Writers are fucking weird. That’s probably why I love talking to them so much. We’re solitary by nature, prone to obsession, usually carrying a few psychological idiosyncrasies that we’ve either turned into art or denial. But sit two of us down with...
Every book starts with a question. Sometimes it’s big: what happens when the past catches up with you? How far would you go to protect the truth? But sometimes it’s... different. More like: What’s the best musical instrument case to hide a body in? These are the...
Here’s how I usually write books. I don’t pitch them. I don’t outline them. I don’t (usually) send early pages to my agent. My editor often has no idea what I’m working on until the manuscript shows up in her inbox, fully formed, bleeding from the corners. It’s not...
How many of you saw “necessary evil” in the subject line and thought this would be another A.I. rant? Wrong! I’m onto social media now. Years ago, my publicist audited my social-media presence, because that’s a thing. What I was doing right, what needed work, what was...
(Note: This following is best read in the internal voice of an angry old man yelling at kids skateboarding in his driveway.) Goddamnit. A.I. is taking over the world and I hate it. I hate A.I. because, by and large, it makes life easier, and things that are easy don’t...
Hoo, boy. To say I’ve been surprised with the success of Tell Me What You Did is an understatement. It spent about a week as the #1 paperback (of all fiction and non-fiction) on Barnes & Noble and is currently #5 on B&N and in its fifth week on...
Twenty-one years ago, it was my brand-new agent who told me I had written a thriller. Cool! I thought. Followed by, what’s a thriller? I had no business writing a book. I had no training. No English degree. Knew nothing about books other than I enjoyed...
First things first: my Halloween theme this year is pirates. Usually my October newsletter is all about my Halloween theme, but I’m running late this year and it’s not even in good-enough shape to take pictures of my decorating progress. If I get some good...
Choosing which point-of-view to write from is one of the most fundamental decisions an author has to make, well before a single word is put to page. And like all rules a writer "has" to follow, the POV rules are made to be broken. The only thing that matters is the...
Think of all the ways to spread an idea and you'll probably get a consensus that one of the most difficult ways is to write a novel. To express through character, emotion, and story that big idea you have. So many people tell me they've always wanted to write a book....
