Vintage Writing Instruction

"Plots the Triple-O Way" by John Nanovic. This work was originally published in the 1945 Writer's Yearbook. Extensive research uncovered no copyright renewal. The original printing has the following tongue-in-cheek introduction. "John Nanovic got a divorce but his friends think it's just temporary. John left Street & Smith, where he edited fiction from the time he came to work in short pants, and went to work for an advertising agency. But the call to conflict is still deep within him and he writes fiction at home on week-ends. Nanovic is known as a wizard of plot at places like the Algonquin Hotel bar where publishers' checks are cashed in trade. When you've got Air Colonel Joe up in a geisha's room about to hand over plans for the invasion of the Emperor's harem, and you're stuck, that's the time to call good old John Nanovic. He'll know a way. In case you don't know his number, here's what he gives out in the way of triple O plotting. Plot rhymes with conflict, although the dictionary disagrees. While no method of plotting is sure-fire for everyone, this one will make friends with a lot of people."

This episode is "Ego Makes the Character Go" by M. Scott Michael. This work was originally published in the 1945 "Writer's Yearbook". Extensive research uncovered no copyright renewal. Real people are motivated by hundred different things in every action of their life-whether it be scratching an ankle or stealing a kiss. Real characters that reach out and hold the reader's interest are complex people, too.

"Road Map to a Novel" by Pauline Bloom. This work was originally published in the 1945 "Writer's Yearbook". Extensive research uncovered no copyright renewal. For those who study plotting, characterization and world building, but don't know where to actually start in writing a novel. Here are 20 steps you can take.

"What Makes the Action Story Go", By Lamont Buchanan, Editor Short Stories, Inc. This work was originally published in the 1945 "Writer's Yearbook". Extensive research uncovered no copyright renewal.

"May a Beginner Speak?" By Elizabeth van der Veer. Lessons learn from an author making a second go at publishing short stories. From the September, 1940 issue of "Writer's Digest". No copyright renewal was found.

"This Modern Realism", by Thomas H. Uzzell. The Truth About the Strange Literary Story of Today and What We Ambitious Writers Should Do About It. This work was originally published in the June, 1933 issue of _Writers Digest_. Extensive research uncovered no copyright renewal.

The Literary Cliché, by Laurence D'Orsay.

"Sell Western Stories!" by Hamilton Crage.

"Color and Tempo" by Clarke Venable. Originally published in the June 1933 issue of Writer's Digest.

From the March & April 1923 issues of "Writer's Monthly." Here is "The Function of Setting in the Short-Story" by A.C. Allenson.