The Lying Author

You could make an argument that all fiction authors are really professional liars who spin wild stories out of thin air...but they are honest about one thing: the fact that they’re lying. But there are other authors, those who claim to write non-fiction stories that actually aren’t. This is the story of a lying author who spun a wild tale -- and couldn’t live with what he did. This is a story about integrity, and the writers who don’t have it.

Not-So-Sweet Little Lies

Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance was born Sylvester Clark Long before he changed his name. He used his changed name to publish his autobiography, "Redman Echoes," in 1928. An adventurous tale of a young boy who was the son of a Blackfoot Native American Chief, the story was thrilling. It was also a huge hit. Almost overnight, Chief Buffalo Child became a celebrity and his book became a must-read. Literary critics, anthropologists and fans heaped praise upon him. Soon, the Chief was being invited to fancy New York parties and traveling the country to speak about Native American causes. He even endorsed a shoe. The man was a rock star of the literary world. There was just one problem: he was a huge liar.

Saltwater Secrets: Take a Virtual Tour of Brenna’s Island

If you’ve read “Song of the Sea,” you know that a lot of my “Saltwater Secrets” trilogy takes place in Matinicus, Maine. Virtually explore Brenna’s town to get a closer look at this small island that’s so full of secrets. When “Death and the Deep” comes out this month, you’ll discover more about the darkness hiding on the shores of Matinicus.

 The official post office

 Some of the native plant life

 The waves that surround the island will haunt Brenna in "Death and the Deep"

 There are many houses along the coast on the island, just like the one Brenna lives in

New secrets will wash up on the shores of the island in "Death and the Deep" 

read a sample now!

Writing 101 Redux: The Epilogue, Good or Evil?

It's an epic debate, and the lines have been drawn. Where do you stand in the epilogue argument? 

Before you make up your mind, read this Throwback Thursday Writing 101 and then decide!

Writing 101: Being Afraid

Are you afraid of your own writing? If you’ve ever stared too long at a blank page, or re-read the same paragraph four times because you just weren’t sure about it, or put off finishing that chapter for another day, you may be spending too much of your time being afraid. Lots of writers all secretly have the same fear, but I’m about to expose it once and for all: bad writing. Have you found yourself being afraid of writing badly, too? 

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Fear of long words is a real phobia, but fear of writing is something that possibly strikes only authors. Writing a book encourages you to second-guess every sentence you put down. Bloggers like me get on the Internet and scream about editing, editing, editing. You get told to choose just the right words and avoid the wrong ones, to double-check dialogue and keep your narrative voice strong. And when you’ve got to think about all that, it’s absolutely natural to start being afraid of just totally writing the wrong thing.

Writing 101: Love to Hate?

Many books are written with a hero, or protagonist, and a villain, an antagonist. But somewhere in the middle, there is a special kind of character: the one you love to hate. Now, try writing it.

Same Coin

In the comic book world, lines are clearly drawn between good guys and bad guys. Both types of guys are powerful, and you can easily tell which one you’re supposed to be rooting for. But even in the comic book world of clear distinctions, there are characters that you almost start rooting for -- even though they really want to kill the hero of the story. Catwoman is supposed to be a villain, but it’s so easy to hope that things will work out for her anyway. This is a villain you love to hate, or hate to hate. They say that hate and love are two sides of the same coin. So how do you write about them both at once?

The Late Bestseller, and a Whale of a Tough Writing Life

Even if you weren't forced to read it in school like most people, you've heard of "Moby Dick." It's one of the most famous stories ever written. And when it was published, it completely tanked. Author Herman Melville was so disillusioned with his novel, he wrote a whole new novel about how bad he felt about it.

Thar She Blows

How bad did "Moby Dick" do in 1851 when it was published? It didn't even sell the entire first printing order...which was only 3,000 books. That's not many copies for a book that's passed out in schools every single year. Herman Melville was bitterly disappointed by this failure. In fact, he wrote mostly poetry and short stories after his novel about the whale, because he was so sad that so few people purchased it.

Saltwater Secrets: Everything You Need to Know

Death and the Deep, Book 2 of the Saltwater Secrets trilogy, is coming out this month! Not current on the trilogy? No worries -- you can find out what you need to know right here, before you get started on the new book.

Catching Up

Death and the Deep occurs just weeks after the end of Song of the Sea, the first installment in the Saltwater Secrets trilogy. Before you get started on the second part of the story, make sure you’re all caught up from the first. Read ahead at will -- there are no major spoilers here!

Writing 101 Redux: Hey, Don't Double-Space

Do you double space? Read today's Throwback Thursday Writing 101 to find out why that's wrong...very, very wrong.

If you double-space your books, maybe this Writing 101 tip will change your mind (and your spacing).

Writing 101: Edit Every Sentence

There’s a scene in an old movie I love, where a very pessimistic Billy Crystal is explaining his reading habits to Meg Ryan. He always reads the end of a book first. Readers might do anything, and you don’t know what it is. I used to open books to a page near the middle and see if I liked what I saw, back when books were made with paper (so long ago). That’s why as an author, you’ve got to edit every sentence. Because no matter which one your reader looks at, you need it to be good...otherwise, maybe it’s the only one they’ll look at. 

