
The Secrets of Story
Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers
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Narrated by:
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Eric Michael Summerer
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By:
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Matt Bird
About this listen
The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature. Providing conversational advice that spans multiple disciplines - from fiction to film to creative nonfiction - Matt Bird's insightful techniques allow characters to come alive and stories to reach a new level of appeal.
©2016 Matt Bird (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Featured Article: The 10 Best Audiobooks on Writing
National Novel Writing Month—or NaNoWriMo—is the one time every year you can be totally obsessed with your novel, live knee-deep inside your own stories, and no one can say anything about it! It is, in short, a creative writer's dream (or nightmare, depending on how well you write under pressure). From fantastical epics to realistic shorts to flash-fiction, we each have our own wonderful story to tell. This carefully selected list of the best audiobooks on writing will help you access your inner writer and get your story on the page.
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An organic way of storytelling
- By Amazon Customer on 12-18-19
By: Walter Mosley
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The Secrets of Character
- Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love
- By: Matt Bird
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character—specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the audience's precious time. In this entertaining and practical guide, popular blogger, writing coach and screenwriter Matt Bird breaks down what makes characters embraceable and unforgettable, and presents insider tips and tricks for writers of all levels and genres.
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I can't take writing advice from someone like this
- By Nam Hien Nguyen on 03-21-24
By: Matt Bird
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Stein on Writing
- A Master Editor Shares His Craft, Techniques, and Strategies
- By: Sol Stein
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."
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Excellent advice and examples for better writing.
- By Jane on 06-22-12
By: Sol Stein
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The Seven Basic Plots
- Why We Tell Stories
- By: Christopher Booker
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 38 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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This remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of "basic stories" in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it reveals that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling.
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Save your time and money, the book is worthless
- By Kindle Customer on 08-20-20
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The Author's Checklist
- An Agent's Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript
- By: Elizabeth K. Kracht
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Over time, literary agent Elizabeth Kracht noticed that many submissions had similar problems, so she began to make a list of the pitfalls. She knew that even excellent projects could be rejected based on these surmountable issues because those on the receiving end of proposals most often don’t have the time to walk writers through needed adjustments. The checklist Kracht has created helps writers make their manuscripts good to go. It offers short, easy-to-implement bites of advice, illustrated by inspiring - and cautionary - real-world examples.
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Help! For Writers
- 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
- By: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head. In Help! For Writers, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face. In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers 10 short solutions to each problem.
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Good advice, but novelists beware
- By Robert Jason on 06-17-20
By: Roy Peter Clark
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On Becoming a Novelist
- By: John Gardner
- Narrated by: Anthony Haden Salerno
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner's distinguished twenty-year career as a fiction writer and creative writing teacher. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot.
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Great book, slightly irritating narration.
- By mahoneko on 06-06-15
By: John Gardner
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Write Great Scenes
- Master Techniques to Create Scenes That Keep Readers Enthralled
- By: Meg Leader
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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DO YOU want readers to find your stories un-put-downable?DO YOU want to create stories readers love? WRITE GREAT SCENES gives you a key set of tools to becoming a writer whose works readers can't stop reading. The most fundamental building block of any novel isn't the character or the plot or anything except the scenes. If you learn how to write great scenes you'll be well on your way to creating novels readers can't put down. This book breaks down what makes a great scene, the four critical elements every great scene needs, and provides you with an entire toolkit of Page-Turner Techniques ...
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Perfect solutions to what I needed.
- By Liz E. Sanders on 04-12-25
By: Meg Leader
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Point of View
- Writers Guide Series
- By: Sandra Gerth
- Narrated by: Rosemary Benson
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Point of view is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's kit, but it's also one of the hardest to understand and master. In this book, Sandra Gerth draws on her experience as an editor and a best-selling author to teach you how to handle point of view in a way that will make your readers identify with your main character, draw them into the story, and keep them captivated until the very last page. The book provides concrete examples and exercises that will hone your writing skills, whether you're a novice writer working on her first story or an established author.
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Great advices on POV use
- By Anonymous User on 11-30-24
By: Sandra Gerth
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Writing for Emotional Impact
- Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End
- By: Karl Iglesias
- Narrated by: Karl Iglesias
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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There are three kinds of feelings when reading a story: boredom, interest, and wow! To become a successful writer, you must create the wow feeling on as many pages as possible, and this requires writing that engages the reader emotionally. In his best-selling book, screenwriter Karl Iglesias explored the working habits of A-list Hollywood scribes. Now, he breaks new ground by focusing on the psychology of the reader.
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Best audiobook by far for writing screenplays
- By FilmmakerSuperNova on 07-04-20
By: Karl Iglesias
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Telling Lies for Fun and Profit
- A Manual for Fiction Writers
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: Lawrence Block
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Lawrence Block is a best-selling author of popular mystery fiction. With over 30 of his works in print, he is as prolific as he is skilled. This collection of essays and articlesfrom his Writer’s Digest columns has been in print for over 20 years. Here he provides invaluable advice to the aspiring writer and the established author. Featuring a witty and honest narration from the author himself, Block presents an illuminating look into the world of the professional writer.
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inspirational
- By Victoria Evangelina on 02-27-13
By: Lawrence Block
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How to Write Pulp Fiction
- By: James Scott Bell
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Type Hard. Type Fast. Make Dough. That was the formula of old-school pulp fiction—plot-driven, popular and gobbled up by a reading public hungry for more. And it produced many writers who hammered out a living selling “cash-and-carry” stories and novels. Some of these writers were among the best America has ever produced. Writers like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and John D. MacDonald. Others are numbered among the bestselling authors of all time, including Erle Stanley Gardner, Lester Dent, and Frederick Faust (better known by his pen name, Max Brand). What were the secrets of ...
