Advanced Fiction Writing Blog

Several of my loyal blog readers have asked what a “high concept” novel is.

Some of you guessed that it’s one where the stakes are high, and that’s basically it. The higher the stakes, the higher the concept.

For example, in THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, an assassin is offered half a million dollars in 1962 to assassinate Charles DeGaulle. Those are pretty high stakes. Killing somebody is always high stakes. When that “somebody” is a head of state, it raises the stakes.

In my novel TRANSGRESSION, a physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul. I would consider this a higher concept novel than THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, because a success here would have massive implications for the last two thousand years of Western civilization.

In the movie TERMINATOR, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a robot sent back in time to kill the mother of the one man who prevented the robots from taking over the stakes. This is very high stakes, since the fate of all humanity hangs in the balance here (not just the direction of western civilization).

In the movie ARMAGEDDON, an asteroid is heading toward the earth that will destroy all above-ground life, not just humans, but animals and vegetation and will remake the surface of the earth. This is extremely high stakes — the whole planet stands to lose.

In the movie STAR WARS, our Jedi heroes must defend the galaxy from the evil Emperor and his minion Darth Vader. This is pretty darn high stakes — a whole galaxy. This Emperor can and does destroy planets at the press of a button.

The five examples I’ve given are all high concept, but they are progressively higher concept because progressively more is at stake in each one.

Please note that a great novel does not have to be high concept. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (in fact, anything by Jane Austen) is pretty low concept. But Janey is still a great novelist, because her stories are intensely personal.

Also note that a really shlocky novel can be very high concept. There are any number of badly written spy novels written during the Cold War that had quite high concepts and pretty terrible execution.

Fantasy novels tend to be high-concept. THE LORD OF THE RINGS, the Narnia series, and the Harry Potter series all involve horrific global battles between good and evil. These are great fiction (in spite of certain well-known “flaws” in craft) because they are both high in concept and at the same time intensely personal.

You should not stress too much on whether your novel is high-concept. If you like that kind of fiction, then you’re likely to write it. If you don’t like it, then you’re not likely to write it, at least not very well. High-concept novels are supposedly more likely to be big money-makers, but a novel still needs to have quality. And yes, there are some exceptions. Some very bad novels make obscene amounts of money, but that’s a triumph of marketing over craft. Authors of such novels have to endure the contempt of their peers, so life is not all guns and roses for them.

In my last blog post, I critiqued a 53 word one-sentence summary by Livinus and got it down to about 16 words. Livinus edited it slightly today.

Livinus can you email me or post a comment here? I’d like permission to show this example in my e-zine tomorrow, since I think it’ll be educational. Let me know if that’s OK.

Best regards,
Randy

Last week I challenged you all to post a one-sentence summary of your novel. This is the first step in my Snowflake Method, but even non-Snowflakers need to figure this out at some point. The reason — your one-sentence summary is critical to marketing your book.

Many dozens of you posted one-sentence summaries of your works in progress. I’m working through them now to critique as many as I can. So let’s pick up where we left off:

Hope wrote:

A young girl strives to earn her own calf as her family migrates westward during the winter of 1806.

Randy sez: This is a good solid one-sentence summary. It is not a high-concept summary, but the book is not a high-concept book.

First point: It’s a book for kids, but I’m not quite sure what age group. Being more specific would cue us in more clearly on what age the book is targeted to. Let’s assume the target market is 8 to 10 year olds. (Could be older or younger, so this is my guess.) You always want your POV character to be at the top end of the range of your readers, because all kids want to be older. So let’s specify that she’s 10.

Second point: This is a historical novel, so let’s set the stage early in the sentence. This lets us backload the sentence with emotive content at the tail of the sentence.

Final point: “Migrates westward” is pretty vague. In those days, “West” might have been Ohio or Tennessee. It’d be nice to be specific. I have no idea where “westward” is, so I’m going to make a stab and call it Ohio.

