Kenneth R. Besser's Posts
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September 21, 2007 08:39 AM EDT --
In preparation for a novel I am writing, I was drawn to Bobby DeLaughter’s true crime novel about his successful 1994 prosecution of Byron De La Beckwith, a bastion of the Ku Klux Klan, for the 1963 . . .
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September 20, 2007 11:25 AM EDT --
As we have said before, great stories are comprised of great premises involving great people, in grand places, doing wonderful things. All of these things are very important, but at some times . . .
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September 12, 2007 07:08 PM EDT --
Premise, stakes, place, and time are four key components of a great novel, but none of them are worth a tinker’s dam if they aren’t being driven by meaningful characters. According to chapter . . .
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September 10, 2007 07:08 PM EDT --
Fire Bell in the Night
Author: Geoffrey S. Edwards
Publisher: Touchstone: An Imprint of Simon & Schuster
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6424-9
$15.00
443 pages
With his maiden work, Geoffrey . . .
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September 09, 2007 07:24 PM EDT --
Ribald though it may be, one silly memory of my childhood is a parody sign mimicking an airline ad with one duck flying on another duck's back above the words "Fly United." If ever one picture . . .
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September 09, 2007 05:00 PM EDT --
Every story is set in a time and place and fixing them strongly in the minds of readers is a large part of making your writing a breakout novel. In the fourth chapter of his book, Writing the . . .
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September 08, 2007 11:49 PM EDT --
In a staggering decision that should have some rogue debt collectors in New Jersey quaking in their millionaire boots, on September 6, 2007, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit . . .
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September 06, 2007 04:07 PM EDT --
Authors who publish their first books have a tendency to treat them like firstborn children. They take photographs of their contract signing meetings with their agents and more pics at the even better . . .
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September 06, 2007 06:50 AM EDT --
Our friend, The Donald, is a big stakes eater, if you pay any attention at all to the third chapter of his book, Writing the Breakout Novel. To quote Maass, who makes the same point he admits many . . .
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September 05, 2007 07:49 PM EDT --
My editor in New York is looking to start her own imprint. I’m her lawyer and I’m handling the business details for her. On Monday, over a latte, as I was handing her a manuscript I . . .
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September 05, 2007 03:37 PM EDT --
“[Insert your favorite story’s title here] is a great story, wonderfully written!” Simple though it may be, no higher praise can be lauded upon a literary work of art. What is it, . . .
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September 04, 2007 01:00 PM EDT --
Donald Maass's twenty-page chapter on stakes in Writing the Breakout Novel can be distilled down to four affirmative words, make the reader care. In order to do that, unless your first draft is miraculously . . .
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September 02, 2007 09:43 AM EDT --
Book reviews only work if they are sufficiently short and to the point. Great works, however, like Donald Maass's how-to manual, Writing the Breakout Novel, sometimes take a little longer. We will . . .
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August 31, 2007 11:19 AM EDT --
“Your opening scene was vivid,” The Donald wrote in his reply letter passing on my request that he represent my novel, Hollow Vengeance, “but that was not enough for me to keep turning . . .
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August 30, 2007 11:20 PM EDT --
Since the very first one in 1984, my wife, Susan, and I have always been blessed with practically perfect children. The nature and extent of their very slight imperfections have ebbed and flowed over their . . .
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August 29, 2007 09:52 PM EDT --
Anyone who's been near me recently knows I have lately become a big fan of "The Donald." Maass, that is, the New York literary uber agent; not the New York real estate one with the . . .
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August 29, 2007 07:11 AM EDT --
Being a successful author is only 10% writing. The other 90% of what an author needs to bestsell books is marketing, which is as difficult to define as it is to do. Nonetheless, if you ask any . . .
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August 24, 2007 06:28 AM EDT --
After thirty years of being happily married to the same wonderful person and 111 kid-years of being a parent of six practically perfect children, few things phase me anymore. I thought I had pretty . . .
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August 23, 2007 08:33 PM EDT --
I continue to enjoy reading books on how to write better.
In his book, Writing the Breakout Novel, and his seminars based thereon, uber agent Donald Maass somewhat dismisses the value of reviews by asking . . .
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August 23, 2007 06:09 AM EDT --
Many people ask the questions, What makes a person successful? and What did they leave behind upon their death as a monument of their success?
The only remnant of our success in life that we leave behind . . .
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