Not everything you see on your favorite crime show is accurate. In fact, a lot of it is flat out wrong. Police Procedure & Investigation helps you get your facts straight about the inner workings of law enforcement.
With a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly two decades, author Lee Lofland is a nationally acclaimed expert on police procedures and crime scene investigations who consults regularly with best-selling authors and television producers. Now you can benefit from his years of experience with Police Procedure & Investigation.
This comprehensive resource includes:
More than 80 photographs, illustrations, and charts showing everything from defensive moves used by officers to prison cells and autopsies
Detailed information on officer training, tools of the trade, drug busts, con air procedures, crime scene investigation techniques, and more
First-person details from the author about his experiences as a detective, including accounts of arrests, death penalty executions, and criminal encounters
Police Procedure & Investigation is the next best thing to having a police detective personally assigned to your book!
"Making Crime Pay" is an invaluable reference to criminal law, evidence, and procedure and the potential it holds for breathtaking plots and dramatic storytelling. Readers will learn in detail how criminal law has evolved historically, discover the differences between crimes and how they are judged in the eyes of the law, and understand law's mechanisms and loopholes from the first thought of a crime to the offender's arrest and trial.
About the Author
Andrea S. Campbell has a degree in criminal justice and has studied under one of the leading experts in criminal profiling. A specialist in Forensic Science, she has taught countless crime and mystery writers to understand the patterns and motives of the criminal's mind and render them truthfully. A freelance writer and columnist, she has written more than seven nonfiction books, including Forensic Science: Evidence, Clues, and Investigation and Rights of the Accused. She is a popular guest on radio and television shows and a frequent speaker with the Romance Writers of America. She lives in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
There are not a lot of books and resources on the art of horror screenwriting but if you master this style it can be very profitable as horror is one of the most popular genres today both in film, television and fiction.
The Horror Screenwriters page has some useful resources here
The masters of horror have united to teach you the secrets of success in the scariest genre of all!
In On Writing Horror, Second Edition, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, Jack Ketchum, and many others tell you everything you need to know to successfully write and publish horror novels and short stories.
Edited by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), a worldwide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting dark literature, On Writing Horror includes exclusive information and guidance from 58 of the biggest names in horror writing to give you the inspiration you need to start scaring and exciting readers and editors. You'll discover comprehensive instruction such as:
• The art of crafting visceral violence, from Jack Ketchum
• Why horror classics like Dracula, The Exorcist, and Hell House are as scary as ever, from Robert Weinberg
• Tips for avoiding one of the biggest death knells in horror writing--predicable clichés--from Ramsey Campbell
• How to use character and setting to stretch the limits of credibility, from Mort Castle
With On Writing Horror, you can unlock the mystery surrounding classic horror traditions, revel in the art and craft of writing horror, and find out exactly where the genre is going next. Learn from the best, and you could be the next best-selling author keeping readers up all night long.
About the Author
The Horror Writers of America is a worldwide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the horror genre. Formed in the late 1980s, it is the oldest and most respected organization celebrating the writers who revel in bringing sleepless nights to readers.
This groundbreaking audio seminar gives you the tools and structures to make these most "high concept" of all genres real and original. If you are a visionary - of either darkness or light - these forms are for you.
FEATURES:
• Special structure steps for all three forms
• Twisted psychology of the horror mind
• "The dark side" - what it really means
• The monster that propels the horror story
• Fantasy high concept
• Social fantasy - writing the big picture
• The true meaning of the fantasy genre
• The great fantasy hero
• The magical moment
• The storyteller in movie fantasy
• Future worlds
• Changing the space-time rules
• Science fiction that doesn't alienate the viewer
• Connecting the social world to the hero in science fiction
• The new science fiction and how it translates
Horror has, among all of the genres in film and written works, one of the longest, most distinguished, and often misunderstood bloodlines in history. It is often overlooked by critics who don't see anything more than blood and guts on the screen, or a collection of cheap scares. But what is missed is the hard-hitting commentary on society and life contained in those works.
About the Author:
Devin Watson has been a fan of horror from the ripe old age of eight. He studies thousands of horror films before diving in to write and produce his own works.
Screamplay is a 1985 horror film directed by Rufus Butler Seder. Many Troma fans cite Screamplay as one of the company's better films in terms of quality: the film is very well received by film fans for it's writing and heavy German Expressionism influence, lacking the gratuitous gore, nudity, and/or cheap gags present in most Troma films.