Here’s my first cut at a new sentence. I’ve supplied it with more specific words, but Hope will have to insert the real data:

“In 1806, a 10-year-old girl scrambles to earn money to buy her own calf as her family moves to the Ohio river valley.”

This is a little long, and I’m not sure whether we even need the bit about the family move. Which is more central to the plot? We might shorten this to:

“In 1806, a 10-year-old girl scrambles to earn money to buy her own calf.”

Alternatively, if the focus is the move itself:

“In 1806, a 10-year-old girl makes the dangerous move with her family to the Ohio river valley.”

Livinus posted this longish one-sentence summary:

“African most endearing young researcher steals a secret manuscript, dating the time of the Algerian revolution against French occupation, to track down the leader of a weird anti-western civilisation movement and win the $120m reward the US is offering, little knowing who was behind the offer of his research grant and why.”

Sorry folks, I know that this is too long, but I want Randy to tighten it up so we can all learn from it

Randy sez: Yes, this is way long. There are some nice points to it, but I count 53 words and 5 distinct plot ideas. That is about 40 words and 4 plot ideas too many.

What’s good here? Lots. For starters, we have a fairly unique character (at least to US readers), a “young African researcher.” I’d be interested to know what kind of researcher. Livinus knows, but I don’t, so I’m going to supply a possible specific example out of many. I’m going to make him a political scientist, for no good reason, just because.

So now we’ve got a character: “A young African political scientist”.

Good, what’s next? Well, we’ve got way too many plot threads here, so let’s trim. What’s the most important thing going on here? This researcher is pursuing Somebody Bad. Let’s trim up the description of that Somebody. There are a lot of choices, but I’m going to use “shadowy anti-Western militant”. That has some good hypey words in it, familiar to everybody who reads this genre, which is “spooky conspiracy suspense novel”.

OK, so we’ve got a Good Guy and a Bad Guy. Now let’s add a verb and a motive.

The verb is easy: “tracks”. The other possible alternative is “pursues”. Both of them are good, strong verbs. Both are overused, but in this genre, we aren’t LOOKING for new verbs. We’re looking for explosions, car chases, and secrets. Livinus will deliver those, we hope.

The motive is also easy: “$120 million”. Yeah, that gets most people’s attention. There was a study once that showed that the average person would be willing to kill a stranger for less than $10 million. So $120 Big Boys will motivate our researcher Good Guy.

Let’s put all this together and see what we’ve got so far:

“A young African political scientist tracks a shadowy anti-Western militant for a $120 million reward.”

We’ve now got 16 words, 2 characters, 1 plot, and we’re almost there. I’d say to make “African” more specific. This is up to Livinus, who actually knows the story. What kind of African do we have here? Nigerian? Ghanaian? Zimbabwean? South African? Being specific says that you have done your research. It tells people that you know something about one particular culture within Africa. It says that you know something about political science (or whatever the specialty of your researcher). When you use vague words, it sounds like you’re just pulling stuff out of your ear. For that matter, it might be nice to get a little more specific about that Bad Guy. Islamic Bad Guys have been overdone left, so what do we have left? I’m not sure, but I’ll bet Livinus knows. Let’s see a 2 or 3 word description of a Bad Guy who hasn’t been done. That would get any editor’s attention.

Take a look at my favorite example, from my novel Transgression:

“A physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul.”

11 words, 2 characters, 1 plot. Notice how specific those nouns are? I used “physicist”, not “scientist.” I named a specific target, rather than saying something vague and general like “destroy the foundations of early Christianity”.

Notice one other thing. I said nothing about the protagonist. You know there has to be one, but you have no idea who he might be. In fact, he is a she. That in itself might be interesting, but it is not crucial. This is a high-concept novel, and with that kind of a storyline, less is more. Designers know that you achieve elegance when there is nothing more that can be REMOVED.

So if you’re doing a high-concept one-sentence summary, keep asking yourself: “What else can I remove from this sentence?”

