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I LOVED your golfing
story. Read every word. You're a wonderful writer.
(Peter Bowerman, the Well-Fed Writer)
Big Things rule! ... and the video
of the Airbus is great. (Jim McDonald,
Birmingham, UK)
Having enjoyed reading your
biographical, They
can't take that away from me... I
would love to post your article (for my) course for
seniors entitled Autobiography and Journaling ... and
let them read your article as a good example of what
I call the reader's writer, clearly expressed and easy
to read. (Howell)
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Tip for a few years now and look forward to the Friday
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WRITERS!
Write
Your Own Best Seller!
This
year, don't just read a best-seller ... Write
your own using the software program that works
in the same way J K Rowling writes her Harry
Potter novels!
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Who said Aussies would
bet on two flies crawling up a wall? Now I know
better! (Bill Denham, Chicago, USA)
I enjoy reading your page
every week, Jennifer, it's never boring and there's always
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help clarify
the English Language for and with us. (Paul, Portland,
USA)
Your story about the evil
glasses made my day :) (Edith, Derbyshire, UK)
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letter and use it in my advanced writing class here in
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your Latin
quote of the week. (Paul, Mexico City, Mexico)
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marionettes are everywhere! Thanks for another great
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course. (Dave Wagner, Sacramento, US)
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missive is the introduction to Australian
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County, CANADA)
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site...very inspirational when you get writer's
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Nice letter, I
was using google for once, twice, thrice
and quince, and found this page, great ;) (Marv, Zwolle,
NETHERLANDS)
One of the most
amusing and erudite newsletters that makes my day.
Keep going. (David Vasnaik, Bangalore, INDIA)
Read
more testimonials ...
Great newsletter -
originally found this site after searching for
clarification on a contentious
point amongst work colleagues. Just had to look at old
issues and now look forward to Fridays (Juliet Wallace,
Manchester, ENGLAND)
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Who Wants to Write a Best-Seller?
by Jennifer Stewart
OK.
Hands up. Who wants to write a best-seller?
Nearly everyone ...
Now, I'm not pretending for one moment that I've ever written a best-seller -
but for a fun activity for a writer, I think it would be hard to beat. So here
are a few tips I've gleaned on my travels. When I started putting these
together, it made me wish I had more spare time to sit and play with a few ideas
that have been swimming around inside my head for a few years (yes, we all want
to write a novel ...)
So what are the ingredients for a best-seller?
* The stakes MUST be high - no good hoping that your tale about whether
the daisies will win first prize in the school fete is going to be number one
seller at Amazon.com - it's not going to happen, Kiddo.
You need to base your plot around a story of life and death; happiness and
tragedy; fulfillment of a life's dream and so on.
* Since this is the case, your characters must be larger than life - sorry,
your hero must be tall, powerfully built, not necessarily handsome, but
definitely "craggy" in an appealing sort of way. Your heroine must be
either drop-dead gorgeous, or have "elfin-like" qualities. The smooth,
round thighs are optional these days - but heaving bosoms never go out of
fashion.
It goes without saying that one of them must have extreme wealth (since this
is what our society values so highly) - it doesn't matter which one - but the
poverty and deprivations of one must be in proportion to the wealth and
privilege of the other.
It's imperative that your hero and heroine clash to start with and then -
gradually - with as many ups and downs as you can manage - finally come to
realise that they were meant for each other.
* There should be a single, dramatic question to be answered. The question is
posed at the beginning (or merely hinted at for the first part of the book) -
but it must be answered at the end. This question should run through the whole
book and is the framework on which the rest of your story rests. Some
suggestions:
- Will he/she save the world / neighbourhood / heritage listed building /
forest ... from war / terrorists / greedy developers?
- Can he/she uncover the mystery of his/her humble beginnings / the
whereabouts of the missing treasure / the lost formula
- Will she get her man?
- Can he find his true love?
* You need to have a high concept on which to base your story - it can be as
far-fetched as you dare:
- A respectable business that is secretly involved with a crime group - the
hero has to uncover the secret before a multi-million dollar deal goes
through
- Babies are switched at birth - should the dedicated doctor who has
discovered this blow the whistle on the doctor responsible who is just about
to be honoured for a life-saving procedure he's perfected?
- Twins adopted out to different families, meet and are about to marry -
what will their mother (who happens to be the owner of a large publishing
house where they both met) do?
* Your settings should be exotic and filled with plenty of detail - your
readers can go to the suburban supermarket themselves - they don't want to read
about it as well - take them to the Kasbah, the Caribbean; to deserts,
rainforests, and coral reefs. Take them into space if you wish - to alien
landscapes even!
Hey ... nobody said it had to be realistic!
Paint a picture of the place - its customs, food, clothes, etiquette,
architecture and so on.
The most popular settings are those which are set in the present (this also
makes it more likely that your best-seller could be taken up by film-makers.
Costume dramas cost a fortune to produce!)
Look for topical themes for your story - anything to do with the Internet
seems to be flavour of the month at the moment; and genetic engineering,
environmental risks and crime are always popular.
* You are free to use any or all of the following:
- Bizarre and surprising actions - car and vehicle chases of all
descriptions
- Powerful confrontations - the more the better for a particular type of
novel!
- Coincidence - if it was good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for
us ...
So, there you have it - a potted (or potty?) guide to writing a best-seller.
Feel free to send me part of your royalty cheque when it arrives!
Jennifer Stewart is a professional writer who offers copy writing, proof
reading and editing services for businesses and individuals from her site at http://www.write101.com
You can subscribe to free Writing Tips to improve your writing.
She has undertaken a variety of assignments - writing articles for ezines and
the print media; preparing award submissions for business clients; copy writing
and proof reading works of non-fiction; editing web pages and ebooks; writing
press releases and much more.
If the spelling of words like "realise "
in this article worried you,
please read this.
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