authorship

Author Wendelin Van Draanen, author of "Flipped," shares how writing changed her life. She also offers advice on the craft along with practical ideas for living a creative life.

Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is a maid for the spoiled daughter of one of Atlanta's wealthiest men, but by night Jo writes as Miss Sweetie for a newspaper advice column. When Jo's "Dear Miss Sweetie" articles become popular, she begins to use her pen-power to address society's ills, particularly challenging ideas about gender and race, drawing a backlash and attempts to uncover her real identity. Then, Atlanta's most notorious criminal gets on Jo's trail, and she will have to decide on standing up for her beliefs or remaining in the shadows of anonymity.

Elinor is used to doing very well in school, but as Poem in Your Pocket Day approaches, bringing an opportunity to meet a real poet, her struggle to write a perfect poem causes Elinor's confidence to falter, despite Mr. Tiffin's guidance and reassurance.

Sam, a shy but creative mouse who lives in a library, decides to write and illustrate his own stories, which he places on the shelves with the other library books. When children find the tales, they all want to meet the author.

Henrietta loves books, but she had never dreamed of creating one herself until she gets a pack of new colored pencils. She creates a story of a brave young girl, a monster with three heads, and a world full of adventure.

Discover ways of brainstorming ideas for a comic book story, how to outline a plot using a three-act organizational structure, how to incorporate dialogue and descriptions, and how to write clear and detailed instructions for an artist to draw the accompanying illustrations.

"Elliott has found a machine. It doesn't beep or buzz. It doesn't have an on-off button. It doesn't have flashing lights. But it does make letters. And, as Elliott discovers, letters can make pictures and pictures can make stories. Has Elliott found a story machine?"--Back cover.

Sent to live with his uncle after a violent confrontation with his stepfather, sixteen-year-old Travis, an aspiring writer, finds life in a small Oklahoma town confining until he meets an eighteen-year-old horse trainer named Casey.

In Amherst, Massachusetts, in spring, 1834, young Emily Dickinson uses scraps of paper and a pencil nub to write a poem, before she even knows her ABCs, and shares it with her household and garden. Includes author's note about Dickinson's life and work.

A novel in which the author uses the story of Tristram Shandy, a country gentleman, as a backdrop for digressions mocking the foibles of human nature.