We’ll pick up tomorrow with a critique of the next few one-sentence summaries. See ya then!

Yesterday, I challenged all of my blog readers to come up with a one-sentence summary for your novel. All I can say is, “Wow!” As of right now, 53 of you have posted a comment with a one-sentence summary. Several of these are stellar. Many of them are very good. A few need work, but all in all, I’m very impressed.

What I’d like to do is work through the entire list and critique each one. Please understand that there is no objective way to judge these things. So I’m going to critique them the only way I know how–using my own inner compass of what sings and what croaks. My compass is not infallible. But it’s mine, and it’s all I’ve got to go on.

By the way, let me interject something here. People often email me asking how they can “pay me back” for the effort I put into this blog. Well, if you’re going to twist my arm and insist on doing something nice for me, here’s one thing that I’d never say no to: Put a link to this web site on your own web site or blog. If you have a blogroll, it takes only a minute to add this blog. Incoming links would tickle my tummy. Links are the gift that keeps on giving.

Getting back to the tangent, let’s go straight down the list and see what we see.

Chris wrote:

A university student interns at a pharmaceutical company that is performing dangerous experiments on people.

Randy sez: I like that. It’s a fairly high-concept story. Here are a couple of ideas to make it stronger:

1) Can you tell more about this university student? Does he or she have some significant personal problem that IN ITSELF will make things more difficult? (For example, in John Olson’s book ADRENALINE, a university student with muscular dystrophy was racing the clock to develop a drug that would save his sister, who had the same affliction.)

2) Tell us more about those pesky “dangerous experiments”. Can you bring those to life and make them more vivid in a few words? In one of Ken Follett’s novels (I think it was TRIPLE), there was a Holocaust survivor who had spent all of World War II having the Nazi doctors come in and break his leg in the same place. They wanted to see how a bone healed if you kept breaking it again every day. Now THAT’S vivid!

Daan wrote:

A successful lawyer vows to revenge the rape and murder of his wife and daughter.

Randy sez: Excellent! Another very strong high-concept novel. And Daan, you’re a lawyer, aren’t you? You should highlight that in your proposal.

Can we make this stronger? I think maybe we can. A “successful lawyer” is not nearly so interesting as a lawyer who’s having some kind of problem. Alcoholic lawyers have probably been overdone. But there are all sorts of personal problems a lawyer can have. What personal problem can you give him? You want your reader to identify with your POV character, and many people don’t identify well with a guy who’s got it all. So take away some of “it” from that lawyer. Harry Potter was likeable, in part because he came out of such a miserable family–those dreadful Dursleys.

I’m wondering if you can backload the sentence in some way to put a kick in the teeth at the very end of the sentence? You have several highly emotive words there: vows, revenge, rape, murder, wife, daughter. They’re spread throughout the sentence and so the whole sentence is pretty heavy. You’ve got rape AND murder. You’ve got wife AND daughter. That’s a LOT. I’m wondering if you can say more about the villain who did it, if only to get a few neutral words in the middle of the sentence before you give us the kicker at the end.

On the other hand, I may be too picky here. This is an awfully strong sentence.

Camille wrote:

A resigned widower’s heart is mended by a woman who discovers she doesn’t have long to live.

Randy sez: The first thing I see here is the word “mended”. That’s a relief! It tells me I don’t NEED to read this story, because I know he’ll come out mended. I don’t think that’s what you want to do. Don’t tell me the solution. Tell me the problem and make me worry that there isn’t a solution.

The next thing I see is “resigned widower” which doesn’t intrigue me nearly as much as a “one-armed trapeze artist” or a “standup comedian with panic disorder” or any character that has some interior conflict. “Resigned” sounds boring, and Camille, your writing is absolutely stellar, not boring at all.

The last thing I see is that the lady doesn’t have long to live. And I wonder what’s wrong? Can you be more specific? Details!

Brett wrote:

A high school student possessed by the ghost of his older step-sister moves back to his hometown.

