Website – Tropes for Cheating. Google – TV Tropes

New Authors Seminar

– persistence is the #1 secret to breaking in,

Blake Crouch – 110 rejections before publication

Sean Chercover – 23 rejections, (he knew someone). His biggest mistake, not        finishing the book.

Royce Buckingham – 100 rejections, “Your career is not a ladder but a climbing wall.”

Philip Margolin – “I was a failure at everything I did.” (written 20 books, 2 movies)

His method for writing:

1.     Get an idea
2.     Do not write, think of the character, the situation. Do not write until you know the ending, which you can always change.
3.     Writes an extensive outline (400 pages) — 6-8 months, 6 hours a day.
4.     Takes his outline and talks his way through the book. The book is written before he writes.

“The first thing you write is never any good. Write 5 pages then edit, then write 5 pages, then edit, etc.”

Chelsea Cain – What makes a great villain?

The villain is the hero of his own journey.

Never know what the villain wants.

Your villain is just a protagonist who violently disagrees with the main protagonist and the antagonist.

Villains get all the good lines, all the fun stuff. “Just do as I say and all will be fine.”

Villains take risks.

Robert Dugoni –

Only rule of writing is that is has to work.

“The stories I write are not in my head but actually beyond me.”

Movement – The more you keep the character moving the better, work at it.

Has a sign post it on his computer that says “movement”.

Editing your work

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Hawthorne?

Every book has its own desire of how it wants to be written.

Hannah Dennison – Getting through the first draft is such a relief, then you can do the best work.

It takes at least 5-8 drafts to get the story.

Critique groups. They have to tell you why they don’t like a certain thing.