Ellis Shuman Writes: How to Write a Thriller like Dan Brown

Editing is a long road.

Panzer is still searching the Catosphere for editing help on his newest WIP (Work In Progress). He told you last week about a post he found at Jody Hedllund's blog about keeping readers' caught up in the action in your book.

Well, today my bad boy found a post at the Ellis Shuman Writes blog that he thinks you'll find useful. This is an older post (from August 27, 2013) but still totally relevant.

Shuman has read all of Dan Brown's books. He's spent time evaluating how Brown's writing has managed to have such a wide readership. He explains what he's discovered about Brown's formula for writing a thriller. Shuman uses a step by step style that's easy to understand.

Panzer plans to take Shuman's 13 steps and evaluate his plot against them.

Panzer says, "Nobody ever said editing was fast, easy, or fun!"

If you want to know how Dan Brown writes a thriller, tootle over to Ellis Shuman Writes: How to Write a Thriller like Dan Brown: I remember boarding a flight from Israel to the United States in January 2004, with a copy of The Da Vinci Code in hand. The plane made a...

6 Ways to Keep Readers Up Past Their Bedtime

Just what I was looking for.

Panzer was out searching for some help on editing. He stopped at Jody Hedlund's blog. The post he found there isn't specifically about editing, but it has some good tips on making sure your work is engaging to your readers.

Among other points, Jody addresses Panzer's biggest bugaboo which is making sure scenes count. He has a problem including scenes that don't move the plot forward. That means they're just plain boring. Boring scenes need to be eliminated at the editing stage ... not at the reading stage!

There are five more tips in Jody's post that are just as relevant during editing and my bad boy will be checking them all in his newest project.

If you need help getting your newest project into shape, tootle over to 6 Ways to Keep Readers Up Past Their Bedtime

What Makes a Reader Pick Up a Book By a Debut Author?

I don't agree.

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere looking for marketing ideas. He found an interesting post from April at Jody Hedlund's blog.

Jody discusses the five things she believes a reader looks for when deciding if a debut author's book is worth looking at. Among the five are the standard have a good cover and have lots of reviews, but also included are word of mouth, written by a friend and whether it's traditionally or indie published. She has an argument for why readers consider each point.

Panzer agrees with all of the points discussed except whether readers actually care if a book is traditionally or indie published. A few years ago that was important, but today that's no longer true. A whole editing industry has grown up around indie publishing. Indie published books are as well edited now as traditionally published books.

If you're interested in Jody's view, tootle on over to What Makes a Reader Pick Up a Book By a Debut Author?