Randy sez: This starts with a lot of sizzle. The word “older” is not really needed here, since the ghost of any sister, younger or older, is just as interesting.

I’d say the ending could be stronger. He moves back to the old hometown and then . . . what? Where’s the conflict? What’s the story question?

This has tons of potential, but tell me why I have to keep turning the pages!

Yeggy wrote:

A naïve teenage girl searches for her parents in a post apocalyptic world.

Randy sez: I think this has all the elements of a strong story; it needs some sharpening though. Can you strengthen “naive teenager” a bit? What’s her internal conflict? Remember, Harry Potter isn’t just a “boy wizard.” He’s an “orphaned and oppressed boy wizard”.

My second question is: what happened to her parents? Are they dead? Lost? Kidnapped? Hiding? Can you give us a few details to bring them into focus?

Finally, it seems to me that the post-apocalyptic world might be better to put right at the beginning, so we can focus on the conflict. Setting is rarely as kicky as characters and conflict, so put the setting first. I’m thinking of something like this:

“In a post-apocalyptic world, a teen beggar searches for her wealthy kidnapped parents.” Or whatever. I’d like to see something that adds some intensity to the desire.

OK, that’s enough for today. Tomorrow, I’ll continue critiquing more of your one-sentence summaries.

It’s been quite a while since we talked about one-sentence summaries of a novel. In recent weeks, several folks have emailed me to ask when I was going to blog about this again.

If it’s been too long since you thought about one-sentence summaries, you can find the full scoop on my Snowflake page.

Let’s remember why a one-sentence summary is so valuable. By the way, this is sometimes called an “elevator pitch.” The theory is that if you’re at a conference and you meet an editor or agent in the elevator and they ask what you’re writing, you have time to say maybe fifteen words before the elevator dings open. This could happen, although it really is taking the small picture. There are SO many other uses for the one-sentence summary.

Let’s review those now. Remember that you need to sell your novel 7 times in order for it to be a commercial success:
1) You sell the idea to your editor.
2) Your editor sells the idea to the publishing committee.
3) Your editor later sells the idea to the sales team.
4) The sales team sells the idea to the buyers for the bookstores.
5) The buyers sell idea to the staff in the bookstores.
6) The staff sell the actual book to customers who come to the store.
7) Your readers sell the idea to their friends (this is called “word of mouth”)

The important point is that your book simply won’t do very well if ANY of those links in the chain don’t work (unless you get massively lucky). And please notice that only one of those links (#6) actually involves selling the BOOK. All the other links involve selling the IDEA of the book.

And you sell an IDEA with one sentence of just a few words. Trust me, your readers are not going to memorize a 200 word pitch when they tell their friends about this great book they just read. The typical reader will give a rambling account of the book UNLESS you give them something short and pithy and brilliant that they can use instead. Most often, that “something” is a one-sentence summary, although it can in principle be a title. Your readers are not marketing geniuses. They will not spend hours to figure out the perfect marketing hook for your story. You need to give that to them.

You do that by giving it to your editor, who can take it from there. Before you give it to your editor, you need to figure it out yourself.

At the most recent conference I went to, in Mount Hermon, California, I spent 8 hours mentoring a really lively group of 10 writers. I also spent half an hour with each writer in private appointments. Some of these appointments, we spent the whole half hour brainstorming up one-sentence summaries for their novels. I had required all of them to submit a one-sentence summary before the conference. With few exceptions, their sentences weren’t all that good. So it was fun to brainstorm up some improved versions. Thirty minutes thinking about a one-sentence summary may be one of the most productive half-hours you’ll ever spend. You may even find that you actually understand your book better when you have a great one-sentence summary.

So here’s my question for today: What’s your one-sentence summary?

If you’re bold, post it here. I’ll read all of them, and I’ll critique those that I think will be most educational to my loyal blog readers.

This is always a fun exercise for everybody, so go ahead and think hard about it, even if you don’t want to put up a comment here. You may be surprised at what you learn about your story.

