Ask the Author: Max Tomlinson
Answered Questions (6)
Max Tomlinson
I had this story about cloning and the future that I thought was essentially Sci Fi so never pursued it. Then I was knocked out by a book by kazuo ishiguro (Never Let Me Go) and realized there are so many ways to tell a story. It made me see my book as really a mystery, which is what I think I do best. I think Jim Thompson (author of The Grifters and many terrific books of suspense) said there is really only one plot: 'Things are not what they seem'. For me it helps to let things stew. If a story is any good, it'll come back to haunt me. My 'meth noir' book was shelved for years and went through a couple of complete rewrites. My thriller Lethal Dispatch was written in two different points of view and even one (very) failed attempt in present tense before I settled on the final version. It's all movable. Such is the way I write.
Max Tomlinson
Read, especially what I want to write. Movies! Love them and they are the perfect examples of tightly scripted plots--no wasted words. Music. Most things arty. Research. Google has made that part very easy.
Max Tomlinson
I'm lucky to have a few things in the works. Just got my first 'meth noir' novel back from my editor, and am proofing it before I send it out to agents. I'm on the second draft of a thriller where my heroine takes on the oil companies destroying the Amazon. And about thirty pages into a novella set in the near future where a young woman learns the worst about her twin sister. Creative life is good at the moment.
Max Tomlinson
Workshop your work. Develop a think skin to criticism and embrace it when someone tells you something you may not want to hear about your precious prose. They may just be right. Be prepared to kill your darlings.
Max Tomlinson
When some total stranger tells you that your book kept them up all night. It really makes it all worthwhile. Maybe they even LEAVE A REVIEW :)
Max Tomlinson
There is no such thing. What would you say to a plumber who had 'plumber's block'? You might just say 'get to work!'
If you're not feeling wildly creative there are still many things you can do: go back to the last section you worked on, back up a page or two, keep going. line edit, re-read, re-write a scene from another character's POV. Not every endeavor has to culminate in polished prose ready for publication.
If you're not feeling wildly creative there are still many things you can do: go back to the last section you worked on, back up a page or two, keep going. line edit, re-read, re-write a scene from another character's POV. Not every endeavor has to culminate in polished prose ready for publication.
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