I went to my fifth Colorado Gold Conference this year and had an absolute blast. I taught two classes, as well. How to Write Compelling Villains was super fun to teach (I mean, as fun as an 8 a.m. class can be to teach on Sunday morning). The other class I taught was How to…
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DEEP POV Lesson 3 – A Few More Rules
Here’s one of my favorite scenes from the Queen of DEEP POV, Suzanne Brockmann. Love being deep in Max’s head as he reacts to sour milk while talking on the phone. Good stuff. Suz could have said: Crap. Max looked at the milk carton and read the expiration date. Suz could have said: He’d taken…
Rocky Mountain Writer #144
Laurence MacNauhgton & No Sleep ‘Til Doomsday It’s not often we get an excuse to include discussion of the theremin here on the Rocky Mountain Writer, so we had to jump at the chance when Laurence MacNaughton mentioned he’s been fiddling around with the strange musical device. In addition to the theremin, his new book No…
Word of Mouth Goes Viral
What makes a bestseller? That question has tormented authors and the publishing industry for years. The best explanation I’ve heard came from an editor who used to regularly attend the Colorado Gold conference: “God smiles.” Of course, that isn’t very helpful. Creating a bestseller involves a lot of factors, few of which are under the…
Would the greats of classic literature pass muster in today’s critique groups?
I’ve heard some of my yet-to-be-published colleagues complain when they read a new release, saying, “This is so poorly written because (insert critique cliche here, from show-don’t-tell to overuse of adverbs, or what have you), I can’t believe this person got published and I can’t.” But flawed bestsellers are nothing new, and not just in…