Time to Write

52 Tips for Writing Success: keep your readers guessing

Are you writing a novel or screenplay?

Your goal is to keep your reader wanting to know what happens next. 

Your strategy is not to tell them--at least not yet. The authors who write thrillers you can’t put down are masters of this method.

As you write your story you can create questions by making the reader wonder:

• Who did something (like send a threatening message).

• Why somebody did something (like apparently betray a best friend).

• What is the meaning of something (such as offering somebody a drink--is it drugged?).

• When something will happen (like a bomb timed to go off).

If you answer those questions as soon as you’ve raised them the suspense goes away immediately. You can delay answering them by:

• Switching to a different character, a different location, a different time

• Providing clues that lead to several possible answers

• Having your character pursue a wrong answer

• Having something even more urgent come up

Don’t wait too long to reveal the answer, or at least part of the answer, or your readers may lose patience and stop reading. But when you do answer one question, make sure you’ve planted another one. This pattern will keep your readers turning the pages.

This is one important thing to consider when you are doing a second draft and it can help to have a trusted friend read the manuscript and tell you where their interest lagged. That would be the point to raise another question that will revive the reader's interest.

 (Would you like some friendly guidance writing your book or script? The reason I called my book "Your Writing Coach" is that it's a supportive writing coach in the form of a book and extras you'll find on the book's website. The book is published by Nicholas Brealey and you can get it now from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

Quick, somebody get these writers an editor!

The site Thog's Masterclass contains a nice collection of writing that would have benefited greatly from the attentions of an editor. Here are some of the best (worst):  

"The teacup-sized tears splashed down the front of his shirt..." (The Man With Absolute Motion, Silas Water)

"His two missing teeth could be seen only when he smiled." (The Memory Cathedral, Jack Dann)

"His thin moustache was neatly placed between a peaked nose and two eyes like black marbles." (Assassins Don't Die in Bed, Michael Avallone)

"She took a few paces within, her amber eyes clambering up library steps, sliding along polished shelves housing neatly ranged books within a mellow wood gallery then down the stairs on the opposite side of the room."

"Her breath caught in her throat and her nipple burrowed into his palm like a friendly mole." (Howl-O-Ween, Gary L. Holleman)

"He swept the antechamber with the eyes of a trapped animal." (Among Thieves, Poul Anderson)

And my favorite:

"She wore large bronze earrings made in an obscure country which rattled when she laughed." (Remembrance Day, Brian Aldiss)

If you have any favorites, feel free to share in the comments.

Related articles

52 Tips for Writing Success: create your plot in five steps

Why to start your novel inside-out

Author and agent Chuck Sambuchino recently made an important observation about modern novels: they should start inside and go out. In other words, you start with a character and his or her actions and thoughts, and then place them in a setting.

Many of the great novels—from a time when readers had more time or at least more patience—started outside and then went into a character. You’d have several pages of description of the landscape, the weather, and maybe the ancestry of the protagonist before you ever met him or her.

If you want to grab readers, focus on what we find most interesting: people. Introduce us to someone who find intriguing, or lovable, or mysterious, or fascinatingly evil. Make us wonder what’s going on with them. Then, when you’ve hooked us, you’ll have the luxury of describing the setting and other aspects of their lives.

Of course I’ve overstated the case; not every book needs to start with a shocking or mysterious event featuring the protagonist, but many writers err in the other direction, assuming that we’ll stick around to meet the main characters once the authors have finished setting the scene.

(For friendly guidance on all aspects of writing, get a copy of my book "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

What to do if your plot doesn't work

Sometimes an editor or agent will tell you that the plot of your book or screenplay "doesn't hang together." What do they mean? 

In a recent post I quoted the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft: "“Plots may be simple or complex; but suspense, and climactic progress from one incident to another, are essential."

In other words, for each scene there has to be something before it that leads logically to it, and something after it that results logically from it. 

