Allan Leverone is a good friend and a talented thriller/horror author. His horror novel, Mr. Midnight, was named one of the best books of 2013 by Suspense Magazine.
Allan has been penning thrillers since he was a boy, and publishing novels for the last several years. His newest, The Omega Connection, has received praise from some of the best authors in the business.
I asked Allan what advice he would give to new authors, and this is what he had to say:
When I was starting out, people who seemed to have a handle
on these things told me, “Write what you know.”
Can I be honest? That advice never made sense to me. Most of
what I know is mundane and boring, day-to-day stuff like paying bills and going
to work. Grilling burgers and washing the car. Who the hell wants to read about
that stuff?
Although, in fairness, I do grill a mean burger.
But I wanted to write about spies and assassins, about
ordinary people doing extraordinary things under difficult circumstances.
So that’s what I did. I’ve never been a spy or an assassin
(as far as you know), and I’ve rarely been forced to do anything extraordinary.
But who cares? Research and imagination can take you a long way if you let it.
So that’s my advice: don’t
write what you know, write what you love.
My other advice is to read what Jeffery Deaver, JohnLescroart and all the other amazing writers Cheryl has gathered above and below
have to say, and do that, too.
