by mike | Sep 29, 2014 | Books, Historical Novels, Publishing, Research, Uncategorized, Writing |
There is a disturbing true story behind the events depicted in The Hammer of Witches, a newly published historical novel by Basque scholar and good friend, Begoña Echeverria, one of my long-time writers. After a brief synopsis, I’ll have Begoña tell that story. In...
by mike | Jul 1, 2014 | Books, Editing, Publishing, Research, Uncategorized, Writing |
We writers tend to fall in love with our words—sometimes too much. As a writing coach and editor for decades I have been personally responsible for millions of words of unnecessary exposition being excised from my writers’ manuscripts—usually with those writers...
by mike | Jun 10, 2014 | Books, California, Editing, Ghosts, Horror, Native Americans, Research, Uncategorized, Writing |
My Native American-themed ghost story, The Burning Ground, was first published a couple of years ago, weeks after I started this blog. I gave an interview about the story back then, and now that I’m re-releasing the book under my Atoris Press imprint—and since so many...
by mike | Apr 29, 2014 | Books, Editing, Ghosts, Publishing, Research, Uncategorized, Writing |
The following paragraph is not an entry out of “Mike’s Brag Book.” I only present it to support the point I plan on making in this post. I have written books, and have edited other writers’ books, since before the invention of movable type. I’ve published over twenty...
by mike | Apr 29, 2013 | Books, California, Myths & Legends, Native Americans, Research, Writing |
Writers who, like me, work in genres such as horror and fantasy often mine the rich folklore, myths, and legends of different countries, cultures, ethnic groups and so on to enrich our stories. I thought it might be fun to explore some of the individual entities drawn...
by mike | Mar 26, 2013 | Books, Editing, Horror, Native Americans, Psychological Thrillers, Publishing, Research, Writing |
Last year, in a post titled, “Writing Novels For Fun And…Fun?” I made the following observation: When I made the commitment to start writing novels a long, long time ago I began by sticking to one of the basic tenets: Write what you know. I knew Edgar Rice Burroughs,...
