Writing from Within Workbook Exercises for Successful Life-Story Writing

Bernard Selling, author of Writing from Within and a writing instructor for over 30 years, helps people get over their initial fear of writing with this new spiral-bound Writing from Within Workbook. By writing personal stories, people can usually get past misconceptions about how someone should write and learn how to write in a way that feels natural and comfortable. Selling's comprehensive workbook goes through the writing process step by step, including lessons on how to add narrative, inner thoughts and feelings, dialogue, character sketches, and climaxes. Once people are familiar with the basics of writing, they can extend their writing skills into other genres without fear. Selling introduces steps for readers to broaden their writing into screenplays, essays, fiction, and journals. He explains that the fundamentals of writing are the same, despite the different forms. With the ease and skill of an experienced writing teacher, he helps writers transform their work into whichever form they desire. Draft samples show writers how their stories will grow using the "Writing from Within" method. Selling comments on each draft, thus demonstrating how to evaluate a piece of writing. These personal notes also help keep readers on track and their goals in perspective.

Educated at the University of Michigan with an MA in English literature and art history, Bernard Selling taught English and humanities at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. After returning to civilian life, he received an MA in film and theater from UCLA, then made short films for the following decade during which he also studied acting, directing, and writing with Lee Strasberg and Jack Garfein. He has produced films from stories by major American writers and produced and directed several documentaries. A creative writing teacher by profession, Selling’s first book, Writing from Within: A Unique Guide to Writing Your Life Stories, was published by Hunter House in 1988 and has sold over 65,000 copies and is now in its third edition. He is also the author of In Your Own Voice, a students' guide to developing writing techniques and skills. Subsequent books include Character Consciousness, The Art of Seeing, as well as two novels of intrigue set in the Italian Renaissance, The Duke’s Musician and Predators. Bernard Selling has taught "Writing From Within" workshops to teachers, writers, older adults, adults in recovery and those seeking greater self-awareness. He has also taught composition and literature at Loyola Marymount University, West Los Angeles College, and UCLA Extension. He lectures in the United States and Europe, and has taught his writing techniques to teachers along the Eastern Seaboard from New Hampshire and New York to Florida, Louisiana and Texas. He has also worked with a German Educational Foundation: the Eckenroth Foundation which nurtures young German writing talent. Selling lives in Topanga Canyon, CA.

Introduction
Unit I: Exercises
Introduction
1. My Earliest Memory — Present Tense Writing
2. Giving and Getting Feedback; Simplifying Language
3. My Earliest Vivid Memory; Adding Feelings
4. Brainstorming to Find Stories
5. Another Vivid Memory — Adding Dialogue
6. My Happiest Memory — Inner Thoughts/Feelings
7. My Funniest Memory — Writing Thumbnail Sketches
8. Sharing an Intense Experience — Finding the Climax
9. My Greatest Adventure: Finding the Beginning, Adding a P.S.
10. Writing Other Assignments
11. Amplifying Writing from Within's Original Steps

Unit II: Family History and Explorations
12. My Family History Story
13. Writing from Two Points of View
Clear Day by Jeri H.
A Visit to San Francisco by Jay H.
How I Became a Rebel by John Strong
14. Researching the Past

Unit III: Using Life Writing Skills to Develop Other Writing Skills
15. Writing Creative Stories
Molloko, The California Condor by Ines Horowitz
16. Keeping a Journal
17. Developing Self-Awareness and Insight
18. Life Stories: A Mirror of Who We Are

Unit IV: Analytical Writing
19. Writing Essays
20. Life Story Writing as an Aid to Analyitical Writing
21. Writing: A Film Review

Unit V: The Leap into Fiction
22. From Short Stories to Screenplay