Warren Adler's Blog, page 17
December 30, 2016
Warren Adler’s 7 Resolutions for 2017
The post Warren Adler’s 7 Resolutions for 2017 appeared first on Warren Adler.
December 29, 2016
Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Historical Stories
I’ve always considered myself a history buff and have written quite a few historical fiction novels requiring exhaustive amounts of research. Creating believable historical fiction means getting facts straight and making sure that your research and imaginative input inspires the most plausible, complex plots and characters you can possibly bring to life. Here I lay out the top 5 mistakes authors make when writing historical fiction and they can be avoided.
1. Not Enough Research
Writing historical fiction can be intimidating and you might feel either overwhelmed by the amount of research that is required or constrained by the time period, in turn making your writing flat and boring. If you haven’t done enough research for your novel then it will be evident to readers — the environment you create just won’t have that pull. Doing enough research doesn’t just mean reading up on dates and public figures, but delving completely into the historical period you’re writing about. My most popular historical fiction novel, Target Churchill, centers around a fictionalized Soviet conspiracy to assassinate Churchill in order to prevent him from delivering his “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Mo., in 1946. I co-authored the novel with the Pulitzer-Prize nominated Churchill Biographer James C. Humes and spent months reading Winston Churchill’s memoirs, facts about Soviet spies, the Cold War, and much, much more; my research ended up leading to new characters and sub-plots.
Top Tip: Research, Research, Research
2. Creating Flat, Two-Dimensional Characters
Sometimes writers are so caught up in the research and factual elements of their writing, that they become fettered by it, creating flat characters. My novels deal primarily with intimate human relationships on all levels, which is a universal theme across cultures. When writing historical fiction you should always be sure to paint the emotional landscape of your characters within the realities of their specific historical time periods, but most importantly, never lose sight of the fact that the figures you are writing about are human beings plagued with the very same range of complicated human emotions we experience today. Beyond facts, having the sensitivity to imagine characters in a realistic, emotionally authentic way goes far.
Top Tip: Create full, nuanced characters who have dreams and desires.
3. You’re Not Interested Enough In The Time Period
It’s hard to write about something you’re not passionate about, no matter the genre. Don’t pick a time period or historical character you’re indifferent about. What made writing Target Churchill so enjoyable for me is the fact that I am truly a fan of Winston Churchill. I have indelible memories of his speeches, particularly the “Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears” speech that I heard sitting in my grandparents’ back porch in 1940 after the British retreat on the mainland of Europe. I also remember listening to the Iron Curtain Speech he made in Missouri in 1946. Churchill is a hero of mine and my biggest goal in rendering his character for that novel was to make him a thoroughly relatable character to readers of today, bringing the more abstract aspects of his humanity to the forefront.
Top Tip: Make sure you feel a strong connection to the subject matter, whether it is positive or negative.
4. Everything Is Too Vague
It feels safer to be vague when writing about historical environments, but this is where your extensive research comes in handy again. Evoking the right ambiance in your story means the world when you’re attempting to transport readers into a particular historical period. The more minute the detail, the stronger the impact. Take, for example, the description of Cairo in the following passage from Mother Nile:
Gas fumes permeated everything, and a saffron-coated chickpea stink laced with vague odors of human waste larded the air. A single inhalation, and it could be tasted like some noxious medicinal brew. He was now digesting Cairo, and it lay like lead in his gut.
Top Tip: Research the geography, agriculture, and climate of that location and time period.
5. You’re Distracting Readers From the Core Plot of the Novel
Although research is paramount to writing high-caliber historical fiction, one of the most insidious risks you run is unconsciously allowing the smalls details to overtake the imaginary plot at the heart of your story. I wrote Trans-Siberian Express way before the advent of Google and at that time I had haunted the Library of Congress learning as much as I possibly could about Russian train engineering. I had a great time feverishly researching everything I could for that novel but ended up in a situation with my then editor who decided it was best to cut out the majority of the facts I believed to be necessary to the story. Although I was furious at the time, in retrospect, he may well have been right in doing what he did. Make sure you’re thinking about your work as objectively as possible.