Of course exactly what happens depends on the genre of your story, the characters, and your theme. For instance, let's say that a woman finds a text message on her husband's phone that convinces her he's having an affair. There are almost endless options. She could:

• Pretend she didn't see it
• Confront him
• Start an affair herself to get even
• Ask for a divorce
• Shoot him
• Shoot the other woman
• Slash all of his clothes and pour paint on his beloved car

 

Whatever she chooses, we will know she's done it because of what went before: the discovery of the text message. If it then turns out she was wrong, there are more choices about how to respond to that new development. 

THREE COMMON PLOT PROBLEMS

If a plot isn't working, often it's because there is a gap in this series of causal links, or one or more of the links is weak, or the links are predictable.

If there's a gap, characters seem to be acting with no motive. Naturally you can withhold their motivation and reveal it after they've acted but at some point the audience has to feel they understand the actions.

If the action is due to something that happened before your story started, we need to see something in the present that triggers the memory and motivation. For example, someone who was bullied as a child may over-react to being teased as an adult. Even if the mention of his childhood takes place much earlier in the book or script, the audience will make the connection.

If the links are weak, the script will seem overly episodic. This happens in road movies when the only link between one incident and the next is that the characters have moved on to a new location. That makes it hard to keep the audience's attention. It's better to find some way of letting the audience know that what happens in the next location was influenced by what happened in the last one.

If the reactions are too predictable the audience will feel they don't need to keep watching because they already know what's coming next anyway. This means you have to try to find character actions and reactions that are logical but unexpected. For instance, a man may be a coward in most situations, but finds courage when the safety of his child is threatened.

FIXING THE LINKS

If you didn't discover these problems in your outline you may spot them as you review your first draft. Here are some useful tips for finding and fixing these kinds of problems:

* For each major scene, ask what went before it that led to it, and what happens within it that leads to the next one.

* If there's no link, or the link is weak or predictable, ask yourself what else could cause your protagonist to behave the way he or she does, or what other reactions could be more interesting.

* Boring people generally do boring things. If your characters make boring choices it may be that you need to make some changes in your character before you make changes in their choices. 

* Remember that just because you know why a character did something, that doesn't mean the readers will. Give them enough clues to let them feel they've figured it out themselves—don’t use exposition that slows down the action and sounds unnatural.

When the links between scenes work well, the plot flows easily and the audience doesn’t even notice the connections. When there’s no sign of the major effort you’ve put into constructing a tight story, that’s when you’re done!

(Want more help with plotting, as well as creating great characters, using settings powerfully and much more? Get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

The motto that can help you plot your novel or screenplay

There's a motto that can give you the key to coming up with a stronger plot for your novel or screenplay. John Lennon put it into his song, "Beautiful Boy," but the first person to have said it seems to have been a cartoonist named Allen Saunders, back in 1957. The saying is:

"Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans."

How does that help the writer struggling with a plot?

Well, often the problem with a plot is that the protagonist doesn't have any other plans. He or she is there, apparently waiting for the story to start, and then it does. It continues, and it concludes. Lots of things happen but we feel somehow it wasn't real. It's like eating cotton candy for dinner. 

THE MOTTO IN ACTION

I'll give you an example. Here is a very brief description of a plot:

A woman tries to find the son she gave up when he was an infant, 35 years ago.

OK, interesting situation, plenty of scope for drama and even some comedy. Now try this one:

A woman trying to find the son she gave up when he was an infant, 35 years ago, is diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given only one month to live.

Of course it's much darker, but I think it's also a lot more interesting. Now there is a ticking clock. She has to find him very soon or it will be too late. There's also a dilemma--assuming that he would be happy to reunite with her, would it be fair to do that knowing that she will once again abandom him so soon?

The thing that doesn't fit in with our plans doesn't have to be terrible. A light romantic comedy version might be:

A woman trying to find the son she gave up when he was an infant, 35 years ago, falls in love with a man who is only a few years older than her son.

Now her concern is how both the new lover and the son would react to each other. And does she want to bring a complicated emotional situation into her life just as she's finally found love again? Would having her son around constantly remind her new lover of their age gap? Maybe she's lied about her age in her dating profile and her new beau thinks she's 45, not 55.  

IF IT'S TOO BIG...

In some cases you may feel these kinds of complications would overshadow your core story or turn it into a melodrama. There's definitely danger of that in the cancer version of the story. That element is so big that it could detract if you want to explore the more subtle feelings that come with her search for the son she gave up. 

