Forget Research!

I am somebody who does a lot of research, which for me means reading about the California Gold Rush, the westward journey of the American pioneers, anything about Lewis and Clark, and of course the geography and maps ( even the geology of the West, since the Goldfinder Series features a gold-spewing volcano). I love reading anything about the America Civil War.  I am in love with the 1850’s and 1860’s. I am very certain that I lived during that time and that’s the reason I love to read about it. It takes me back.  I love research almost as much as writing. In fact it’s very relaxing at times and at other times very exhilarating for me.

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Write What You Don’t Know, or, Write What You Want to Know

When I was young I was given the old chestnut, “Write what you know”.  Like any other child I could write about my dog, my parents, my room, my friends and other such mundane topics. A brilliant child could write brilliantly about any of these topics and of course these subjects can be needful elements of any good story. The big point is, what any of us know at any given moment is limited. We are dipping into our own personal well of experience and that well runs dry pretty fast.

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Notes from Myself, or, Why I Carry a Notebook

All of us have vivid dreams at night that, a few minutes after awakening, completely disappear. The same is true during waking hours, vivid ideas and striking phrases pop up unannounced, and because we are too busy, we do not write them down. Just like the dreams, they are lost. Where do these dreams and ideas come from? They come out of the sky. They come from the deep blue sea. This is your subconscious mind trying to communicate with you. Mark Twain said a little angel would sit on his shoulder, whispering to him.

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Character Driven Stories

It’s 2 A.M. Your two best characters are hunkered down in a three-foot trench across a hundred yards of barren ground torn and battered by artillery–across from a machine gun nest occupied by, you guessed it–the bad guys. One of your characters is a combo Stallone/Jack Reacher action maniac. Your other character is Woody Allen. What will Stallone/Reacher do? What will Woody Allen do? You’re a character driven writer, you know what they will do. Woody will try to talk his way and walk his way out. He’s an intellectual, a thinker, a pontificator. He will give a dozen reasons, logical and a little hysterical, for not going forward. Stallone/Reacher lives by a different code. Hit them before they hit you. Stallone/Reacher may take a minute to decide the most decisive way to blast the bad guys, but he’s definitely going to attack. He’s not going sit in a trench with Woody hoping the danger will go away. Character drives action.

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