Portal, an online novel: Chapter 32
Chapter 31: Larry and Kevin go to the Christmas Eve celebration with the Barnes family. And there they run into the Harper family, who rescued them from the New Portuguese soldiers when they first...
View ArticleWould you write a novel in someone else’s universe?
Today’s Boston Globe has an article (behind their paywall) about the estate of the late Robert B. Parker hiring writers to continue his various novel series. Apparently the guy writing the new Spenser...
View Article“Summit” is #1 free spy thriller on Amazon
It would be better if people were, you know, actually paying for it. But I’ll take what I can get! Here’s the most recent customer review: Richard Bowker manages to give lots of credibility to the...
View ArticlePortal, an online novel: Chapter 33
Chapter 32: Larry finally meets the preacher from the Burger Queen world once again. The preacher explains a bit about the portal, although he thinks that’s a dumb name for the thing. He too is just a...
View ArticlePortal, an online novel: Chapter 34
Chapter 33: Stinky has snitched on Larry and Kevin to Sergeant Hornbeam and Lieutenant Carmody. Carmody is determined to keep them in this world. Now Kevin and Larry have to get to the portal as fast...
View ArticleThe Tyranny of Writing
It’s been a glorious Memorial Day here in New England. So why did I spend half the day inside, staring at a computer screen? For a stinkin’ 500 words of fiction, that’s why. Of course, they were...
View ArticlePortal, an online novel: Chapter 35
Chapter 34: Professor Palmer is waiting at the farmhouse for Larry and Kevin. He tells them what they have already found out from Stinky Glover: Lieutenant Carmody is after them, determined to keep...
View ArticleDan Brown. Dan Brown. Dan Brown. And other pitiable aspects of the writer’s...
This blog post, “10 Reasons Not to Be A Writer,” is pretty funny. I like this reason: One of the very worst things about being a writer is the existence of other writers. There are literally thousands...
View ArticlePortal, an online novel: the final chapter
Chapter 35: The climax. A chase scene. More gnomic utterances from the annoying alien preacher. Guns are drawn, threats are issued. Decisions are made, lives are changed. And finally Larry and...
View ArticleFarewell to Portal
Thanks to everyone who followed along with (or who is following along with) Portal. The next step is to turn it into an ebook; that’s in process. As usual, the biggest issue is what to do about the...
View ArticleFuture perfect
The deeper I get into the novel I’m working on, the more irrelevant my outline, and my earlier chapters, seem to become. I’m now closing in on the halfway point, and I’m in a chapter that I had no...
View ArticleSummit will now cost you money
I told you to download Summit from Amazon when it was free, but you didn’t listen to me. You never listen to me. Now you have to pay $2.84 for it. Why $2.84? I don’t know. But it’s worth it!...
View ArticleBackstory
One of the hardest parts of writing a novel is dealing with backstory. How much of each character’s past should you put into your story? When should you put it in? Backstory adds texture and depth...
View Article“I could kill you now, Detective Bosch. But that would be too easy.”
I’ve been listening to The Black Box, a Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly. It turns out he uses an “I could kill you now, Mr. Bond” setup for his climax. I expected more of Mr. Connelly, whose...
View ArticleJust a quick visit to a parallel universe — what could possibly go wrong?
Creativity is an odd thing. Best not to think to deeply about it. My e-book folks are working on the cover for Portal, and they asked me to come up with a tag line for it. A tag line summarizes a...
View ArticleI really don’t care what Harry Bosch had for dinner
I like to listen to Harry Bosch novels on my endless commute. They don’t require deep thinking, and the narrators are really good. One problem with audio books, though, is you can’t skim. And there...
View ArticleWhy would a novelist Ask Amy about how to handle criticism?
A first-time novelist writes in to Ask Amy with this problem: a friend does not like the way the novelist portrayed a character who is loosely based on her. The friend has responded with a scathing,...
View ArticleNext time, should J. K. Rowling disguise her writing style?
Here’s an interesting interview on Science Friday with Patrick Juola, the guy who’s computerized analysis helped identify J. K. Rowling as the author of the mystery The Cuckoo’s Calling. He gives much...
View Article“Pontiff” and Pope Francis; thrillers and reality
Life is kinda boring. That’s why thriller writers are required to amp things up. There are some vague parallels between Pope John in my novel Pontiff and Pope Francis in the real world. Both were...
View ArticleIs it “alternate history” or “alternative history”?
The Portal is about to go live on Amazon. Today I got my first look at the final draft of the cover. My publisher apparently wasn’t fond of my tag line, because they came up with this: OK, first of...
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