In an interview with James Altucher, bestselling author Brad Meltzer points out that the plot isn’t what captures the reader’s attention (or the author’s attention for that matter). What really counts is the motivation of the character. That’s what people care about. Meltzer asks himself about each character: What does my character want? Why? If…
My Fiction Journey
From beginner to bestseller, I'm sharing everything I'm learning on my journey writing fiction.
I'm learning a lot and other authors will, too.
Marketing = Mission
Watch Steve Jobs launch Apple’s Think Different marketing campaign. There is so much for anyone to learn: What is the purpose of marketing? “To me marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world; it is a very noisy world and we’re not going to get a chance for people to remember much about…
Writing Advice from R. J. Palacio, Author of Wonder
R. J. Palacio, author of the popular book and now movie Wonder, offers two pieces of advice to aspiring writers on her website about page: 1. Write every day. I would sum it up with another precept I wrote down when I was a teenager. It was from The Agony and the Ecstasy: “The most…
Should I use initials as an author pen name?
A number of authors use their initials instead of their full name on the covers of their books. It is especially common among authors of fiction. So, when considering whether to use my initials instead of my first name for works of fiction, I wanted to do some quick research. Here are a few reasons…
Author Ken Liu on Goal Setting
While I am reading a book, I like to listen to and read interviews with the authors to find their advice on writing and the lessons they have learned about being authors. So, after I read the short story, “Paper Menagerie,” I went looking for interviews with the author Ken Liu. I found his writing…