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Write fast, write hard.
- By Fred on 10-24-24
By: James Scott Bell
What listeners say about The Secrets of Story
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- Alex Myers
- 12-21-16
Best book on writing ever! A comprehensive effort
This will be my number one recommended book to my writer friends to novices and old hacks.
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27 people found this helpful
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- Patricia Holdiman
- 02-06-17
Valuable resource with good insight
In my desire to be a writer I have read many books on how to write, how to build characters etc etc.
This is actually the first book that Supplied enough information to make the time spent reading/listening to it worthwhile.
Mr. Bird gave great advice and broke down a lot of the details into smaller and more understandable chunks of information.
I was actually beginning to lose hope that I would find a book that is so useful.
I have already read this book twice and I intend to keep reading it until everything sinks in to my thick cranium.
I would definitely recommend this book and say that it's worth every penny.
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23 people found this helpful
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- Lucca ate your Lunch!
- 05-14-19
A book on writing by a proven writer.
Here's how you should look at books about writing @ audible. First, search to see if the writer has ever published anything other than books on writing. There are quite a few on here who are just rehashing stuff they've read on others' blogs. The next thing you do is look at the reviews. If you see a bunch of reviews from around the same date, or exactly the same date- that's someone buying reviews or having all their buddies review it under fake gmail accounts.
Now to this book. I got burnt out. I've listened to a lot of books on writing. Maybe I just needed something fresh, so I bought yet another writing book. Very quickly, I realized I'd discovered THE writing book. Every twenty minutes or so, I had to pause the thing just to absorb what was being said to me. 'This is me,' I said a hundred times- me, the great unpublished, misunderstood writer who thinks he should go on breaking rules.
This book is way too mind-boggling. When you listen to it, you're grateful it exists. That this wisdom has been passed down from the gods to us. It's that amazing. And the narrator is top notch.
You want to write- you buy this. You already write- you buy this. I plan on listening to it many times.
All you need is this and The First Five Pages. Those two books will get you through.
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2 people found this helpful
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- MidwestLady
- 06-30-17
Truly useful!
I liked this so much I sent a copy to a friend who writes. Seems to be genuinely useful information. Recommend it to any writer. Easy and good narration that was straightforward and clear. Well done!
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1 person found this helpful
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- The Super-duper Amazing Silver Golem
- 07-24-17
Thoughtful advice about how to tell good stories.
I am really glad I got this audiobook. There is a lot of content to think about in regards to story, characters and pacing using samples from existing stories. The examples range from popular recent movie scripts to comic books. There are also behind the scenes info of projects we all know and loved...and disliked, so you know where the big name writers were coming from.
This book offers plenty of good advice when writing while entertaining you with thoughtful situations that might stump many storytellers including from the author's personal struggles. It is a great combination that will hold a listener's attention throughout.
Eric Michael Summerer does a great job narrating it, maintaining interest while keeping the informative tone this book needed.
Recommended to aspiring authors, confused authors and anyone who are interested in the craft of telling stories.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-21-22
Single best book for new writers.
It's a good book to start writing either fiction or nonfiction. This book gives you both the tools you need and the confidence that you WILL need.
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- Daniel
- 07-26-17
I Have Become A Fortune Teller
What did you like best about this story?
I've become a fortune teller after reading this book. I was watching a movie the other day I'd never seen and could predict many of the clique plot points, twists and turns thanks to this book. Amazing book on the process of writing a good story. Didn't realize how formulaic writing is especially for movies and TV shows. Really explains why there are so many bad movies and TV shows out there. Think Transformers or almost every comic book movie.
Any additional comments?
Author gives reader a formula on how to write good work. Got me thinking may be there should be, quote, bad writing and we should be able to create, quote, bad TV shows, books, and movies. I was kind of off put on how structured the creative process is and that's seen as a good thing. I'm not so sure.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mike L Lane
- 07-07-17
Fantastic Reference Tool for Characters & Plot Dev
Matt Bird’s The Secrets of Story is the perfect book for any writer looking to tell a story whether they write novels, plays, screenplays, etc. I love to write and I’m always looking to improve my skills. Up until now, the only go-to book I ever used when it came to the craft was Stephen King’s On Writing. Matt Bird’s The Secrets of Story is just as good, dealing more with what makes for a good story more than anything. If you’re looking for tips on grammar and punctuation, this is not the book. But if you want to know what really appeals to audiences and what makes a good story tick, Bird dissects the formula for compelling stories and helps you to craft characters your audience will cling to. There are so many good pointers within this book, I couldn’t begin to nail them all for you in this review, but I will say this is a must have tool that I will refer to on a regular basis. Bird also provides worksheets and checklists on his website to help you better absorb what he is explaining and so you can see how your own fiction will hold up under scrutiny. This was another one of those books where I was iffy on the author also being the narrator, but in this case Bird does a superb job. He has a captivating voice and his stories are personable. There couldn’t be a better narrator for this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- joey toledo
- 09-29-17
Great read!
Loved this book! I highly recommend to any writers or creators looking to learn the best way to craft a story, really insightful with many useful tools for story crafting.
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- Patrick N
- 01-31-23
Fantastic writer’s resource
If I had to choose one “on writing” book to give to a fellow aspiring writer, this might be it.
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