Option One: Flip it. In the version above, her plan is finding her son and the unexpected life event is the terminal cancer. You could flip it around so that when the story opens, she is planning to continue to lead her normal quiet life for the little time she has left. Then something happens--either she learns the son is trying to find her, or in the process of getting her papers in order she comes across a picture of the boy just after he was born and that triggers her need to see him before she dies. 

Option two: Think smaller. In this case, forget about the cancer as a story element. Instead, maybe the woman's closest friend passionately believes she's being foolish to dig up the past and it begins to disrupt her relationship with the person she assumed would be her best friend for life and who is her main source of emotional support. 

Or maybe the search interferes with her work and she's in danger of losing the job she loves and planned to keep doing until she retired.

Or perhaps in the process of looking for her son she meets another person from her past who she'd planned never to see again. 

Match the nature and scope of the unplanned event to the genre and style of the story you want to tell. 

HOW TO USE THIS METHOD

A good way to use this method is to start with the core story you want to tell and then brainstorm the answers to these questions:

* What development would make it much harder for the protagonist to reach the goal?

* What development would test the protagonist? That could be on the physical level, the emotional level, the moral level, the spiritual level.

* If the core story is very dark, what unerexpected development might give you some opportunities for comic relief? If it's a comedy, what might help you expose the deeper side of your protagonist?

* Which of your ideas best fits the core story the way you want to tell it--complicating it but not overwhelming it? Do you need to make it bigger or smaller?

THE COINCIDENCE RULE

Some writers worrry that this leads to events that seem too coincidental, but I think the old rule works: you can use coincidence to get your characters into trouble but not to get them out of trouble. All of my examples are about getting the characters into trouble. 

LOOK FOR THIS AS YOU WATCH AND READ

Try watching a few movies or TV episodes or reading a few novels with this in mind.

Do the more involving ones use this kind of structure?

Do the ones that feel less real or satisfying ignore it?

Of course the most important question is how you can use it to make your plot stronger. If you're just starting on a project, build this in from the very beginning.If you've written a first draft that's missing this element, it could be the key to a second draft that gains power and really works. 

I hope this is helpful, let me know how you get on!

(For friendlly writing guidance from the greatest authors in the Western world, people like Twain, Dickens, Austen, Chekhov, get my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

52 Tips for Writing Success - 25: Comedy comes from drama

 

Comedies are always in demand, especially in the realm of screenplays. Even serious novels benefit from the occasional lighter touch to vary the tone.

How do you come up with a good comedy or a good comedy subplot? Here's what actor/writer Jason Segal said about that:

“The best way to write a comedy script is to write a drama. I’m not joking. That was the first advice I got from Judd Apatow, and I think that’s why his movies are so brilliant. He told me when I was writing Sarah Marshall, that the first draft he wanted from me was a drama. He said, ‘We’ll make it funny, it’s going to be funny because we’re funny, and we’re going to add jokes, and the cast will be funny — but the people will see it and keep seeing it and connect to it because it’s a drama.’"

That's the same thing comedy writing master Danny Simon taught me years ago, and I've followed that advice ever since. Make it real first, then find the funny. The person who taught Danny that was veteran comedian Sid Caesar (look him up). 

Of course you don't have to write the whole script or novel as a drama, you just need to work out a storyline that works dramatically. Then the attitudes of your characters will make it funny. Nobody outside of the business will understand this. They think you have to start with the jokes. Big mistake! 

(For friendly and helpful guidance on writing your novel or screenplay, see my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

Writing description: it's all in the details

Anton Chekhov gave this advice to a writer: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

The way to make a character or a setting or an action come alive in the imagination of the reader is to provide specific details. Compare these two descriptions:

Howard was a clinically obese man. He found it difficult to walk very far and stopped frequently to rest. 

Howard wheezed with the effort of carrying his weight. Every ten steps he had had to stop and lean against the nearest wall.

Not only is the second description more specific (not just stopping but leaning against the nearest wall), it brings in another sense--the sound of wheezing. The more you can bring in not only what things look like but also their smell, their feel, their taste, the more real they become to the reader.

