"The hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character - specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the reader'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. Generously packed with examples...

A successful writer, Madeleine, creates a character, Edward, and begins to imagine his life. He, too, is an author. Edward is in love with a woman, Willow, who's married to a man Edward loathes, and who loathes him, but he and Willow stay close friends. She's an artist. As Madeleine develops the plot, Edward attends a gallery show where a scummy critic is flung down a flight of fire stairs...murdered. Madeleine, still stressed from her miscarriages...

When petty thief Gilly, who lives with five younger brothers and sisters in a run-down boot, gets caught stealing, she is sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School, where all of the teachers are former villains, including the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother.

Artist Troy Cummings has created a clever spin-off of the "Eensy Weensy Spider" nursery rhyme in this humorous picture book, sure to appeal to kids and adults who also love fractured fairy tales. The Eensy Weensy Spider climbed up the waterspout . . . and everyone knows what happens next! By the time the sun comes out to dry up all the rain, the Eensy Weensy Spider has freaked out over her washout, big-time! "There's no way I'm climbing back up that...

"Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about: he has a top agent and publisher in New York, and his twenty-eight mystery novels have sold millions of copies around the world. He also has a loving wife and three grown children and is a well-known philanthropist in his small New Jersey town. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym "Jack of Spades," he pens another string of novels--...

"Riley, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, lives in Trope Town, where he makes a living appearing as a side character in novels--until he and his fellow manic pixies must ban together to save themselves from retirement"--

What happens when readers steal your characters? Rima Lanisell is about to find out when she visits her estranged godmother, Addison Early, the successful mystery writer of the Maxwell Lane mysteries, and discovers the truth behind Addison's novels.

The Big Bad Wolf walks through the forest trying to intimidate all the animals until he meets a little dragon who insists that his mom is bigger and stronger than the wolf.

A collection of short poems which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature.