A character arc is the inner journey of a character, beginning in the opening chapters of a story and ending at the climax, in which the character changes in some profound way. My favorite character arc is what I call …
Today I’m going to talk about endings—specifically, what makes a good one. We’ve all had the experience of reading a great book, only to be let down by a mediocre finale. Similarly, we’ve all read and suffered through mediocre books, …
I don’t just write thrillers. I am also a voracious reader of them. There is a lot to love about the genre—fast-paced stories, larger-than-life characters, sky-high stakes. But one of my favorite things about a good thriller is a perfectly …
Fatal Defense, the new book in the Jessie Black Legal Thriller series, launched on Friday, April 7. It’s still a little early to evaluate the success of the launch, but I thought it might be interesting to share some of …
If you’ve read my books, you know that at the end of each book, I ask readers to post an honest review on Amazon. I make this request because reviews can be critically important to a book’s success. Here are …
I’m currently neck-deep in the final edits to the next Jessie Black book, so I don’t have time for a full-length blog post this week. However, I wanted to check in, if for no other reason than to maintain my …
Forgive me the melodramatic blog title. I’ve been editing the fourth Jessie Black legal thriller since December of 2016, when I finished the first draft. At this point, I’m a little punch-drunk. Does over three months of editing seem like a …
Here on the east coast, Winter Storm Stella poured over a foot of snow onto my town yesterday. We had impassable roads, blizzard conditions, accumulating ice, and intense winds. The governor declared a state of emergency, so most businesses closed, …
Tips for Writers—How to Use Weather to Enhance a Story Read more »
One reason thrillers are often compared to roller coaster rides is that a great thriller grabs hold of your heart and mind and rockets you through many emotions at a whiplash-inducing pace. A great thriller hits several emotions at once—excitement, …
I’ve written both series and standalone books. The series books are more popular. A quick look at Amazon shows that this is a general trend. The bestseller charts are dominated by series books across most genres, including romance, mystery/thriller, and …