Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction (How to Write a Book)

by Jessica Lourey

Overview

Learn the Art of Storytelling

“A step-by-step guide for writers struggling to create fiction from their life . . . delivers on its promise with such honesty, simplicity, and beauty.”—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author

#1 Bestseller in Self-Help, Creativity
Shortlisted for an Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction!

Tender, raw, and laugh-out-loud funny, Rewrite Your Life offers both a map and a compass for those seeking to harvest their life experiences to heal, lead a more authentic life, and craft a rich, powerful work of fiction.

According to common wisdom, we all have a book inside of us. But how do we select and then write our most significant story—the one that helps us to evolve and invites pure creativity into our lives? In Rewrite Your Life, creative writing professor, sociologist, and popular fiction author Jess Lourey guides you through the redemptive process of writing a healing novel that recycles and transforms your most precious resources—your own emotions and experiences.

There’s more to writing that meets the eye. This fact-to-fiction process provides not only the essential building blocks of bestselling novels but is also personally transformative. Based on the process the author developed and field-tested in the wake of her husband’s suicide, Rewrite Your Life is devoted to the practice of discovering, healing, and evolving through fiction writing. It combines research, practical and engaging guidance, and personal experience to meet readers where they are and take their creativity and personal growth to the next level.

Rewrite your life teaches you to:

• Navigate the inner process to telling a story
• Use tools and tactics to master fiction writing
• Uncover the stories through your experiences

If you have read books such as Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, How to Be Heard, or Story Power, you will love Rewrite Your Life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573246934
Publisher:	Mango Media
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Pages:	268
Sales rank:	677,811
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jessica (Jess) Lourey is the bestselling Lefty, Agatha, and Anthony-nominated author of nonfiction, YA adventure, magical realism, and crime fiction. A tenured professor of writing and sociology and recipient of The Loft's Excellence in Teaching fellowship, she is also a Psychology Today blogger, TEDx presenter, and leader of writing retreats for women.

She lives in Minneapolis with her family and foster cats (and occasional foster puppies).

Find out more at jessicalourey.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Orientation xxi

Recommended Packing List xxii

Part I The Power of fictionalizing Your Life 1

Chapter 1 The Science of writing to Heal 3

Chapter 2 Know Thyself 21

Part II The Tools of Tour Transformation 37

Chapter 3 Read Like a Writer 39

Chapter 4 Pick Your Genre 47

Chapter 5 Choose Your Novel Concept 55

Chapter 6 Craft Compelling Characters 87

Chapter 7 Structure Your Story 101

Chapter 8 Create a Sense of Place 117

Chapter 9 Pull It All Together 135

Chapter 10 The Magic of Revision 157

Part III Your Transformation 173

Chapter 11 A Day in the Life 175

Afterword 185

Appendixes 195

A Recommended Reading 197

B Character-Building Table 199

C Essential Writing Terms 201

D Novel Format 205

E The House on Mango Street Scene-by-Scene Outline 207

F Novel Outline Template 213

Bibliography 227

Acknowledgments 233

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A step-by-step guide for writers struggling to create fiction from their life . . . delivers on its promise with such honesty, simplicity, and beauty.”—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author

Editorial Reviews

"It was her husband's suicide that caused Jessica Lourey to recognize that a standard fiction writer's tool is also a powerful transformative healing modality. She realized that transforming traumatic fact to fiction grants the writer perspective and an opportunity to view events with more objectivity, reviewing the situation as a third person, so that the therapeutic benefits can be distilled. In two perfectly-honed pages in the Introduction which describe the immediate aftermath of her husband's death, she tells us everything we need to know about her credibility as a teacher of creative writing in service to personal transformation. (She shares a moment when she was reduced to near helplessness and manages to salvage treasure from the jaws of defeat.) Each chapter of this powerful book begins with several really great quotes from in-the-trenches writers. It is also filled with innovative exercises that teach readers how to tap into the creative wells deep within themselves. This is one of the new genre of books which is moving self-help into the realm of miracles." —Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight (formerly New Age Retailer)

Reviews

"It was her husband's suicide that caused Jessica Lourey to recognize that a standard fiction writer's tool is also a powerful transformative healing modality. She realized that transforming traumatic fact to fiction grants the writer perspective and an opportunity to view events with more objectivity, reviewing the situation as a third person, so that the therapeutic benefits can be distilled. In two perfectly-honed pages in the Introduction which describe the immediate aftermath of her husband's death, she tells us everything we need to know about her credibility as a teacher of creative writing in service to personal transformation. (She shares a moment when she was reduced to near helplessness and manages to salvage treasure from the jaws of defeat.) Each chapter of this powerful book begins with several really great quotes from in-the-trenches writers. It is also filled with innovative exercises that teach readers how to tap into the creative wells deep within themselves. This is one of the new genre of books which is moving self-help into the realm of miracles." —Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight (formerly New Age Retailer)

"On occasion a gem of a book comes along. One that sticks with us and helps us to remember, we can rewrite our life. That our journey is filled with plot twists we never expected and that we can gain insights and perspective by exploring those unexpected events, or 'story food' through writing. Rewrite Your Life is just such a book. You will walk away with an understanding of how to heal through writing fiction and have the tools you need to make a difference in your own life, and everyone your life touches." —Lyssa Danehy deHart, MSW, LICSW, PCC and author of StoryJacking: Change Your Inner Dialogue, Transform Your Life

"Interweaving practical advice with stories and insights garnered in her own writing journey, Jessica Lourey offers a step-by-step guide for writers struggling to create fiction from their life experiences. But this book isn't just about writing. It's also about the power of stories to transform those who write them. I know of no other guide that delivers on its promise with such honesty, simplicity, and beauty." —William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of the Cork O'Connor Series and Ordinary Grace

"My favorite kind of self-help book: irreverent, personal, and superbly useful." —Jen Mann, New York Times bestselling author of People I Want to Punch in the Throat

"Part how-to, part memoir, part so-funny-that-reading-it-in-public-was-difficult-without-disturbing-others, this is a book to give anyone who wants to be a writer, or a better one, anyone who thinks they have a story to tell. Which is everyone. Buy this book for everyone. Except me, I already have one and no you can't borrow it." —Nora McInerny Purmort, author of It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too) and host of the "Terrible, Thanks for Asking" APM podcast

"A lively exploration of writing's therapeutic value and an encouraging invitation to apply it to your life." —Kendra Levin, author of The Hero is You

From the Publisher