title: What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction
author:  Marion Dane Bauer 
description: Bauer offers a pragmatic, organized approach to story writing in this 118-page manual geared for older children and young adults. Concrete, step-by-step tips are effectively illustrated with examples taken from the author's own works-- Face to Face , A Dream of Queens and Castles , Rain of Fire . Eight of the 14 chapters deal with preparatory rituals--finding a special time and place to write, inventing a conflict, understanding what makes a main character tick, figuring out a plot, choosing a point of view--and later chapters address more technical issues of pacing, rhythm and balance. Although the importance of discipline is stressed (learning to write a story is often compared to learning to play a sport or a musical instrument), the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand. Ages 10-up. <BR>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](images/Art_orn.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I started writing this book when I was twenty-three years old, but I’ll be
  thirty by the time it makes its way into the world. It’s now clear to me that
  this story desperately needed to mature alongside me in order to take its true
  shape. From the beginning, I knew the kind of book I wanted to write, but I
  didn’t know how to write it. After much reworking and tweaking, I almost
  stopped trying. A few people made sure that didn’t happen, and thanks to them,
  I’m prouder of Nat’s story than I ever believed I could be.
  
  
  My editor, Sally Morgridge, deserves all of my gratitude. For the past six
  years, you’ve shepherded my most cherished ideas and understood my vision for
  every story. You’ve made me a sharper writer. Even when there was much work to
  do, you saw potential and rolled up your sleeves.
  
  
  Thank you to my husband, Vince, who gladly went camping with me in Sabine
  National Forest and toured around San Augu