I've Written 17 Novels, And

When Witnesses Concoct Lies, They Often Miss The Obvious.

I've Sold Too Many Books To Get Good Reviews Anymore. There's A Lot Of Jealousy, Because [reviewers] Think They Can Write A Good Novel Or A Best-seller And Get Frustrated When They Can't. I've Learned To Despise Them.

The Worst Letters Come From Retired High School English Teachers. They Will Literally Take A Book And Pick It To Pieces And Send Me 14 Pages Of Notes.

I Don't Start A Novel Until I Have Lived With The Story For Awhile To The Point Of Actually Writing An Outline And After A Number Of Books I've Learned That The More Time I Spend On The Outline The Easier The Book Is To Write. And If I Cheat On The Outline I Get In Trouble With The Book.

The Two Mistakes That Come To Mind Are People Who Introduce A Flood Of Characters In The First Few Pages. Where The Reader Has To Stop And Get Out A Flow Chart And Has To Figure Out Who Is Who. And You Just Can't Do That - Introduce The First Four Generations Of A Character's Family In The First Chapter. You Can Introduce Four Or Five Characters At The Most In The First Chapter. Another Mistake Is To Use Big Words That Are Not Normally Used In Conversation To Try To Impress Folks With Your Vocabulary.