The Plot:
Aspiring screenwriter Edgar Allen moves to Hollywood with no more than a suitcase, a typewriter, and his wild imagination. He imagines scenes so vividly for the murder mystery he is writing that they seem to come to life... and they do! Edgar slowly drives himself insane as he is certain the only way to be a good writer is to suffer. Inexplicable murders pile up, forcing Edgar to confront aging actresses, rock stars and police in the bleak setting of broken dreams in Hollywood.
Getting a book published is hard enough—getting a novel published is doubly so! But a writer seeing his story on bookshelves everywhere is just a rewrite away with this book! Written by two award-winning novelists, this workshop-in-a-book is all aspiring authors need to master the art of fiction—and see their novel in print. Based on their popular workshops, Mary Buckham and Dianna Love Snell have created a novel-writing system that anyone can follow. Their innovative method shows writers how to create stories of depth, excitement, and emotion with:
* Easy-to-understand templates that guide the new writer through building a novel and show more experienced writers how to deepen a plot and take a first draft to the next level
* Reference examples from a strongly-plotted popular genre films like suspense, classics, children, and romance
* Simple worksheets to build a strong story one plot point at a time for any genre
* Troubleshooting tips that reveal how to find and fix holes that weaken the plot
* Insights from best-selling novelists representing a variety of fiction genres
* A bonus dialogue guide that reveals how to make a character come alive through conversation.
About the Author:
Mary Buckham (Port Townsend, WA) is an award-winning romantic-suspense author who, before becoming published in book-length fiction was a freelance article writer, selling hundreds of articles to local, regional, and national publications. In addition, she’s been an editor of a regional magazine. Mary is a sought-after speaker and writing craft teacher for both online and in live presentations throughout the United States and Canada. Visit www.MaryBuckham.com for more on Mary.
Dianna Love (Peachtree City, Georgia) is a New York Times best selling author who wrote her first novel, Worth Every Risk, by applying the same analytical ability and study techniques that she used creating marketing projects for Fortune 500 companies. Her book won a RITA Award. Phantom in the Night, which is her collaboration with #1 New York Times best-seller Sherrilyn Kenyon, was released in June of 2008 and Dianna’s debut urban fantasy novella is part of the Dead After Dark anthology.
Are you curious about the world of freelancing? Do you want to improve your writing and sell what you write? Then The Indispensable Field Guide to Freelance Writing can show you how! Unlike other books about freelancing, this guide isn’t limited to writing for a specific market. You will find information in it about freelancing for magazines, newspapers, book publishers, nonprofit organizations, marketing communications firms, and more, and it will show you how to distinguish yourself in the field. Even if you’re a seasoned freelance professional, this guide provides some essential tools to making it in the increasingly competitive world of freelancing.
About the Author
Author Amy Farrar has been in business for herself since 1999 and has been working in publishing for more than 20 years. She is the author of Global Warming (Essential Viewpoints), and her articles have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.
Amateur Detectives is a professional writer's guide to how private citizens solve criminal cases. Amateur Detectives covers all the information needed to write an exciting chase, keep the amateur-crime-solver novels and stories factually accurate and completely convincing. Amateur Detectives investigates why high-tech policing hasn't run off the low-tech amateur; jobs that fit neatly with amateur sleuthing; intuition, gossip and other information-gathering methods; how to find out all about anyone; how the Internet can speed an amateur sleuth to answers; how today's technological wonders can help the amateur detective; the law as it applies to amateur detectives; state-by-state gun laws; state-by-state citizens' arrest powers; the Freedom of Information Act; and how real amateurs solved real crimes. Amateur Detectives is a valuable reference book for any writer seeking to make their mystery fiction
In The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, editor Bonnie Trenga presents the ten lessons writers need to know to improve their informative, persuasive, and creative work. This guide:
* Covers the big picture of what comprises poor writing, rather than focusing on the picky details that rarely concern most writers and editors
* Introduces each lesson in an entertaining mystery format to help readers better grasp what they're learning
* Shares fast-and-easy lessons that can be learned in ten minutes and practiced in thirty
Perfect for creative writers, editors, business writers, tech writers, and students, this book will help any reader create stronger writing.
About the Author
Bonnie Trenga is a professional copy editor and proofreader, and the author of Off-the-Wall Skits with Phrasal Verbs.
