Jeff Abbott's Blog, page 5

Naming Characters

One of the surprisingly difficult challenges in fiction writing is finding great, memorable, descriptive names for your characters. Today at , the premiere baby names site, I blog  about for naming characters, with specific examples of how I used Nameberry (or the bestselling books by its creators, Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran, such as Beyond Jennifer and Jason or The Last Word on First Names) to name the cast of Adrenaline and some of my other books...

Death's Excellent Vacation

My very first paranormal short story appears in a great new anthology hitting bookstores today, Death's Excellent Vacation. Edited by Charlaine Harris (the megaselling author behind the Sookie Stackhouse books, the basis of HBO's True Blood series) and the ever-energetic Toni L. P. Kelner, the collection focuses on what happens when summer holidays and the supernatural meet. Other contributors include Jeaniene Frost, Katie MacAlister, Daniel Stashower, Sharan Newman, Chris Grabenstein...

Writers' Project at Exaclair

I've mentioned before my huge love for Clairefontaine notebooks and for Exaclair/Quo Vadis planners/journals. I always have to have a Clairefontaine to start a new project. The paper is great, the products are very well made and  a joy to use, and the people at Exaclair are very nice. Recognizing that many of their customers are creative/writer types, they've started a new series of interviews with writers. I'm their latest subject, talking about the creative process, here.

Get a Jolt of Adrenaline in UK and Ireland

Hi all. Obviously the blog has been incredibly quiet. Mostly because I spend any online time with readers on Facebook and Twitter, and because I'm trying to get the next writing project(s) done. But I did want to let people know that Adrenaline is out in the UK and Ireland this week. If you go to Asda you may well see an ad for Adrenaline on your grocery cart, which I think is fantastic. Grocery cart ads! You can think of me when you get your milk and tea. Anyway, the first Sam Capra novel...

Trust Me Out In Paperback

Trust Me is out in paperback today (Tuesday, April 6) in the US from New American Library/Onyx. I really like the cover. If you didn't catch the book in hardcover, I hope you'll give it a try in paperback. The book has seemed more timely than ever as of late, with reports of how the Internet is changing how people are drawn into terrorism and using the Web to learn tactics.

My Big News

I've mentioned a bit about a new series of books I'm working on. I can now say that in the US, this series will be published by Grand Central, a division of Hachette Book Group. I'm thrilled to be with Grand Central, and to be working with the terrific team there, including the editor who originally acquired Panic. This means, though, that my next novel, Adrenaline, won't be out in the US until summer of 2011. I know that is disappointing to some, but I think this is the right publisher for t...

I Am Not Contributing to Your Overload

Over at the Murderati blog, J. T. Ellison writes eloquently about information overload and writers. I think she's absolutely right. I get more done when I disconnect from the Internet than I do at any other point. You have to quit thinking of the Web as a necessary information feed and think of it as what it really is: a distraction feed. It is feeding you distractions. Like this blog.

And so I'm not going to say anything more  today, because you need to get back to your real life after you...

The Organized Writer: Best and Less than Best of 2009

Here's my list of my favorite tools for organized writers in 2009. And my list of products that are good, but could be better. I have no interest in doing a worst list.

Best Of 2009:

Scrivener. I had tried Scrivener a couple of times before, usually partway through a book, and I couldn't get my head wrapped around how it worked. Scrivener is a popular combination word processor/project manager specifically designed for writing novels and screenplays; it allows you keep all outlines, text, and r...

The Organized Writer: Planner(s) for 2010

I really have to look at the world sometimes with two pairs of eyes.

One is long term, the other is short term. Everything I do today should contribute to the long term goals that I have. (Oh, God, I sound like a self-help book. But this is still a true statement.)

I've long used a page-per-day planner, most recently the excellent Journal 21 from Exacompta/Exaclair. And even though it has a monthly calendar in the front, the space was a bit too cramped for me to use it for project planning...

The Organized Writer: How to Write a Great Novel

Here is a very good article from the Wall Street Journal on how several prominent novelists write their books, including my friend Laura Lippman. I am not afraid of your colored charts, Laura.