Figuring Out Your Genre

I tell all would-be writers to go to the bookstore to find the sections in which their competition is carried. Bookstores need to know exactly where to put your book in their store or they won’t carry it. Smart publishers put the genre of each book right on the spine. Books too much unlike any other won’t be carried in a bookstore. Knowing your genre is still very important even on the digitals. Readers have been trained to search by genre. You want to make absolutely certain that your book fits in one genre and only one genre. Cross genre tends to make readers of both genres unhappy.

Surprising Character Moment

Writing fiction is a constant surprise. Once you start the process you never know what the characters are going to do. I had no idea how “Relentless: The Search For Typhoid Mary” would end. I knew the facts since it was based on a true story but not what the character would do with them. Yet it is the end that makes Mary Mallon simply marvelous to any of us who has ever stood up to and triumphed over a bully.

What a Character Doesn't Do or Have...

Sometimes what a character doesn’t do or have is as telling as what he does do and does have. Movies are particularly good at visually demonstrating that. In Bone Collector the Angelina Jolie character has not unpacked her moving boxes after months of living in her apartment… In Angel Eyes the Jim Caviezel character simply has a mattress on the floor of his large apartment. That is the first sign of a character with an interrupted life – the grounding of the ark of change.

Robert Reich Goes Digital

Why did Robert Reich a really famous author publish his newest book Beyond Outrage as an e-book? Because it takes two years to get a book out in the standard book publishing world and what Robert Reich had to say he wanted to say now while it was still really relevant. A publisher might have put it up for him – or he might be getting 70% instead of 15% on the profits from the fruits of his labor. The digitals are more than 50% of the market right now.

Conflict Makes Great Writing

In writing fiction conflict is the driver of the story. I spend hours figuring out conflicts not only between villains and heroes but between lovers, children and parents, dogs and cats…. The more conflict there is the more interesting the characters, their relationships and the story itself. The Initiative is available on Kindle and Nook for only $2.99

In Your Choice Is Your Talent

My teacher Stella Adler said, “In your choice is your talent.” She was one of the inspirations for my book “The Character Book.” I love creating characters and it shows. Here’s what one reviewer said about me: “The first big thing that hit me about this book is a specific talent that Joan has as a writer that I've rarely seen, and I've read A LOT of books. Throughout the book we're presented with several characters who have contracted the anthrax virus through one means or another. In a matter of a few short paragraphs, Joan was able to make me care about those characters.”

It's Impossible To See Your Own Typos

In my book “How To Write A Book That Positions You As An Expert In Your Field” I explain that it’s close to impossible to see your own typos so at the very least you need a good copy editor to give your book a once over. Writers have killed their reputations by publishing badly written, badly proofed material on the digitals.