Often the best specific to mention is one that is unexpected. For instance, it might be that despite his bulk Howard has dainty feet.

Different details will have different effects in terms of how the reader perceives the character or the setting. For example, if we want the reader to feel some sympathy for Howard, we might show him enduring the embarrassment of having to buy shoes in the children’s department. 

One warning: don’t overdo it. It’s easy to overload the reader with details. Adjectives are especially dangerous! One usually is enough. “Grimy fingernails” is fine; “Grimy, misshapen, yellowed, gnawed fingernails” is too much. 

Adverbs can be even worse--generally it’s better to describe the action rather than characterize it. For instance, instead of “He ate the donut greedily,” you might write, “He stuffed the entire donut into his mouth so fast that jam squirted out of his mouth.”

Checking to make sure that you have been specific in your descriptions is one of the key things to do when you go over your first draft. 

If you want to see how it's done, read some of Chekhov's short stories. They constitute a great masterclass.

(And to learn even more, see my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey. Not only does it contain more of Chekhov's advice, but also guidance from Dickens, Austen, Hemingway and many others. You can get it from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

52 Tips for Writing Success - 16: Write for one person

Successful writers remember that people will read a book one person at a time. Some say they write for themselves, others have a real or imagined individual in mind as their reader.

By imagining one person as your reader you avoid a danger: trying to write to please everyone. 

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, you can please some of the readers all of the time, and all of the readers some of the time, but you cannot please all of the readers all of the time. 

If you doubt it, read people's comments about the most popular books on Amazon; there are those who hate even the great classics. 

Trying to please everybody will make you censor anything that might offend anybody--which won't leave you with anything but the blandest prose imaginable. It can also be the cause of writer's block.

Who to choose as your imagined reader? If you're happy writing for yourself, that's an easy choice. Otherwise pick someone, real or imagined, who:

* enjoys the genre in which you write

* is intelligent (never underestimate the intelligence of your audience)

* is friendly but not uncritical (in other words, they'll notice mistakes)

* is someone whose company you enjoy (or would if they were real)

* is eager to read your book

Having this kind of individual in mind makes the writing process more enjoyable and keeps you on track. 

(Do you want a writing coach but are not prepared to spend the kind of money that requires? The next best thing is my book: "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

 

52 Tips for Writing Success - 14: The first page is only one page

Some writers find the first page especially daunting. It seems to carry the weight of all the pages to come. In fact, it's just one page.

Three hundred words, on average.

Yes, it's true that eventually, when you are doing your subsequent drafts, you will want to be sure that the first page grabs the reader (you'll find a tip for here later) but for now just do the best you can and move on. 

One writer I know skips the first page in order to avoid this pressure. He just jots down something like, "Jack sits on cliff, contemplating whether to jump. Decides to call his ex-wife." Then he writes the phone call with the wife and the rest of the first chapter. When he has finished his first draft he goes back and writes the first page.

Quite often what you believe will be the first page ends up not being the first page at all. You may decide when doing the second draft that you should have started the story later or earlier. Or you may come up with a better setting, or decide to add or subtract a character, or make some other change that requires a new first page. 

Don't let the idea of the first page put you off--cut it down to size, mentally, and get writing!

(Want writing advice from the very best? Writers like Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens as well as modern masters like Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury and Martin Amis? You'll find it in "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

Stuck on the story of your novel or screenplay? Play possible futures.

If you have the start of a story but things have ground to a halt and you're not sure where to take your protagonist next, try playing a game I call Possible Futures. 

Think of three very different paths your protagonist might take. Project each one forward one or two big steps.

For instance, let's see I've set up a story opening in which Ian, my protagonist, is a widower nearing retirement age. He hasn't managed to save much money and his pension plan just collapsed. I have a sympathetic character and a situation to which (unfortunately) a lot of people can relate. But where to go with the story?

Scenario One: When he's approached by a younger friend who says there's a way Ian could earn $50,000 for one week of work, Ian knows it  has to be something fishy. But he needs the money and decides it would be foolish not to at least hear what it's all about.

