Ask the Author: Tony McFadden
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Tony McFadden
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Tony McFadden
Nick and Nora Charles.
Tony McFadden
"Inspired"?
It's a job. It's a job I love, but it's a job. If you wait to get "inspired", you'll never finish anything.
I don't adhere to the "write every day" rule because there are stages of creating a book where you're NOT writing. You need to plot, and research and plan.
Of course there are days where the words flow and the draft is close to perfect, but they are few and far between. Even on the days you don't want to write, if there's a draft that needs to be written, write.
It's a job. It's a job I love, but it's a job. If you wait to get "inspired", you'll never finish anything.
I don't adhere to the "write every day" rule because there are stages of creating a book where you're NOT writing. You need to plot, and research and plan.
Of course there are days where the words flow and the draft is close to perfect, but they are few and far between. Even on the days you don't want to write, if there's a draft that needs to be written, write.
Ted
Tony,
I've love to see how you lay out a book; do you start with an outline of the plot? Do you have a sheet describing every character? What process d Tony,
I've love to see how you lay out a book; do you start with an outline of the plot? Do you have a sheet describing every character? What process do you follow to get the ideas in your head onto paper in logical fashion? ...more
Feb 24, 2015 08:05AM · flag
I've love to see how you lay out a book; do you start with an outline of the plot? Do you have a sheet describing every character? What process d Tony,
I've love to see how you lay out a book; do you start with an outline of the plot? Do you have a sheet describing every character? What process do you follow to get the ideas in your head onto paper in logical fashion? ...more
Feb 24, 2015 08:05AM · flag
Tony McFadden
It's an iterative process, Ted. The basic story starts first: Who is doing what to whom, and why. If there are new characters I'll build a bit of a ba
It's an iterative process, Ted. The basic story starts first: Who is doing what to whom, and why. If there are new characters I'll build a bit of a back story for the important ones and use that to flavour the main story.
If the story is really time sensitive (i.e., multiple character threads happening at the same time), I'll build a swim lane chart in excel to keep track of everything.
Once I've "broken" the story and know how it all needs to pan out I'll break it down by chapter.
Then, as I write, I inevitably discover more depth that goes back to the story planning and more iterative changes.
In "Target: Australia", for example, the final eighth of the book changed half a dozen times as I wrote the first half. I didn't really nail it down until I go to the 75% point of the first draft. ...more
Feb 25, 2015 03:47AM · flag
If the story is really time sensitive (i.e., multiple character threads happening at the same time), I'll build a swim lane chart in excel to keep track of everything.
Once I've "broken" the story and know how it all needs to pan out I'll break it down by chapter.
Then, as I write, I inevitably discover more depth that goes back to the story planning and more iterative changes.
In "Target: Australia", for example, the final eighth of the book changed half a dozen times as I wrote the first half. I didn't really nail it down until I go to the 75% point of the first draft. ...more
Feb 25, 2015 03:47AM · flag
Tony McFadden
Final edits of book number 10 ("Killing Time" - a sci-fi police procedural) and plotting book number 11, the 4th book in the Miami Mob series. (Tentatively called "Eamonn's Balls".)
Tony McFadden
Don't be "aspiring". Write. As soon as you write, you're no longer "aspiring".
And write and write and write. The more you write, the better you get and the better you get, the more you want to write.
Oh, yeah. Write.
Finish what you start. Recognise and ACCEPT that first drafts are crap. JK Rowlings' first drafts were crap. James Patterson's first drafts were crap. EVERYBODY'S first drafts are crap.
And write and write and write. The more you write, the better you get and the better you get, the more you want to write.
Oh, yeah. Write.
Finish what you start. Recognise and ACCEPT that first drafts are crap. JK Rowlings' first drafts were crap. James Patterson's first drafts were crap. EVERYBODY'S first drafts are crap.
Tony McFadden
With two kids and a wife of almost 30 years, writing gives me the opportunity to completely control at least ONE thing in my life.
Tony McFadden
I plot fairly heavily in advance of writing. I've got a pretty good idea what needs to happen, chapter by chapter, to get to the satisfactory (one hopes) conclusion.
So, if I hit a chapter that I "can't" get into, I skip it, write the next one, and come back to it later. No block. Haven't been blocked since I started planning my books.
So, if I hit a chapter that I "can't" get into, I skip it, write the next one, and come back to it later. No block. Haven't been blocked since I started planning my books.
Tony McFadden
Twitter.
Somebody (I've lost the Tweet) posted "What if unsolved murders were just somebody coming back from the future and killing the bad guys?"
What if, indeed. And THAT is the premise of "Killing Time", to be released on April 15.
Somebody (I've lost the Tweet) posted "What if unsolved murders were just somebody coming back from the future and killing the bad guys?"
What if, indeed. And THAT is the premise of "Killing Time", to be released on April 15.
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