What do these three authors have in common?
They are selling their books. For a reason, of course.
And it's not because they spend a fortune on advertising. They don't.
Sure, Britt, but They Have Their Famous Names
True.
Now they do.
But none of them were born famous authors, if I remember correctly.
It's all learned and earned, and there's nothing that proves that you cannot do the same.
There's something you can do even before you start writing that does half the job for you.
What Does It Take to Write a Good Story?
Your story needs interesting characters and suspense.
Readers pick up books and enjoy them when the characters are memorable. And when there's lots of conflict and tension in the book.
This is one of the things authors like the above and Aaron Sorkin and many others know and understand.
What they also know is that a story needs readers.
After all, what is a story that doesn't get read? Dead, right?
It's not just that it's not selling and making money. It's more that... it's such a pity. You put all that work, all your heart and sweat into writing it.
If nobody reads it, that was all for naught.
Good News Ahead
It wasn't always like that.
If I participated in any kind of competition, I would always lose.
Even when I had so many tickets in the game that it was impossible to lose, I would win my last priority prize.
But now I'm a lucky writer.
I have never written a book that readers didn't find. Not even my first clumsy attempts that were completely without a clear genre or anything.
Still, every time I knew that it was hit and miss. I could quickly run out of luck and have dead books on my shelves.
I knew that I could have a lot more suspense and conflict in my books. I knew that I needed to work on making my romantic meetings more difficult and not insta-love.
But I didn't know how to deal with it.
When People Asked Me What My Book Was About...
I replied something like: it's a story about a guardian angel, who is very clumsy and uhm... has to save somebody, and then she comes down to Earth, and then...
By Then, Nobody Was Listening
I had failed.
I had no idea that the solution to THAT problem was the same solution I could use to write more interesting stories, have more fun while writing, and sell more books.
It's actually quite simple.
In the Movie Business, They Call it High Concept
When you can encapsulate your story in a High Concept idea - and preferably one sentence - your book is much more likely to attract readers.
I still remember the evening back in December 1993...
I got an idea for a story. AN IDEA!
Back then, I thought ideas were something that came to you when you were extremely lucky.
That night I felt lucky, and while driving home from a party, sitting in the passenger seat with snowflakes landing on the windscreen and making the drive slow, I worked out the main events of my story.
I wrote the story, and it was published in April 1994.
After that I waited two years before I had the next idea.
Today, I Don't Wait Around for Ideas
I know how I can make them come to me.
Even High Concept ideas.
And the funny thing is that the more you practice coming up with ideas, the easier it gets to get great ideas.
Yes, you can learn how to come up with High Concept ideas.
As many as you like.
