Standing Out
A writer who has just begun brainstorming a novel wrote to me today. He had an idea for a book, but while doing some research discovered that it had already been written. What should he do? Write it anyway, or look for a new idea? This is a complex question. I have another friend who […]
Ownership and Control
Very often I have new writers come to me who have been approached by agents, editors, publishers, or producers who want to take control of their work. Sometimes, that’s a bad idea. Think of it this way. Suppose that you’ve spent a long hard year tending and watering your garden. At the end of the […]
The 2015 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle
by Kevin J. Anderson National Novel Writing Month is coming up! November, when the air turns colder, winter looms, time to stay inside and write a novel. After all, you’ve got the whole month. Last year, over 300,000 official participants joined in the fun (and work). I’m a prolific writer myself and for me it’s […]
How to Get in Your Reader’s Way
When the movie Avatar came out, I went to see it on opening day at a theater that was nearly empty. I predicted in my kick for that day that the movie would be a blockbuster and possibly become the bestselling science fiction movie of all time. Why? Because the acting was superb? Because the […]
Hit the Gas
When your work begins to pay off, don’t spend your time in celebration or take a vacation. It’s time to “hit the gas.” In the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing a lot of good news from writing friends. They’re selling books and short stories, winning awards, and so on. But often in the past, […]
Achieving Maximum Velocity
Several times a week I will hear from writers who say, “I’m putting my book online today. I just want to put it up and see what happens.” I’ll let you in on a secret: Nothing will “just” happen. This year an estimated one million people will put books up online, and if you don’t […]
Touching Your Audience Deeply through Viewpoint
My friend James Dashner has his movie The Scorch Trials out this week, and the audiences are loving it overall, but I suspect that if you listen in to the viewers as they come out of the theatre, you will hear the comment over and over, “The book was better.” I was just talking a […]
A Guide to Finding Literary Agents
In the United States, there is no government regulation on literary agents. Someone who calls himself an agent may be a godsend—or your worst nightmare. Searching for literary agents can be tough, and the job is made tougher because most authors go about it in the wrong way. They very often look at listings of […]
Powerful Openings
Is your opening powerful? If not, why not? I’ve been judging a huge writing contest this week, and had literally a couple hundred stories that came close to placing as finalists. These stories were good, the writing beautiful, but the story itself was often flawed—and usually in the opening. You see, in a short story, […]
Be Patient
Every author is impatient for good news. We’re all working toward something. You might be working toward your first sale, or maybe it’s your next novel contract. You might be trying to get a movie deal, or perhaps land on the New York Times bestseller list. That’s the way that it should be. You should […]