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The best selling writer has refused to allow his latest book Joyland to be published in digital format. He hopes to give a boost to many booksellers worldwide.
With worldwide sales of 30 million for his Rebus books, the writer is just the man to compile Event's ten-point guide to writing the perfect whodunit...
If you ever read a review that mentions passive writing, you might wonder what the reviewer is talking about. You probably know about passive voice where, according to wikipedia ‘the grammatical su...
According to Publisher’s Weekly, the three biggest selling authors last year were E. L. James, Suzanne Collins & Gillian Flynn. Neither Suzanne Collins nor Gillian Flynn spend much time on social networking. So how important is it for sales? I decided to ask this question to someone who has had a front row seat to the success of Gillian Flynn as well as many other authors. The following is an interview with Gillian Flynn’s literary agent Stephanie Rostan (Levine Greenberg)
Via Sara Rosett
Many thanks to Carole Blake from the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency for providing a VERY comprehensive list on how NOT to submit to an agent. This is a fab list.
Sometimes in life we get worried and worked up about something and it turns out not to be as bad as we had feared. The terrible thing we were convinced was about to happen doesn’t materialise. It’s good when it turns out that way. In real life. In a story, however, that kind of build up and release is not rewarding, it’s disappointing.
Via mooderino
If a story seems a little dull, if the plot doesn’t seem to be very engaging, you could deal with it by having more stuff happen, more people running around, new characters, additional subplots and so forth.
Usually, though, the problem is not in what’s happening, the problem is who’s doing it.
If the character hasn’t been created with enough depth, what they get up to will feel arbitrary and unsatisfying. If the plot isn’t holding people’s attention, the first place you should look is at character.
Via mooderino, Laura Brown, Michelle Bishop
This year, we celebrate our 110th anniversary. As we prepare to enter a new era, moving next door in 2014, we launch our manifesto for the future.
On occasion, one finds oneself immersed in the literary throes of a piece of prose where there is very little in the way of advancement of the plot or development of the characters, but the pages are still filled with words.
So far in this series on how to force readers into an emotional relationship with the characters in a story we’ve looked at the various ways to create sympathy. Another technique is to create a character that the reader feels they recognise and...
As a writer, genre is the first consideration you make before embarking on a new project. It’s more of a personal tendency, and rarely more than that. The categories are few, long-established and seldom expanded.
Therese here. Please welcome powerhouse French author Marc Levy to Writer Unboxed. Marc’s auspicious career was kickstarted when his debut novel, If Only It Were True, was acquired by Steven ... (I agree.
A few days ago I blogged about my newly established habit – a 15-minute daily writing practice inspired by the topics suggested in ‘A Writer’s Book of Days’ by Judy Reeves. Every now and again something seems to emerge from this practice – something worth thinking about, maybe even working with. Two days ago, the topic was: It’s what was whispered about. I wrote for 15 minutes as Judy recommends, chasing the picture that entered my head in the first moment. Unusually, my thoughts circled that picture on and off throughout the day. Yesterday I went back and played with those 450 words – for an hour or so, no more. What came out of that playtime is either nothing much, or it’s a vignette, done and finished; or it’s the outline, or the germ of a short story. I’m not sure what. I thought it might be fun to share it and find out what you think...
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I’ve just returned from a trip to Turkey’s stunningly beautiful Lycian Coast. Whilst it was most definitely a holiday, I went, notebook in hand, to refresh my memory and inspire my senses. ‘My first novel’ – its working title, by the way, is Singled Out – is set in Turkey, along this same coastline and I was looking for fine detail...
Robert Langdon, Harry Potter, Lisbeth Salander – you can picture them instantly.
The sign of a great character is when you can’t believe the character isn’t real. Your protagonist should most certainly be just this realistic, especially since she’s the star of the show!
When a character is focused on a single objective, the flow of the story is fairly easy to maintain. Detective Sherry Sharp is after the psycho who killed her sister. She hears about another victim found downtown and she’s in the car on her way, enraged and determined. How you get Detective Sherry from one place to another, and how you manage her emotions from one state to another will more or less take care of itself. If, however, you have various objectives and storylines to contend with, things can get tricky.
Via mooderino
It’s easy to think we understand the role the protagonist plays in a story. We’ve seen movies and read books, after all. We know the protagonist when we see him.
Lately, I’ve been concerned with an angle of the digital market that needs discussing: Editors. It concerns me that so few digital-only/digital-first writers are hiring this all-important help before the books go live.
I fancied kicking off the day in my local Costa Coffee, loading up with caffeine before attacking the shops. I took my writing practice notepad since mornings are my time for this new habit. Fifteen minutes on ‘a jewel’ and I was done – not one of my more inspired mornings, I admit. At 08:30 and before the shops open, Costa Coffee is a haven, comfortable and subdued; a few early customers like myself, but none of the hectic crush that a busy shopping Saturday will later bring....
Put an agent, a publisher and an e-book seller in a room together and what do you get? No, not pistols at dawn, but a fascinating debate on the future of books and publishing. This edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme The Bottom Line is available to listen to for a year. Worth 30 minutes of your time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qfjdq
One of those morning writing practice prompts recently brought a particular food-related experience to mind (the topic was Eating Out). I’ve written a lot of food into my first novel, so I embraced this exercise. What came out as I kept my pen moving was not fiction, but a happy childhood memory...
Around this time last year I wrote about my group of writerly friends here. One year on, we still meet every few weeks, and – up until now at least – still in the same creaky, low-ceilinged hotel ...
This week I am finishing yet another round of edits on my revision of Breathing Room, my next novel. My wonderful editor, a flight expert, and a screenwriter friend have given me their feedback, and I have a pile of notes to think about,...
Have you ever been in the middle of a creative writing project and suddenly bumped into a brick wall? These techniques help you break through it.
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