Book Doctor West

Advanced Workshop is coming!!

Advanced Workshop Write a manuscript an agent will love. Writers learn tools of the craft, workshop their pages, and create a killer mystery, suspense, or horror novel.

So a big discovery for me in 2022 has been how many novelist friends use word counting software. Do you? What do you think of it if you do?

Here's one example of an app for those who are curious: Pacemaker.

Pacemaker : A Simple Flexible Word Count Planner for Writers and Students A Simple Word Count Planner for Writers, Students and Nanowrimo Participants

Got questions about book-to-film deals? Some answers here.

Attorney Jake Levy Talks The Art Of The Deal On Books Developed For Film And TV One of the axioms of technology and show business is that content is king. That’s certainly true in Hollywood, where books adapted for film and television projects have never been hotter. The…

A thread by Alma Katsu on whether social media sells books. The Chuck Wendig article is absolutely worth a read.

Alma Katsu on Twitter “You've prob heard/read article on whether social media sells books. As an author + pioneer social media analyst for the IC, I have thoughts. Follow along!”

And one more for Inspiration Thursday. Nick Brooks just graduated from USC. And now he has a 7 figure book deal. If you've got an amazing story to tell, and you understand story, you may be able to translate your skills into a book with proper support.

Emerging filmmaker receives 7-figure book deal for thriller An emerging young filmmaker is also very much in demand in the book world

When all the hard work pays off...More, this time from Jason Mott, on inspirational Thursday. Congratulations!!!

"I would like to dedicate this award to all the other mad kids, to all the outsiders, the weirdos, the bullied, the ones so strange that they had no choice but to be misunderstood, by the world and by those around them." From Jason Mott's wonderful acceptance speech.

Jason Mott on Twitter “A lifetime of work, dreams, and tears that somehow led to, and is magically bound within, a single, wonderful little sticker.”

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow: I love Malinda Lo's story of how her prize-winning novel started from a short story--and grew with support from her village. This is exactly how it goes. Congratulations Malinda--and Michael Bourret!

Malinda Lo on Twitter “Well, LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB has won the National Book Award in Young People's Literature! I am overwhelmed and overjoyed and still stunned. Here is the text of my acceptance speech, which I tried to read on camera but probably didn't follow exactly bc 😭”

Whoo-hoo for starting later!

It’s Never Too Late to Publish a Debut Book and Score a Netflix Deal Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, at 50, is not the average age of a debut author. But the public school teacher describes herself as a “literary debutante” with the October publication of “My Monticello.”

Good luck to everyone doing NaNoWriMo. May the book writing genies be ever in your favor!

So many delights in this article. Keep writing, keep persisting. h/t Denise Roy

My First Thriller: Michael Connelly Michael Connelly is best known for his Harry Bosch detective novels and his Lincoln Lawyer series. He has also written several stand alone novels, produced television shows based on his work, appea…

A great conversation about writing TV vs writing a novel.

"Dare Me has been in development for a long time; it’s gone through many permutations, including starting as a feature, but it’s also finally crystallizing to what [I] really want this thing to be about. You have to keep articulating it, and you have to take in new people’s ideas and decide which ones make it better and which ones don’t. You have to keep defending your choices. I always consider myself a very non-confrontational person, but having to pitch and present, making the case for these stories, is a thing I’ve had no experience in before this. You don’t do that in publishing. Your agent does it for you. [Laughs]

On The Deuce, the writers’ room gets like group therapy. Inevitably, we all have reasons for caring about certain things, while others are being drawn to certain characters and certain things. It’s so the opposite of the quietness of the novelist’s life. It makes you sort of decide what you value, but it also makes you conscious of things that, in some ways, authors would rather not be conscious of. Do you ever think about that? The stuff you do intuitively as a novelist, and it just happens — you don’t think about it. But you have to think about in this world in TV, justify it, sort of make the case. It’s like peering into your own brain."

Megan Abbott and Tom Perrotta's epic, fascinating conversation about moving from novels to TV The novelists are making their TV mark - Perrotta as creator of 'The Leftovers,' and Abbott as a writer on 'The Deuce.' Here, they share their insights.