best selling authors

Keeping Up with the Techies

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Technology changes so fast that it amazes me.  I am conflicted at times by this issue.  Although it is fun to try new gadgets, it is hard to keep up with all that is going on in the technology area, especially in the world of electronics.  I do my best to keep up, at least to be informed.  It seems that as soon as one masters a gadget, another one appears, faster and better, with more applications and elements of awe.

This is the world that we live in, fast and techie, like it or not.  As writers, we can take advantage of these applications and technological advances or we can just get behind, and have less exposure and opportunities.  Eventually, the world keeps moving, readers evolve, genres do as well – even if it does not seem so obvious.  Embracing technology is opening doors; attempting to get up to speed on it, might be suicide for many, but at least we try.

Young writers are born with the speed and skills of a new generation of super techies, they are the future of writing, in tune with today’s readers, and at par with readers of the future.  Writing will evolve, at least in the mediums in which it is presented, as well as in the way stories are created, and future words come to be.  New technology creates new words … new worlds.

The Simple Life

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Simple Abundance – A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Although this book has been around for a while now (1995) it wasn’t until recently that I got to read it.  Immediately I loved it.  I have to admit that it has sat in my library for a year, maybe two; I just did not have enough time to get to it – but it kept calling me.  Finally, I listened and read it.  I did not read it as intended, one chapter a day, instead I read it until my eyes became blurry, and then came back for more day after day. 

I recommend this book to anyone that is in the path of a simple life and needs inspiration.  Its principles are even more true more than a decade later.  If you are in search of simplicity and abundance, you will enjoy this jewel.

Writer’s Wisdom 95

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Pieces of You

When writing a story, inevitably there are pieces of you that leak out, whether an idea, a belief, an opinion, a memory, something you like, something you hate, someone you know, a personality trait of someone you know, an event, a pet, or anything at all that might be connected to you in some way, these are all pieces of You. 

Sometimes, we might take a memory from the past and think, What if?  What if instead of moving to Jersey I would have moved to Italy?  The possibilities of using what if’s in our story are many, and each open doors to the infinite, as far as the imagination can go.

Although the story comes from the writer’s inspiration and hand, little pieces of reality color the black and white pages.

Writer’s Wisdom 94

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Writing for a Higher Purpose

Why do you write?  Have you ever thought about it?  Many writers dream to see their work published, or the movie come out, and their name in the best seller’s list.  This is all good, and striving for the best should always be there in our most important to do list.  However, we run into problems when this is all we care about, and all we strive for – becoming published and known.  When you put such amount of pressure on yourself, creativity will suffer. When your focus becomes something else outside writing, and your attention leaves the page, your work suffers.  When being published becomes more important than writing, you have lost yourself as a writer.

When listening to best-selling author’s being interviewed, most of them express that they love to write, and they would not have it any other way.  They are thrilled at how things have turned around for them, but number one seems to be the love for writing.  And by loving what they do, and doing what they love, the money seems to come at the right time.

You may think writers have to eat too.  And that is the absolute truth, however, you can make an income without losing focus.  It is when your attention is taken away from the story and put on the $$$ that your work will become weak. 

Why not write for a Higher Purpose instead?

Writer’s Wisdom 92

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When a Book Happens

When does a book happen?  I thought about that for a while.  Many writers have manuscripts piled, many rejected, others awaiting completion, others just waiting … stories waiting to be read.  This got me thinking, a story has been put into paper, in a way it has been told, even if it has not been read yet by many.  In that sense, a story brews in the writer’s mind and it is born once it is put on paper (or PC).  A book is more complicated than that.   A book is born when it is read – a book happens when someone reads it.  The story has been dormant for how many years it might have taken, and the simple act of reading awakens it.

Writer’s Wisdom 91

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Magic Versus Grounding

How do you like to write your fiction?  Do you like magical settings and characters, or do you like some grounding elements that may give the story more realism?  I would choose one or the other for good continuity.  The Harry Potter books are a good example of magical worlds.  Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is an example of grounding a magical and fictional world.  She gave her vampires and werewolves characteristics of nature or used cultural folklore to make her settings and characters more real to the reader.

To ground a fictional story you can utilize science as well.  You can stretch the imagination of the reader but still keep a small piece tied to the ground.

Writer’s Wisdom 89

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What came first, the book or the movie?

Usually a book is written and the movie follows, but with The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, it was a different case.  In an interview with Borders, Nicholas Sparks said that he was writing the screenplay at the same time that he was writing the book.  They wanted to release the movie fast so he actually was writing the screenplay first.  I thought that was amazing, and it must have required so much on his part.  I wonder how many best-selling authors would be able to do that if asked.  In my humble opinion, even that it is the same story, there are such different environments, that the process of writing the book would be affected.  Obviously, this did not happen to him, and I admire him for being able to do this.  I am sure that his fans and the movie fans as well thank him for doing this.

So, what came first the book or the movie?  In the case of The Last Song, it seems that the movie came first.

Writer’s Wisdom 87

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When Cities Take Life

Many times, authors write a novel and most of it takes place in a particular city or spot – being that city real or imaginary is not important.  Sometimes the soul of the city comes alive and the city itself becomes a character, an important part of the story.  The city breathes and even talks to the reader as he/she follows the story.  This always fascinated me – how a city or place awakens and sometimes takes over its place in the story and the readers minds.

A good example of this is the city of Forks in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga.  Forks is a real place in Washington, but it also became real in the minds and hearts of readers.  The real city of Forks has seen a flock of Twilight fans visiting and touring while reminiscing about their favorite parts in the books.

Another good example is the city of Barcelona, Spain in “The Angels Game” by Carlos Ruiz Safon, and what better example to illustrate this point than the island in the TV series Lost.  The island becomes the main character, in my opinion.

Such is the power of words and description, conveying feelings, emotions, smells, sounds … that they become spells that give life to cities and places, and those places continue to grow and develop infinitely in the mind of readers – an amazing and extraordinary event.

Writer’s Wisdom 86

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A Reader’s Game

At one point, you probably have asked yourself – “How do best-selling authors do it?”  “How do they keep their readers coming back for more?”

An easy answer to that question is with another question – What keeps us coming back to our favorite authors? 

However, part of their magic is that they know how to play the reader’s game – they challenge their readers.  They give them more of what they want, but at the same time, best-selling authors seem to know when to stop, and how to encourage readers to look for more inside the story.  They feed the story slowly, and they give the readers morsels of mystery and awe, of emotion and feeling, and the readers love the game.

But most important is that they seem to love the game of writing as well, they love what they do, they are true to the story and their characters, and they respect their readers.

Writer’s Wisdom 85

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Of Books and Movies

There seems to be two teams of authors when we talk about books and movies.  The authors who enjoy the process of working and collaborating in the making of their best seller into a movie, and the authors who will leave the process entirely up to the director and the movie industry.  However, there is one unifying and common opinion of both groups – both agree that movies are a complete different animal, and as long as the integrity of the story is kept, they can deal with any other changes.

I tend to agree with this.  If a movie where to be made exactly as a book was written, it would actually be boring on-screen.  A movie needs a soul of its own, and that is what Directors do best – they give a different kind of life to the written word, a reincarnation  (if you can call it that), a second incarnation for the book lovers where they can appreciate other levels and dimensions of the same story.