This is a great magazine for anyone working in the mystery/crime genre whether in fiction, TV or movies and they even have features on virtual mystery writing for games and online genres.
For more than 30 years, Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market has provided aspiring authors with the most complete and up-to-date information they need on publishing their work. This edition is the best yet, with more than 1,500 listings and more editorial content than ever before—with interviews and articles from industry insiders on pertinent topics like the importance of developing your prose style, creating a voice and authentic dialogue appropriate to your genre, strategies for self-publishing, and tips and tools to help you manage the time you spend on perfecting your craft. Learn more here
Hallie Ephron was born in Los Angeles, CA to parents Henry and Phoebe Ephron, both East Coast born and raised screenwriters. She is the sister of Nora Ephron. Hallie Ephron is the author of six acclaimed novels – her latest, Never Tell a Lie, is a psychological suspense novel set in suburban Boston.
Her how-to book, Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock ‘Em Dead with Style, was nominated for a 2006 Edgar Award. She is also the award-winning crime fiction book reviewer for the Boston Globe and teaches fiction writing at writing conferences.
Ephron is a frequent contributor to The Writer magazine, and wrote 1001 Books for Every Mood, an irreverent guide to great reads.
Mike Ovitz told him his Wilshire Blvd. "foot soldiers" would hunt him down. He's antagonized almost everyone at the top in Tinseltown. And now, Joe Eszterhas tells everything he knows -- in brief, quotable bursts -- about the business, the history of Hollywood, and how to write screenplays that make millions. Idiosyncratic, gruff and as shaggy as Eszterhas himself, The Devil's Guide to Hollywood makes a character/leitmotif of Eszterhas' fellow Hungarian Zsa Zsa Gabor (“Money is like a sixth sense that makes it possible for you to fully enjoy the other five.”), and makes the case that Marilyn Monroe was the sharpest tack in Hollywood (“Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.”). Refreshing, dirty, tough, there's no book like it.
Joe Eszterhas has written fifteen films which have made more than a billion dollars at the box office. Among them are Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Flashdance, Showgirls, Betrayed, Music Box and F.I.S.T. He is the author of the recent New York Times bestsellers AMERICAN RHAPSODY and HOLLYWOOD ANIMAL. In 1975, his second book, CHARLIE SIMPSON’S APOCALYPSE, was nominated for the National Book Award. He was a senior editor at Rolling Stone from 1971 to 1975. He lives with his wife, Naomi, and their four sons in Bainbridge Township, Ohio.
“Down these mean streets a man must go.” For hard-boiled heroes, it used to be that way. But not any more. The streets are now far meaner than anything Raymond Chandler could have imagined when he wrote this classic description of the hard-boiled hero. And the heroes who go down those mean streets are no longer just tough middle-aged white men. Stories about these heroes, too, have risen from the pages of pulp magazines to today’s best-seller lists.
Nobody has written comprehensively about the history of crime, violence and police forces in the United States. And it's easy to tell why. Views of crime often depend on the public's perception of it, and there was scarcely a time from 1840 to 1940 when Americans did not think that they were experiencing a crime-wave of immense proportions.
Beginning in the 1970s a new generation of writers took over the hard-boiled story created by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and remade it to fit the realities of their world. Theirs is a world infected by epidemics of violence, greed, racism, sexism, war, and commercialism. Their heroes, too, are far different from Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.
With an eye toward the origins and development of the hard-boiled story, LeRoy Lad Panek comments both on the way it has changed over the past three decades and examines the work of ten significant contemporary hard-boiled writers. Chapters on Robert B. Parker, James Crumley, Loren Estle-man, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen, Earl Emerson, Robert Crais, James Lee Burke, and Walter Mosley show how the new writers have used the hard-boiled story and the hard-boiled hero to make powerful statements about reality in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
About the Author
LeRoy Lad Panek is Professor of English and chair of the department at Western Maryland College, where he teaches Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. His previous books on detective fiction have earned two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America and the George Dove Award from the Popular Culture Association of America. He is currently working on a book about first-generation hard-boiled writers.
Truby's Action Story Audio Course
Shows you exactly how to write the most highly choreographed of all movie forms. This 6-hour course, recorded live, covers every aspect of this audience favorite, from the unique action hero to special action story beats to the many sub-forms of action.
Writing Action Adventure
The hidden secrets to writing a successful script in the world's most popular film genre.