Top Tip: Go back and ask yourself these questions: Do I really need this? What does it bring to my story?
I’d like to hear about your own experiences with writing historical fiction so comment away with your thoughts and feel free to ask any questions you have
The post Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Historical Stories appeared first on Warren Adler.
December 28, 2016
Libby Carpenter
I began writing because I craved a creative outlet that allowed me to talk about the world around me. I started a degree in English Literature and Language when my eldest son was at school. Learning about some of the greatest novels inspired me to create my own.
I write as a reader – I want to feel empathy – and that I’m not alone in life; we are connected through our experiences. As a writer, I want to the explore the ‘everyday’ emotions of ordinary people, but at the same time, each of us is unique. Saying that, I want to explore characters who are unlike me – for example, those who commit crime: what motivated them to do it? Can we sympathize with this character? Human beings are complex – there are no completely good or bad people.
Most of all, however, I write to entertain the reader. If a person connects with my book, it will make it all worthwhile.
The post Libby Carpenter appeared first on Warren Adler.
December 21, 2016
Alex Dolan
I fell in love with books because of my parents. My father worked at Houghton Mifflin, and when I was very young, he typeset one of my first stories so I could see it in print. My mother is an avid reader, and we continue to recommend books to each other. So, I probably got the writing bug early because I was surrounded by books.
Writing allows me to do two things. First, it helps me make sense of the world around me; second, it helps me escape it. There are times when each of these is valuable. But overall, I think writing makes us human, and I mean that literally. I believe human beings communicate through story, and we are hard-wired to absorb information more easily when it comes to us in a narrative. As a writer, I’m addicted to the idea that I could add something to a tradition that goes back as far as the written word, and creating stories allows me to add my voice to the infinite dialogue that gets passed down from generation to generation.
The post Alex Dolan appeared first on Warren Adler.
December 14, 2016
Jan Moran
When I was a girl, I discovered an impossibly slender, mother-of-pearl fountain pen among my grandmother’s treasured belonging in an enormous cedar chest.
“That was my mother’s writing instrument,” she told me, her voice ringing with reverence.
This curious nineteenth-century artifact intrigued me—the writer had to dip it in real ink, for Pete’s sake! Wide-eyed, I gazed at the letters my great-grandmother had written with this pen; they were pure art, with lacy handwriting curling across still-perfumed pages. As I held them in my nine-year-old hands, the crinkly paper became a magical time machine—joyful recollections, thoughtful advice, and heartfelt love swirled from the page and took root in my mind.
If I could only write, too, I thought, yearning to reach across the boundaries of time and unleash stories to entertain and inspire. This idea was enchanting, and to this day, it has never left me.
“Let me tell you a story,” I often say aloud, smoothing my fingers over the ancient mother-of-pearl pen in my drawer before I fire up my laptop. Then, I slide into a world of intrigue and calamity, of beauty and triumph, a world where, despite tragedy, despite the odds, a soul can somehow make sense of it all.
So come with me now, my friend, and let me tell you a story…
One day only (12/14/16), receive “Life is a Cabernet,” on Amazon for free here.
The post Jan Moran appeared first on Warren Adler.
December 7, 2016
Stephen Douglass
Writing, for me, will never be anything more than a hobby, but if I never sell another book, the thrill and enjoyment of playing this game will have been more than worth the effort.
Here is what got me started:
I escaped from the daily races and disappeared into obscurity at the tender age of forty-nine. Obscurity for my wife, Ann, and me is Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, a destination for business owners, financial engineers, movie stars, and overpaid hockey players, all anxious to get away from the stress of it all.
