Ley is an editor and author of action/suspense novels.
Word count is a fickle thing. Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer weighs in at a hefty 460,000 words. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is barely 30,000. There are stories across all genres that span from a few hundred to several hundred-thousand words.
Plotters. Pantsers. Plantsers, even. As Harry Potter fans sort themselves into Hogwarts houses, many writers sort themselves into a few different writing styles. Sometimes you’ll… Read More »Plotters and Pantsers: Why Most Authors are Both
Dialogue is not just quotation. It is grimaces, pauses, adjustments of blouse buttons, doodles on a napkin, and crossings of legs. – Jerome Stern
Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.- Anthony Volodkin
Lovers of print are simply confusing the plate for the food. – Douglas Adams
Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy. – Robert Half
I don’t plot my books rigidly, follow a preconceived structure. A novel mustn’t be a closed system – it’s a quest. – Kurt Vonnegut
If a book about failures doesn’t sell, is it a success? – Jerry Seinfeld
A lone protagonist never receives as great a reaction as one with a well-developed supporting cast. – Susan Spann
It all begins with drawing yourself and your reader into what I call the Fictive Bubble. Think of it like a large soap bubble. That bubble is your story world and everything that happens there, regardless of genre. Your first objective is to pull a reader into it, where they will take an incredible journey with your characters. Your second objective is to keep the reader there, in that bubble. – Ted Dekker
