Seeley James

Beware of Idle Gods

How Zoë Sharp Writes – Great Writers on Writing Series

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I am honored to have Zoë Sharp as my first guest for the series, Great Writers on Writing. (Subscribe now, my next guests are: Lance Charnes, Hugh Howey, AG Riddle, and many more!) Great Writers on Writing examines common questions about the art of writing. If you’ve not yet heard of Zoë Sharp, don’t just read my review of […]

Finally – it’s here!

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Just released — Trench Coats, Episode IV: The Desperate I’m happy to announce the release of Episode IV in the Trench Coat series.* In this installment, Sabel Security Agent Jacob Milik leads a desperate mission to rescue Pia Sabel from her kidnappers. He lands on a remote island as a hurricane disrupts his efforts and […]

How to Write Description Like a Gatsby

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Writers beware: descriptive prose often fascinates the writer but bores the reader. I’ve done research on a specific place and written it so well that my readers can look it up on Wikipedia and know more from my prose. My wife (first draft editor) redlines those passages, boring, or, when she’s in a good mood, […]

How to Write Smart Dialogue

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Dialogue separates great works from lesser stories without you, as a reader, realizing it. Dialogue has such a profound effect that it has changed dramatically over the years. Take for example this good but dated exchange between two wives leaving a party from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless classic, The Great Gatsby: “Whenever he sees I’m […]

Where do Characters Come From?

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The weakest link for any author is producing individual characters. Any author’s second novel will have characters who are better defined, individually confident, and more animated than the debut novel. Just compare block buster characters like Jack Reacher, Temperance Brennan, or Dirk Pitt between first and second books. Even Lance Charnes (Doha 12) and William Davis […]