Adaptation
The Art of Adaptation
Learn and practice the methods it takes to adapt any play, novel, article or short story into an amazing screenplay.
From Page to Screen
Examines the long established tradition of adapting classic novels to film or TV screen, encompassing novelists from Jane Austen to Michael Ondaatje.
Animation Development
From script development to writing professional premises, outlines and scripts.
Gardner's Guide to Animation Scriptwriting
Complete, concise and fun it's packed with real examples and exercises, that includes three formats for different age groups. All you need to know to get started.
How to Write for Animation
The definitive sourcebook for anyone interested in the world of animation and script writing.
Screenplay by Disney
Disney's imaginative storytellers offer guidance and techniques to help aspiring screenwriters add Disney magic to their movie ideas.
Truby's Movie Comedy Writing Course
Covers comic characters, movie comedy structures, all the beats of the major comedy sub-genres, comedy dialogue and much, much more.
What Are You Laughing At?
Included are over 70 excerpts from top screenwriters and pairing them with writing exercises and details on the differences between writing comedy for TV versus stage. There are eleven modes of comedic dialogue, 13 common problems screenwriters encounter and valuable insights into the rhythm and sound of words.
Writing The Comedy Film
Learn the successful mechanics and characteristics of the essential comic story forms.
Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Mystery Scene
Offers lively, expert coverage of the entire mystery world including extensive coverage of film, and TV.
Crime, Detective and Thriller Audio Course on MP3
Truby lays out a precise blueprint for how to create the investigators, murderers and suspects, the intricacies of the crimes, the plot twists, the special story beats and the underlying themes of these popular genres.
Writing The Thriller Film
Secrets of writing the thriller film which will have audiences on
the edge of their seats.
Myth and the Movies
Discovering the mythic structure of 50 unforgettable films.
Truby's World Myth WritingCourse
This 6-hour course is the most comprehensive on myth you will find anywhere.
Not only does it tell you the key story beats of the the great myths of
the past, it lays out a detailed blueprint for the ten major myth forms
that will likely define myth storytelling in the future. You will learn
how to connect action and unfold character in totally new ways, yet still
hit all the myth elements that mean huge success.
Truby's Love Story Audio Course
This 6-hour course begins by talking about love itself and how most love stories are not love stories at all. Then it explains in detail how the subtle choreography of a true love story works, from the essential story beats to love's sub-genres, from love scenes and dialogue to how to write an enduring love story.
Writing The Romantic Comedy
Learn the screenwriting secrets behind some of the funniest scenes ever
written.
Writing Short Scripts
Each step of the creative writing process, from brainstorming to final draft and submissions, is de-mystified and broken down into a series of manageable activities.
Writing The Short Film
This book takes the novice screenwriter through the storytelling process, from conception, to visualization, to dramatization, to characterization and dialogue, and teaches them how to create a dramatic narrative that is at once short and complete. Exercises, new examples of short screenplays, and an examination of various genres round out the discussion.
It's simple: films need to have commercial value for the studios to produce them, distributors to sell them, and theater chains to screen them. While talent definitely plays a part in the writing process, it can be the well-executed formulaic approaches to the popular genres that will first get you noticed in the industry.
Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays That Sell does not attempt to probe in the deepest psyche of screenwriters and directors of famous or seminal films, nor does it attempt to analyze the deep theoretic machinations of films. Duncan's simple goal is to give the reader, the screenwriter, a practical guide to writing each popular film genre. Employing methods as diverse as using fairy tales to illustrate the `how to' process for each popular genre, and discussing these popular genres in modern television and its relation to its big screen counterpart, Duncan provides a one-stop shop for novices and professionals alike.
About the Author:
Stephen Duncan is an Associate Professor, and currently Chair of the Screenwriting Department, at Loyola Marymount University.
Most successful films are not just genre films but combinations of different genres. The key to modern genre screenwriting is a clear understanding of individual genres combined with a strong technical understanding of what happens when you bring genres together.
According to Barry Pearson of Create Your Screenplay:
"Choosing the right blend of genres is vital to the success of your story and ultimately your screenplay. Genres, well understood, provide the writer with compass bearings on the style, tone, character types, themes and structure that will enrich and direct the telling of the screen story. Knowing a genre’s typical framework and ingredients helps a writer to avoid cliché and stereotype. More importantly, knowing the genre is the only way to know how to ring the changes on the story form and create freshness in the work."