Line By Line

If editing every sentence sounds like a truly tedious chore, that’s because it is. But if you’re going to do a thorough job of editing your book, you’re going to have to read every single word more than once anyway.

Writing 101: When Writing is a Job

Someone asked me, the other day, if I have any hobbies. I was surprised when I didn’t have a ready answer. A few years ago, I would have said “writing,” of course. But now, writing is my job. And when anything becomes a job, it’s easy to lose passion for that thing. 

Losing My Religion

Everyone’s passionate about their hobbies. It’s what they do in their free time, what they want to do once all the chores and working is done. So when you write for a living and write for a hobby, it’s easy to start feeling as though you work all the time. That really just leaves one question: how do you fix it?

The Author You Won’t Read About

Every Monday, I write about a different famous author. I like to dredge up some little-known information about them, expose their flaws, dig around in their secrets -- or maybe just talk about how they died. But there’s one author I’m never going to write about, and I’m about to tell you why.

Anonymous

I’ve written about authors that no one read until after their deaths, authors who were anonymous until they kicked the bucket, authors who died broke and even authors who killed themselves. There’s one author you’ll never see me write about: the one who gave up.

Death and the Deep: Official Trailer

It's not live to the general public, but it is available to you! Get a look at the official trailer for "Death and the Deep," Book 2 of the Saltwater Secrets Trilogy.

Get a free sample of the Death and Deep now, even before it's available in stores!

Writing 101 Redux: Accept and Except

They sound the same, but they have totally different meanings. Do you know the right way to use accept and except? 

Read today's TBT Writing 101 tip to learn how to use accept and except the right way, and you won't mix them up again.

Writing 101: The Diagram of a Story

I still remember the day I saw this diagram put up on the blackboard in English class. This is the formula of writing a story….or so they say. Is this what the diagram of a story looks like to you -- and every author in the world?

The Sum of Its Parts

This diagram is actually known as Freytag's pyramid, and it represents the five parts (or acts) of a dramatic arc. You can find this pyramid in a lot of storytelling, from books to movies.

Writing 101: Funny Business

It's a widely-accepted truth that people like to laugh. Even sad stories -- especially sad stories -- need to give readers a chuckle now and them. If you aren't naturally a funny person, it's really hard to write funny. That's why some writers need to master certain tricks to do it. Once you do, the business of being funny isn't so hard after all.

Funny Characters

One of the simplest ways to add humor to a book is to do it through a funny character. Have someone in the book deliver your one-liners, and you can drop a little comedy into any part of the book that feels too serious and heavy. Being funny gets a little easier if you craft a character that’s around just to be a clown. Now, all you need to know how to do is write a clown.

What You Have in Common with Chaucer...and Mark Twain

I always wanted to be an author, growing up, so I always answered with that when people asked me. They would then invariably try to give me advice about how to do it. Write what you know, they would always say. That’s confusing advice. You can’t always know what it’s like to swim in the ocean or climb a tree, but you can still write about these things. But authors like Geoffrey Chaucer and Mark Twain understood the idiom, and they used it in their books. You probably have something in common with these two greats, too. 

It’s Not What You Know…

I found out that “write what you know” can apply to just about anything. You can write about going to the Grand Canyon after visiting it. You can write about shopping because you’ve done it. But many of the greatest authors used it to create their characters. Two of the greatest character-creators ever were Chaucer and Twain...and they did it by writing not what they knew, but who they knew.

Death and Deep: Coming Soon!

Death and the Deep

coming in September!

I came back to the land because I thought it would be safe. I didn’t know the waves would keep calling me, even weeks after I decided to leave them for ever. 

That’s the problem with the ocean. The things we leave behind in the waves have a way of washing back up to the shore. Everything I left in the water is still out there…and I can hear it calling for me, no matter how hard I try to block the sound of the waves. 

There is death waiting for me in the deep. Even when I try my best to stay on the land, the ocean won’t stop trying to claim me as one of its own. I’m afraid that soon, it’s going to succeed.

Get a sneak peek at Death and the Deep

Writing 101 Redux: There, Their, They're

Some writing lessons deserve to be repeated -- a lot. 

One set of words that cause many authors to struggle is there, their and they're. Learn the difference with today's Throwback Thursday Writing 101 tip, and don't get your words wrong anymore.

Writing 101: Skipping Time

One of the first books I ever loved follows the first-person perspective of a single character for about three years, and it’s so rich in detail that you live practically every day with the heroine. Except for that weird chapter that begins with a shocking sentence. In that sentence, the author skips ahead an entire year. Skipping time is an often-used fiction device, and it’s often jarring and upsetting. That’s probably because authors rarely do it really well.

Flashing Forward

In the book I’m making an example of, the narrator carefully details a year while living inside a very strange environment. The reader sees every detail, thought and spoken word unfold. I don’t think a single day is left out. Then all of a sudden, a year flies by. It’s just one sentence, and the first year took many chapters. No matter how you want to read it, that’s a jarring change of pace. It takes a few paragraphs to get back into the flow of things, after that. If your book is strong enough, you can always get over a rough spot.

...But why would you want to have a rough spot?