Shortly after our arrival, I accepted a dinner invitation from our newest closest neighbor, the owner of another lovely cottage on the shore of an adjacent bay. While sipping brandies with our host and hostess at the conclusion of a sumptuous meal, small talk dominated until our host smiled at me and said, “It’s rather unusual for someone so young to retire and build a cottage on Lake Rosseau. What did you do for a living, Steve?”
I risked boring him with the story of my crazy life in the Canadian oil business. The brandy encouraged me to give him the longer version.
His stunned expression spoke volumes. “That’s an incredible story!” he exclaimed. “Have you ever considered writing a book about it?”
I shook my head and replied, “I’ve never written anything longer than an essay in university. It was akin to root canal.”
I spent the next twenty-three years writing and self-publishing a trilogy.
The post Stephen Douglass appeared first on Warren Adler.
November 23, 2016
Helen Sedgwick
When I was several years into my career as a physicist, I started taking evening classes. I was frustrated with my life and I knew that I was searching for something but I had no idea what it was, so I tried the lot: life drawing, Thai cookery, Indian dancing, French lessons… and finally, creative writing. And the strange thing was that, until that moment, I hadn’t really considered writing to be something that I could do. I hadn’t written so much as a short story since leaving school. But once I started, I couldn’t stop. It was as though I had finally found the right way to express myself. It was more than that as well, because the more I wrote the more I learned about what I wanted to say, and why. Something clicked into place through the combination of creation, communication and imagination that writing offers. It is a wonderful feeling, to realize who you are and what you want to do. Even now that strikes me as a rare and valuable thing.
The post Helen Sedgwick appeared first on Warren Adler.
November 16, 2016
Sara Benincasa
I began writing as a child because I loved books and I wanted to imitate what I saw there. My mother was the first in her Italian-American family to go to college. The daughter of a single mother, she had long dreamed of being a schoolteacher. When I was born, she had recently received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood development. She worked different jobs while my father went to night school to get his MBA. Once my younger brother and I were of school age, my mother went to night school to get her Master of Library Sciences. Armed with this degree, she became a public schoolteacher in elementary and junior high schools in New Jersey. We always had books in our house and I was permitted to read nearly anything I wanted. I loved the way that a book could take me into an entirely new world. What an extraordinary thing, to be immersed in someone else’s imagination for a time! My goal was always to be an author, and I studied to become a high school teacher. Then I became a stand-up comedian and a freelance writer instead. Eventually, I added author to my resume, and now I’ve published five books. But I still return to that sense of wonder I felt sitting on my mother’s lap, trying to make sense of the words on the page.
http://sarabenincasa.com/books
The post Sara Benincasa appeared first on Warren Adler.
November 9, 2016
Reed Farrel Coleman
While my success has come as a mystery writer, I began as a poet. Poetry was my way to be heard above the din. I grew up in an angry household. My family communicated everything, even love, through anger and we all did it rather loudly. I recognized early on that as the youngest, my voice had the least impact and that when everyone is screaming, no one actually hears anything. Poetry gave my feelings and observations a way to be recognized beyond the shouting and the anger. In some way, words saved my life and set it on its course.
The post Reed Farrel Coleman appeared first on Warren Adler.
November 2, 2016
Melinda Leigh
I came to writing late. A classic late-bloomer, I started out in banking, hated it with a soul-deep passion, and was happy to stay at home with my kids while they were small. But once they were in school all day, I needed something to keep me sane. My husband suggested I write a book, because I always had my nose deep in one. My head has always been filled with stories and characters. If I didn’t like the end of a book or movie, I rewrote it in my imagination. With my first book, I wrote for sheer enjoyment and became addicted. Thirteen novels later, I write for many reasons. Supporting my family and making my deadlines are two big motivators. But in the end, I write because I love it, and because I can’t stop. I have more stories in my head than I will ever have time to write. Storytelling has become part of me.
The post Melinda Leigh appeared first on Warren Adler.
Warren Adler's Blog
- Warren Adler's profile
- 111 followers
