Literary Birthday – 22 April – Janet Evanovich

Happy Birthday, Janet Evanovich, born 22 April 1943.

Janet Evanovich: Quotes On Writing

1. Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.
2. I don’t want my readers slowed down by long passages of narrative.
3. I struggled to learn basic skills, get a grip on markets, find my own unique voice, create story lines, and come up to speed with the industry. I struggled for ten years before having any success.
4. I take in a lot of stuff from real life, movies, television, news and it all gets mixed in my head and somehow turns into a story idea.
5. Write the book. Unpublished writers attempting to sell fiction need to have a completed and polished manuscript in hand.
6. I sent my weird stories out to editors and agents and collected rejection letters in a big cardboard box. When the box was full I burned the whole damn thing.
7. If being a writer is important to you, keep at it, keep improving, and don’t give up. I wrote three books that were never published.
8. I’m always working! I usually write seven days a week for a minimum of four hours a day — sometimes I’m at the computer from five in the morning until ten at night, eating Cheez Doodles, drinking Coke, wishing I was someone else… Nora Roberts, maybe. I have an office at the end of my house with windows that look out over the Connecticut River valley. When I’m in the Cheez Doodle mode I close the blinds so I’m not distracted.
9. I begin a book with a short outline which is actually a timeline of action. Then I follow my writing progress on a large white board, recording chapter by chapter, sort of like a movie story board.
10. Read as much as you can in the genre you want to write to learn how others do it. Then, sit your butt in the chair and write.
11. In order to see a book through to the end, you have to have discipline, so carve out time every day — no excuses.
12. When you get ready to write your novel, outline it first. There’s nothing worse than getting halfway through and realising you’ve painted yourself in a plot corner.
13. Make sure your main characters are likeable. They can be flawed, but your readers need to be able to root for them.

Read: Janet Evanovich’s 12 Tips For Writing A Query Letter

Janet Evanovich – On Getting Published

Janet Evanovich is a best-selling American author. She began her career writing contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall. She became famous as the author of the Stephanie Plum series. The novels have consistently topped the New York Times and Amazon best-seller lists. The most recent is Turbo Twenty-Three. She is also author of the Lizzy and Diesel series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and Trouble Maker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

Source for Image: Author’s website

by Amanda Patterson

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