Monthly Archives: July 2014

Writer’s Group: Into the Prop

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Every writer needs an editor.

I’ve said it and believed since I got into journalism … a few years ago.

Feedback from loving family and kind friends does not constitute editing. Those wonderful people tend to look too kindly upon your flaws.

Mike Theiss, FineArtAmerica, http://fineartamerica.com/featured/view-of-a-spinning-propeller-mike-theiss.htmlSo I’m really pleased that Ken Lawrence – a Springfield writer whom I met over breakfast at ThrillerFest – invited me to join a new writer’s group that he and a half-dozen other northern Virginians started at the beginning of the year.

After watching them in action, I’m confident that I’ll get the editing I seek. To be clear, I really want the editing; that’s not to say I expect to enjoy it.

John Gilstrap, a published writer who lives down the Parkway in Burke, Virginia, told me recently that submitting your writing for criticism is like walking face-first into a moving propeller.

My flight leaves in mid-September.

Elmore Leonard: Godfather of Writers

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Based on the number of times speakers at ThrillerFest quoted Elmore Leonard, I figure he has to be the godfather of all thriller writers.

And everyone’s favorite quotation is his Rule #10:

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

ThrillerFest: Where I’ve Been All Week

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Back from ThrillerFest 2014 in New York late Saturday night, made later by Virginia DOT’s decision to allow milling and paving on I-395 South that reduced traffic to one lane.

My overriding impression was that it was overwhelming. Established authors hobnobbing with aspiring writers in sessions, during book signings, over dinner and at the bar.

Substantive sessions on technicalities (guns, ballistics and bombs), techniques (first person vs. third person) and how-tos. (Fifty agents did speed dating with 400 wannabe-published writers in a chaotic three-and-a-half hour, four-room dance.)

Here are some links to media coverage:

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO PITCH YOUR NOVEL TO 50 AGENTS IN 3 HOURS. Adrienne Crezo in Writer’s Digest.

Visions of Rambo and Bourne Dancing in Their Heads. Dan Slater in The New York Times.

ThrillerFest IX: A Writer’s Paradise. Michael Cavacini on his eponymous blog. (I had lunch with Michael; he’s a voice to watch.)

All in the Family: ThrillerFest Celebrates ITW’s First Decade. Lenny Picker in Publisher’s Weekly.

ThrillerFest IX: terrific gathering of star writers & fans. Joe Myers of the Connecticut News-Times.