Writing Popular Fiction

The author is famous for suspense thrillers. This book was written in his early thirties after publishing for four years and is notable for its vintage coverage of topics that were modern in the seventies though not mainstream, like various types of the Western or the BigSN behind-the-scenes sexy novel. There are lots of numbered lists. A couple of them are of seven kinds of things, e.g. genres including addition of scifi, fantasy, suspense, mysteries, and romance; and character motivations such as love, curiosity, self-preservation, greed, self-discovery, duty and revenge. Each type of story category has subtypes which are dissected, and an original text sample is provided. Five genre fiction requirements are strong plot, hero or heroine, believable motivation, a great deal of action, and colorful background. Revisions may be necessary, but don’t plan on them, since emotional attachment to the original draft makes it exciting and marketable. The writer can later be too critical after the original mood that a story was written in is gone, so it is good to give it to another reviewer rather than discard it. Chapter eight is titled the most important chapter in this book and it says to follow the rules in the other chapters until enough sales allow breaking some. There are a couple of methods to find story ideas, either playing with exotic titles or narrative hooks. Viewpoints and flashbacks are explained. The book exerts a contagious sense of confidence which may be useful for a new writer.