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Based on the level of difficulty of what I’m going into for that day, I’m like a ninja with knives and swords cutting away other things, trying to protect this little precious bubble in the middle of the forest to keep anything away from it, because it needs that time to be able to be at peace and to work.
— Taylor
Our topic for the week is being productive as an author. Is it just word count, or pages edited? Or are there more ways of being productive. Taylor explains her recent change of thought on the topic and how she now looks for ways to funnel her goal setting into things that she can feel good about, even if she falls short of hitting some arbitrary word count or pages number.
If you’re giving one of Taylor’s books as a gift this year, let her know. She’d love to send you a hand written card that you can give with the book to make a great gift even better. Email her at contact at taylorstevensbooks dot com.
This week’s show begins with a quick Thanksgiving recap in which Taylor expresses her thankfulness for first world problems, whether than those faced by people living in developing countries. She also admits to cooking, and there is actual photographic proof of that cooking.
Thanks so much for joining us again this week.
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Now that Taylor’s new book is with her agent she’s turned her attention to titles. We discuss how the title for THE INFORMATIONIST came to be and how that title influenced the rest of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series.
Then we get into current thriller titles and how certain words become popular in titles for a period of time, including the popularity of the word “girl” in right now. The success of books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl have influenced titles to the point where five of the top twenty thrillers on Amazon have the word “girl” in the title on the day we recorded this episode.
Today’s show focuses on connecting readers to characters, even those characters who, if considered in a vacuum, could be thought of as unlikeable by a large group of readers. Steve tries to use Taylor’s Vanessa Michael Munroe as an example, but Taylor resists, and instead trots out Hanibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs. Then we move on to creating dislike between the reader and a character, and then some thoughts on rehabilitating characters in the eyes of your readers.
Thanks so much for joining us again this week.