We’ve now wrapped up a long series with Cindy Martinusen Coloma on her “Puzzle Method” of writing a novel. I’ve gotten permission from Cindy to put all those together into one long article, which I will post on this site soon. That’ll give us all a permanent record of what she said, and of course it’ll give me a chance to put my imprint on it, because I’ll insert some comments and structure.

A few of you had comments today:

Gerhi wrote:

And now a question (and possibly an idea for what to cover next Randy - hint): In my novel I have scene that takes place in the toilets of a Mall.

But I’m not sure toilets are the right thing to call them. Loo’s doesn’t seem right, lavatory is worse. Is it Men’s and Ladies or what.
We used to talk about the little boys room and the little girls room.

So, the question in two parts: what do you call a public loo in America, and how do you deal with these regional language anomalies?

Randy sez: These are usually called either bathrooms or restrooms in America, although there are rarely baths in them, and anyone who tried to rest there would likely be arrested.

Regional language anomalies happen all the time. A classic example is this one: What do you a carbonated drink? Some people call it “soda”. Some call it “pop”. Others call it “coke” (even if it isn’t Coca Cola). It really depends on where you’re from. Different regions call it different things. You can find a map showing the regional variations here.

What do you call it? I’m particularly interested to hear what it’s called outside the US.

Robert asked (regarding the two domains I posted yesterday):

Those are fun web addresses! Technical question on this … what method do you use to forward them to your www.advancedfictionwriting.com site?

I’ve been confused on whether you do it “temporary” or “permanent”, and if permanent, what method. I’ve heard you can be dinged by the search engines because they think you are posting duplicate content when you actually are not.

Randy sez: I bought both domain on GoDaddy and pointed them at this site. I don’t remember if they’re permanent or temporary. I don’t know exactly what the method is. I don’t think I’m being hurt much by search engines for duplicate content, because this site has at least 42 keyphrases that rank in the top ten on Google. (I learned this by fiddling around with the very cool site at www.SpyFU.com.)

In other news, the parachute of the famous hijacker D.B. Cooper may have been found recently, and it’s only a few miles from where I now live. Some of the money he had when he parachuted out of an airliner in 1971 was found in 1980, also a few miles from where I live, but in a different location from the newly found parachute. So who knows?–he may have survived. Now if only the rest of the money were sitting somewhere on my property . . .

We’ll begin a new topic tomorrow. I haven’t decided what it will be yet. Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Today, we’re wrapping up a long series of guest blogs by Cindy Martinusen Coloma on her “Puzzle Method” of writing a novel.

Cindy writes:

BLOG 8:

We’ve reached the last step in the puzzle method. It’s pretty much the same for any method of writing - the final polish.

Step 9: PUZZLE COMPLETION

* Set the book aside for 1 or 2 weeks if possible.

* Print & Read (aloud if possible) - reading it in hard copy will allow you to see more mistakes and

* Give another polish.

* You have a completed novel now. Now CELEBRATE your accomplishment - treat yourself to something great. You deserve it, and no one but you and other writers will understand the accomplishment fully (so don’t be disappointed, but DO treat yourself!).

* Now share the book ONLY with readers you trust to tell the truth: a critique group, professional reviewer, or take it to a writer’s conference. Read the editing books (Self-editing for Fiction Writers is one of many) and work hard.

* And remember you may be polishing and revising till the end of your life - just kidding, sort of.

And there it is! You have a novel!

I hope this helps those of you who have been struggling to fit into other methods.

I struggled for many years until finally I trusted what worked best, then I started analyzing it. Keep experimenting with your writing, always push yourself to something a little harder than you think you can do, and keep breathing life into words. Because really, every time you write a sentence, you’re gathering word puzzle pieces and creating something of wonder.

Thanks for this opportunity Randy. It’s been quite an honor and a wonderful experience!