Scenario Two: Looking for an inexpensive way to have an evening out leads him to a senior citizens' social club where he turns out to be one of the very few men among a lot of widows. One quickly falls for him. She's rich and nice and would love to marry him. It would mean a comfortable retirement. He likes her but he doesn't really love her…does that still matter?

Scenario Three: Desperate for money, Ian signs up to be a subject of medical trials. When one of them goes terribly wrong due to negligence by the pharmaceuticals company, he has only one year to live. They offer him ten million dollars to shut up. He can have a dream life and money to leave to the grandchildren of his struggling son and daughter in law,  but it will mean being complicit in the coverup of the company's practices which may go on to hurt others.  

You can use the same strategy further along in the story. Let's say that you decided that Ian should go ahead and marry the widow--after all he does like her and has no intention of cheating her; he will be a good companion. But then…then we can think of three more options for what happens next:

1. She dies and he realises the rich thing was all an act. She had nothing but debts for which he is now responsible.

2. He meets another woman, and this time it IS love. But now he's spoken for…

3. He does marry her but the more he begins to actually love her the more suspicious she gets that he was after her money.

If you pay attention you'll get the sense that one of the options you generate is more right for you or your understanding of the character than the others. 

(There are some writers who have tips for you on how to create great characters and plots. Who are they? Well, they include Dostoyevsky, Dumas, and Dickens. Also Calvino, Carver, and Cather. Their advice and how to apply it to your project are in my newest book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

Writing a novel...the same one four times: Jane Hamilton explains

I

If you’re struggling as you write your novel and you assume “real” writers have it much easier, Jane Hamilton, author of “The Book of Ruth,” is evidence that it ain’t necessarily so. She told a symposium recently that it took four complete versions of “Map of the World” before she got it right.

She said “Sometimes I can’t do the next thing until I finish the bad thing.”

She also revealed that conditions were far from ideal when she started writing. She was sharing a computer with her husband and bringing up young children. She said, “My early novels were fuelled with pure rage.”

 Her books are about relationships, and she started her talk by quoting this wonderful passage from an essay by Willa Cather on Katherine Mansfield: “One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half the time greedily seeking them, and half the time pulling away from them.”

 If we keep that in mind, we’ll never run out of stories!

 Source: Salsburypost.com http://www.salisburypost.com/Entertainment/040112-book-hamilton-qanda-qcd

(Mark Twain has advice for you about writing. So do Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anton Chekhov, and Jane Austen. You'll find it in "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers now.)

52 Tips to Writing Success - 3: decide what you want it to be!

This is the third in a series of tips regarding small changes you can make, one per week, to write better, write faster, and have more confidence about your writing. If you implement all or most of these, by a year from now you may have transformed your writing practice.

3: At the start of a project (or now, if you’re already into it) get a notebook and jot down what you hope it will be when you’re done. An easy way to do it is to write the review that you hope you will get. About once a week or once every two weeks for bigger projects, review your notes—are you staying on track? If not, what could you do to bring it back? If you find this too distracting while you’re writing the first draft, do it when it’s time to write the second.

(If you want to see the other tips from this series so far, click on the Category "52 Tips" to the right. And if you want to get some great methods for being more creative, get my book, "Creativity Now!" published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other book sellers.)

If your writing seems to be moving in slow-motion, read this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Louis Stevenson offered that advice. It's good to remember on those days, weeks, or months when you feel frustrated.

Maybe the words--or at least the right words--aren't coming fast enough.

Maybe agents or publishers are making you wait forever to hear whether they are interested.

Maybe that self-published book of yours doesn't seem to be catching fire despite the fact that you're working hard to market it.

Stay with it. Looking forward, everything seems slow. Looking back, it seems as though it all went by in an instant.

Set yourself a schedule that's ambitious but realistic and stick with it.

On days you begin to doubt whether you're on the right track, keep going.

If that keeps up too long, take a little break, but schedule the resumption of your writing on your calendar. 

Even if the "planting" doesn't pay off in a trip up the best-seller list you may find that you've gained in ways you never imagined.

(If you'd like to learn to write from the best, get a copy of my new book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass." It features writing advice from more than 100 classic and modern writers, plus my guidance on how to apply that advice to you want to write. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

 

Could you use the Agile Publishing Model to self-publish your ebook?

