Words of Wisdom on Writing


10 Writing Rules from Elmore Leonard
drawing by Austin Kleon

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Blocked....The Mystery

Blocked. Not the type ruffage will clear. I haven't even been able to blog, write fiction, write anything for a while now. It woke me up at 4 a.m. today - I've written 2 paragraghs of fiction in the last couple of weeks. Why? Personal shit getting me down? Maybe. Story well run dry? Don't think so. Introspection? Yep. Soul searching? Yes. Fear? Na. Loathing? Yes. Yes. Yes. Fear? Maybe. Self doubt? Getting warm. Fear? Yep, you caught me. A writer I respect wrote me a long email after I whined to her. She said write 1000 words a day, even if it sucks the big hairy green one. Today I write. . .
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Hardcover v. Soft

I asked two questions over the last few days and Mark Terry was gracious enough to answer them. My question: Mark; I don't understand the dynamics of Hardcovers for new authors - the economics don't seen right. How can the book buying public be expected to shell out $25+ for an unknown author. Does it have to do with library sales? Why not trade paperbacks. It seems like the new author at least then has a fightling chance for someone to spend $10-$15 and everyone should still be able to make some scratch this way. John D. MacDonald, an author I admire and respect, put out most of his in mass market paperback. I have read where he made more money this way. Some were eventually published in hardcover, but most came out originally in paperback. What do you think? An Excerpt of his answer : Always a worthwhile question, RJ, and I wish I understood it. I suspect it's part prestige. The rest is probably library sales, which can be considerable, in that there's about 10,000 li...
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Top 10 of Love is Murder Chicago

After three days of intense immersion and many drinks at the Chicago Love is Murder Mystery Conference, I have emerged, tired as hell and enlightened. I will list the Top-Ten significant ideas I took away from the conference. Summary The Love is Murder Conference was very well executed, rich with information, interactivity, and mingled the published, the unpublished, fans, reviewers, publishers, bookstore owners, magazine publishers, and librarians. I would recommend it to any one who loves mystery. Everyone was open, honest, and approachable, from the most famous to the unknown. A finer group of people, I have never met. THE TOP TEN 10.) Writing Sex Scenes are Hard I was surprised how many talented well-known writers had difficulty writing sex scenes. It was unanimous that any sex scene should advance the plot and reveal something about the characters in the scene. 9.) Need for Viral Marketing and a Platform David Morrell gave the Keynote speech on “viral marketing” and “platform”. Th...
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