The National Writers Association Guide to Writing for Beginners: A How-To Reference for Plot, Dialogue, Nonfiction, Internet Publishing, and More

by Sandy Whelchel

The National Writers Association Guide to Writing for Beginners has been used successfully as printed handouts for over twenty-five years with college classes and conference workshops. Unlike many writing books, this guide is broken into small chapters with specific areas of writing addressed within. This gives the beginning writer a chance to read the chapter and then utilize the knowledge on their own projects.

By utilizing the instruction, supplemental readings, and exercises, each chapter is designed to address the problem areas of writing and give the reader the information necessary to be successful. Additional chapters give information on other aspects of the writing business, such as publishing, marketing, finding agents and publishers, and copyright applications.

132 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2007

Reviews

[Jennifer Worrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very basic guide, but there is a neat tool in the back: character profile pages. They're fun to fill out, and bring certain things to light, like whether you have certain characters fleshed out enough.

[Jesse Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for somebody just starting out and covers the bare essentials. It would deserve five stars if it wasn't dated at this point. The fact that it's copyright 2008 means that many of the technology suggestions have been upgraded quite a bit since it was written. For example, the self-publishing world has almost completely changed since this book came about.