mary SanGiovanni
The Shifting Grail: A Quest for a Good Read by Heidi Ruby Miller
To Thine Own Self Be True: Five Pieces of Advice for Potential Thriller Writers by David Morrell

CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Ten Ways to Lose Your YA Reader by Patrice Luneski
Linking Past to Present by C. Coco DeYoung
Keeping It Real: Mixing Truth and Fiction in YA by Jennifer Brisendine
 SIDEBAR: And The Award Goes To… by Teffanie Thompson White
If You Write It, They Will See It: Picture Book Illustrations from the Writer's POV by Karen Lynn Williams

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
I Write Short Stories by Michael Bracken
Magical Realism as Genre: Or, Waiter, There's an Angel in My Soup by Jason Jack Miller
SIDEBAR: Essential Magical Realism by Jason Jack Miller
The Manga Explosion by Sally Bosco
SIDEBAR: From Far East to West by Sally Bosco
A Primer for Writing Media Books by Steven Piziks

THE WRITER'S LIFE

LEARNING
Lessons from the Vampire Slayer by Catherine Mulvany
Pursuing the Graduate Degree by Chun Lee
The Pot-Bellied Pig Method of Critiquing by Kaye Dacus
Working the Workshop: How to Get the Most Out of Critique Groups (Even the Bad Ones) by Michael A. Arnzen

WORKING
Writing More by Susan Mallery
Time Management: Creative Paths to Productivity by Lee McClain
SIDEBAR: Nearly Finished by Nicole Peeler
The Seven Habits that Got Me Published by Shelley Bates
How to Get an Agent by Ginger Clark
SIDEBAR: Persist! by Michael A. Arnzen
eFabulous: Publishing in a Paperless World by Penny Dawn
The Teaching Writer by Lawrence C. Connolly
Where Do I Go from Here? Being Orphaned by Leslie Davis Guccione

PROMOTING
Getting Your Words Out: The Basics of Promoting Your Fiction by Rebecca Baker
I'll Scratch Your Back and You Promote My Book by Heidi Ruby Miller
SIDEBAR: Touring Virtually by Heidi Ruby Miller
To Be Reviewed or Not to Be Reviewed by Lynn Salsi
Successful Book Signings: The Personal Touch by David Corwell
SIDEBAR: The Top Ten Excuses People Give… by David Corwell
Guerilla Marketing: The Reality of Selling Your Book by Patrick Picciarelli
Networking at Conventions by Lucy A. Snyder

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES

Related How-To Books: A Bibliography
References: In Print, Websites and Other Media

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  To learn more about this title and its contributors, visit: http://manygenres.blogspot.com/