First Word

I just finished my new novel titled The Abused . I also received feedback from my focus group of early readers. Responses were all extremely positive with the common comment being “I couldn’t stop reading it.” I get asked all of the time, “How do I write a page-turner?” My answer may sound simple, but it’s not easy to do. The main ingredient to writing a page-turner is to create constant intrigue. Your reader must be interested and intrigued enough to want to keep reading. How do you create intrigue? Tip #1: Show don’t tell . Last night I read a chapter from The Abused. “I love the way you built up the tension. How did you do it?” So let me give you the set up scene from the book… On this outing, Frank was in his usual laid-back mood. Jonesy had gotten up early ready to jog. They were standing in front of the morning fire watching the gray tin coffee pot that sat on the grill begin to bubble up. Jonesy wore a green jogging suit, and Frank had on...

I've coached and worked with writers for years. All facets of talent have come across my desk. So today what I want to share are the top three things I see writers do to sabotage their own success. Giving up -- yes, giving up is no. #1. At the first sign of low sales or reviews not kicking off enough sales (in the author's mind), some author will give up. They won't feel the project is either successful or successful enough . And to discuss the "enough" word. What is your idea of success anyway? Becoming a no. 1 best-seller? Or is it possible that your book touched and changed one life. Your book made someone's vacation perfect. Your prose made someone happy. We have this view of success in society based on monetary rewards, and don't get me wrong money is important. I just hate to see an author feel like a failure because they only sold 500 copies, which is actually a lot. Speaking of quantity of copies ... here is the next thing authors do get in th...

Think about it. What glues and holds you to a novel? Yes, a great story is important, but isn't it really great characters that make it memorable? My book California Girl Chronicles has a very basic story: young screenwriter goes to Hollywood to make it only to be distracted by hot men. It's not a terribly complex story by any means. It's definitely frothy, good fun, but what do people talk about the most in all of the reviews -- my flawed, beautiful character, Brea. You can have a "thin" story, but if the characters are really interesting, great and fun to follow, it won't matter. People will be hooked to the character's adventures or in Brea's case, her misadventures, which makes it critical that writers understand that their characters must be fully developed, interesting, compelling and made to do provocative things that hold the reader's interest. So how do you create a memorable character? Distinct Voice -- make sure you start with the ve...