At Digital Book World Dominique Raccah, chief executive and publisher of Sourcebooks announced that they will be using that they call the Agile Publishing Model. It involves building audience participation before the writing and publication of a new book, a system O'Reilly Media has employed already.

What does this look like in practice? This is my interpretation of how you could use it when self-publishing an ebook:

1. Start a website that relates to the book. If it's a non-fiction book it's easy to decide on the topic. If it's a novel, what aspect do you think people would find most interesting and likely to make them buy the book?

This is not always obvious. For instance, a mystery set in a ski resort will not necessarily appeal more to skiers than others. In fact, sometimes people who know a lot about a topic don't read fiction about it because they know so many authors get things wrong. And people who will eagerly read non-fiction may not read fiction at all. 

Here's a tip: find a successful book similar to yours in a significant way. Look at the author's website, the comments and reviews people have left on Amazon and YouTube, and use Google to track down articles about them, fan sites, etc. You'll get lots of clues about where this author's fans hang out. Go there. Be unobtrusive at first, and then start posting but not about your book. Without spamming or forcing it, let people know you have a blog or site they might find of interest (and make sure it is interesting, of course).

The sooner you do this, the better. This model works only if you start early. 

2. Involve your followers in the writing of the book. For instance, invite their questions. If a lot of people have the same question, that's a great indicator that you should be answering it in your book or featuring the topic in some way. 

3. Let your followers read chapters as you go along. Be clear that these are early drafts and you welcome input. Pay attention to what makes sense, ignore what doesn't. But start with an open mind. If you find that the book you want to write isn't the same one people want to read, adjust accordingly.

In works of fiction, pay attention to feedback like "I got mixed up between Brian and Bruce," or "It' wasn't clear to me whether Samantha knew about John's previous marriage or not." If the reader is supposed to know that, maybe you need to state it more clearly.

4. Let followers vote. Ask them to help you pick the best title, the best cover image, the best copy for the back cover. You can get a lot of useful information. Again, it helps if you are able to put aside your ego. If 80 of a hundred people voting clearly prefer one cover over the other you'd be silly not to listen, even if you like the other one better.

5.Tell about the steps of the publishing process, including a bit of gossip here and there (naturally, nothing that will upset your publisher). Your followers will feel like insiders and at the same time will know when the expect the book.

6. In the book, acknowledge by name any followers whose comments have been helpful. It's a nice thing to do, plus people buy more copies of a book when their name is in it.

7. Have an online launch party. Invite your followers and ask them to invite their friends as well. Do something special, maybe a live video feed from an actual party, or set up a webinar in which people can ask you questions. Give away prizes including copies of your book. 

8. Keep your followers involved after the book is published. Blog about your experiences--did you have a signing and 100 people turned up? Great, tell us about it. Did you have a signing and nobody turned up? Not so great for you, but possibliy a more entertaining story. Put reviews on the site and invite your followers to do their own reviews on YouTube and post links to those (or embed them) on your site. Give a prize for the best review every month (not the most fawning but the most entetaining). 

9. Get their input on what you should write next--hook them early so they'll stay with you.

10. If your book has timely content, update it as often as necessary. With e-books this is simple and costs nothing or very little. Let your followers know that you're keeping up to date and ask them for input on what changes you should make. 

Have I done all these? Nope. But writing this has given me some good ideas...

(You can also get loads of good ideas for inexpensive and innovative ways to market yourself or your work, in my book, "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books.)

If you had only 2 years to live, would you write? (She did...)

Pat Gaffney always dreamed of writing, but didn't start until she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the shadow of that diagnosis, she decided to dedicate what she thought would be her final two years to writing. Fortunately she's still with us and that decision led to (so far) twelve historical romances and five contemporary women's fiction titles. Her books have been best-sellers and won awards. Here her short (2 minute) account of what happened:

(Want to learn from the best  authors of all time--Twain, Chekhov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jane Austen? Their advice to writers makes up the core of 'Your Creative Writing Masterclass,' my newest book from Nicholas Brealey Publishing. You can get it now from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)