Recently I watched the 2016 film “Genius,” which is based on A. Scott Berg’s biography of Maxwell Perkins, called Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. (Berg is a Pulitzer Prize winner and his Perkins biography won the National Book Award). You can check it out here. The film and book explore the often rocky process of turning creative fiction into a marketable product. Perkins, for those who don’t know the name, was the legendary editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons during the first half of the ... VIEW POST
DISCOVERING THAT ONE GREAT IDEA
Seven Concepts Writers Can Learn From Gold Prospectors In August I spent a weekend with cousins from Ohio who were visiting the wilds of Idaho near where I live. We took an afternoon to pan for gold above the resort town of Donnelly, which is part of the Boise National Forest. No, we didn’t stop at a tourist trap, where they salt the trough with pyrite and you get to take home a little pouch of “Fool’s Gold.” I’m talking the real deal. One of my cousins, an astute fifteen year-old, knows ... VIEW POST
The Many Challenges of Writing The Lair
My latest contemporary romantic suspense novel, The Lair, now available for pre-order, stands on its own, which means you don’t have to have read my other books to immerse yourself in the story. However, the main characters and part of the plot are connected to the other volumes in my far-reaching “Sinner’s Grove” series. Writing a multi-faceted, even genre-crossing story whose books are independent yet interwoven, poses a whole host of challenges, but for The Lair, that was only the ... VIEW POST
Yes, You Still Need an Editor … and here are five reasons why
[portions of this post were originally published as a guest blog for donnacookauthor.com in 2014. Check out Donna’s award-winning fantasy novel, The Gift of the Phoenix http://donnacookauthor.com/book/gift-of-the-phoenix/ ] I had just finished the manuscript for book number four. After going over it several times, I was feeling pretty darn good about my work. My best one yet, I thought. I’ve got this novel-writing thing down. I turned it over to my editor, thinking she’d probably ... VIEW POST
How to Keep Readers From Uttering Those Four Dreaded Words …
[NOTE: I submit this blog post as a writer, a reader, and a regular, everyday person. When I use the word ‘we,’ I’m referring to the collective, as in all writers, all readers or all citizens.] In the real world, where what happens to us via laws and public policy really matters, we seem to be okay with the fact that those we hire (read: “elect”) to represent us in government, are not straight with us. Basically, they lie. Even as candidates for office they lie, either directly or by ... VIEW POST
The Difference Between Fiction Editing and a Rock Band Tour? Not Much
My older son is a musician and college student in Denver. I’d call him “struggling,” but 1) that would be a cliché, and 2) how bad can it be when you’re twenty-one with no major responsibilities except to feed yourself, get to rehearsal/performances on time and, oh yes, pass your classes? Plus, his bands are “on the way up,” as they say. They’re going places. Literally. He just got back from a multi-state tour with one of his groups. They played in Utah, California, Washington, Oregon and ... VIEW POST
