Author of The Advocate's Daughter
When I’m editing my novels, I sometimes need quick advice on a grammar (lay versus lie, etc.) and I often turn to Grammar Girl, a great resource for easy to follow grammar advice. So I was thrilled when the site asked me to contribute a piece on sentence structure. Here’s my “3 Tips for Creating Sentences with Punch.”
For the past several years, I’ve interviewed some of the bestselling authors in world for my series in Suspense Magazine, “America’s Favorite Suspense Authors on the Rules of Fiction.” The magazine recently turned the tables and interviewed me about my rules. As you’ll see here, most of my advice was shamelessly stolen from the best in the business . . .
For Criminal Element I wrote this tongue-in-cheek article about the secret to literary greatness where I poke fun at myself as well as some great writers, including Harlan Coben, Brad Meltzer, and John Lescroart. The secret isn’t what you think . . .
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The Wall Street Journal reported on a scientific study that found “men with shaved heads are perceived to be more masculine, dominant, and…to have greater leadership potential than those with longer locks or with thinning hair.” Men with short hair were even perceived to be taller and stronger than those with fuller manes.
Here’s a piece I wrote for Criminal Element, about a trip my son and I took to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s grave, where we found some surprises.
I love thriller writer Jeff Abbott’s work, and was so pleased that his latest novel The First Order was a hit. In this month’s Suspense Magazine, I interview Jeff about his advice to aspiring writers. Some great advice from a talented and cool guy. I hope you’ll check it out here.
As part of our appellate practice, a morning ritual for my colleague Stanton Jones and I is to open SCOTUSblog to see the latest information about the Supreme Court. Earlier this week, we both sent each other virtually simultaneous e-mails about the morning’s “guest blogger”: the President of the United States.
Now, we’re all familiar with feuding celebrities taking to the Internet to air grievances. From Kanye West’s Twitter war with Wiz Khalifa, to famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s beef with a rapper over whether the world is flat. In this election season, candidates too are regularly swiping at each other on social media.
Welcome to my new website and blog! As many of you know, for the past several years I’ve had a recurring series in Suspense Magazine where I talk shop with other thriller writers—Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Sandra Brown, and more than 70 other amazing authors. I’ve saved those articles in the Archives of this blog, but I thought I’d kick off the new blog with my latest piece, where acclaimed author and writing teacher Steven James gives his advice to aspiring scribes:
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Say the name Steven James to most suspense writers and it’s likely to prompt two responses: Great storyteller. Amazing teacher.
Advice From J.T. Ellison
Terry Hayes, Author of Suspense’s Best Book of 2014