Randy sez: Thanks, Cindy, for sharing your method with us all. Let me note a recent comment:

Camille wrote:

When this course is finished, I really want to go over it as a whole. I’ve been too busy on other stuff to focus on it all and only got bits and pieces, and I can see now what part of the process I can use now as I near the end of my novel. Your archives are supernaturally backed up, right Randy??

Unless there is another way to pull these together as a whole, I want to copy/paste these posts all together into a neat, formatted file, if that’s okay with Randy and Cindy. I won’t charge much for it (kidding!). And if it’s okay with you guys, I’d be glad to share it with anyone else who also wants it all in one file. Is that okay? Would homemade cinnamon rolls tempt you to say yes?

Randy sez: I’ll ask Cindy about that, since she owns the rights to the Puzzle Method.

By the way, check out a couple of domains that might be of interest to you all.

Wonder who owns www.SupremeDictatorForLife.com? Can you guess?

Also, look who grabbed www.SnowflakeMethod.com. Doesn’t that make you mad?

Today we’ll pick up another installment in the “Puzzle Method” by Cindy Martinusen Coloma. This is installment #7 in the series she’s doing with us.

Yielding the floor to Cindy:

BLOG 7

Time frame - week to a month

As you read this, I’m in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains about to begin 5 days where the subject will be writing. There’s something rare and amazing about Mount Hermon, and it’s been 6 years since I’ve been here. My husband of less than a year is here for the first time, so I’m excited to share this with him and to be on faculty for the first time.  Okay, back to the Puzzle.

Reminder - this method is for “Advanced Fiction Writers” - those who have read a lot, know story, and have worked at the craft. Otherwise, the structure of a story will not be understood and so all those pieces will be like when you first open a puzzle box. But with this group, “advanced” seemed a given.

Step 7: FINAL CONSTRUCTION

* NOW start with chapter 1 and go from beginning to end. Some parts will be sent to the cut file (but don’t just delete them) and other sections will surprise you with a vivid way to raise the stakes. But now you’ll smooth it out.

* This is when you can compare your story to The Writer’s Journey, or other structures if you wish.

* Be sure to check EACH scene to make sure it PROGRESSES the story. If it doesn’t, move it to the cut file.

* I mentioned this earlier, it’s amazing how much easier it is for me to connect and add needed scenes when I create this way.

Step 8: EDITING STAGE

* From Chapter 1 to End - Edit and rewrite

* Again, check each scene for story progression

* Within each scene check paragraphs and sentences - tighten and cut unnecessary interior monologues, descriptions, etc.

* Check for development of characters  - each should evolve and be changed from the beginning to the end (unless your story is about a character who fails and doesn’t change)

* Check balance of narrative and dialogue, action and raising of stakes against development of character, setting and plot.

* Finish editing, revising, & polishing

Randy sez: LOL, the Puzzle Method is starting to look a lot like REAL WORK. The truth is that you have to do the hard work of analysis sometime. You can either do it up front or on the back end. Let me emphasize that there is no “best method” that works for everyone. There are “best methods” that are best for certain people and are not so great for other people.

Your mission (and you have no choice but to accept it) is to find the “best method” which works best for you. When you do that, writing will be a joy and a delight. If it’s not, then look around for somebody else’s “best method.”

We’ll conclude next week with Day 8 of Cindy’s Puzzle Method.

Today, we’ll do another installment from Cindy Martinusen Coloma on her “Puzzle Method.”

But first, a wrap-up on the book I’ve been reading, DEAD MAN’S RULE, by Rick Acker. I finished reading it today and it was AWESOME. I don’t use that word lightly. I’ve been reading thrillers for a long time and have read many of the masters in legal thrillers, spy novels, international intrigue, etc. DEAD MAN’S RULE is one of the best I’ve read. You can get it on Amazon here.

I’ll now yield the floor to Cindy for another installment in her Puzzle Method:

BLOG 6

Onward we create! Depending on your goals and progress, getting to this stage could take 1-6 months. Make attainable, but tough goals for yourself.

Step 5: CONTINUED PIECES FOR HALF TO 2/3RDS THE NOVEL

* There comes a time to start putting it all together, connecting the pieces and filling in what’s missing. For me, this is after 50,000 words at least, maybe as much as 75,000 words.

* Print the mess out - a rare few people may work better on the computer at this stage, but I highly recommend printing it out.

Step 6: RE-ORGANIZATION & STRUCTURE

* Cut out the scenes, paragraphs, sentences. Organize what belongs in each of the three sections - beginning, middle, or ending.

* Now organize each of the three sections by putting your everything in an order, keeping in mind plot progression, development, and rising plot toward climax

* Note: This may seem a backwards way to create structure since so much has been written. But this method is for writers who already have a strong handle on structure and find they write with more passion and flow by creating piece after piece until the story and characters comes forth. (Don’t forget TRUST)

* What doesn’t fit - save in a file (on computer or hard copy)

* If needed, create a solid plotline or outline now (go to the Snowflake if you’d like).

* Note: At this point, I often change from daily work count deadlines to PAGE DEADLINES. It’s more important to start connecting and making a cleaner story at this stage instead of just creating more scenes. Even if you still skip around in the writing, you should know how many rough pages

Now you should have a clear structure of your story usually from beginning to end with holes in between - you’ll see missing elements. Often a few surprises come to me about this point as well that raises the stakes of the novel significantly (yep, I want to dance on the car again).  By the way, I just watched portions of Sly Stalone’s bio. I didn’t know he’s written Rocky and that he had offers for the screenplay, but they didn’t want him to act in it. He held out and won that fight - can you imagine someone else as Rocky. But he said about writing that a writer just KNOWS when he’s got it right.

Randy sez: I’ll second that. When it’s not right, you wonder, but when you nailed it, you usually know. We’ll do another installment of the Puzzle Method tomorrow. Stay tuned!

I just returned yesterday from six days at a writing conference. It was great, wonderful, and exhausting. I taught a mentoring track with 10 writers in which we spent 8 hours together doing very extended critiques. I also had about 20 appointments with writers to critique their work.

All of that was fun, but I still think the best times were the offline hours when I sat down with old friends (and new friends) to talk. I think there are no friends like writer friends.

On the airplane coming home, I sat with one of my loyal blog readers who often posts here, Camille Eide, who lives not too far from me. She’s only been writing for about a year, so she had set her expectations relatively low–at the level of an early “Sophomore.” However, after getting strongly encouraging feedback from a couple of novelists at the conference, Camille worked up her courage to show her sample chapter to a couple of editors. They liked it too.

Camille told me all this in the airport while we waited for our flight. I asked to see her work and she let me read it on the plane. I liked it! I liked it a lot. I don’t know how the large-scale structure of the story will work out, but the 20 pages I read were Xtremely good on every point that I know how to measure. So I told her it’s time for her to get an agent. For the rest of the flight, I took a nap.

I took today off from doing any kind of serious work, since my brain is still basically oatmeal. I’ve been reading a legal thriller today by Rick Acker, who I met at the conference. I already knew about him because I’d read his second novel for endorsement a couple of months ago at the request of his publicist. I liked that one so much that I wanted to read his debut novel, DEAD MAN’S RULE which came out last May. Since Rick was at the conference, I bought a copy and got it autographed.

I’ll tell you, I REALLY like this book. Rick is a lawyer and has done great research on Russian biological weapons, and he’s got a great, compelling story. DEAD MAN’S RULE feels like a nice blend of the best early work by John Grisham and Tom Clancy. Suspense has always been my favorite genre, and Rick’s book is a terrific suspense novel. I hope to finish it tomorrow, because I really do need to get back to work.

Tomorrow, we’ll pick up on Cindy Martinusen Coloma’s “Puzzle Method” and I’ll report on how I liked the ending of DEAD MAN’S RULE. See ya then!