An interview with, and a new dark thriller novel by, Eric Shapiro.

08 Oct, 2020

"Red Dennis," Eric Shapiro's new novel, is out. I haven't read it yet but the reviews are excellent, which isn't news to me. Eric and I co-founded Ghostwriters Central in 2002. We were partners for some 15 years. While we had this business together, he did an astonishing amount of writing, so I can assure you Red Dennis won't disappoint. He's a passionate and supremely capable writer. Stanley Wheeler interviewed Eric recently. One of his other books, designed to motivate writers to write, is "Ass Plus Seat." What a great title. Sit down and freakin' write. LOL Read Mr. Wheeler's interview with Eric Shapiro here. Best wishes, Eric.

An interview with, and a new dark thriller novel by, Eric Shapiro.

October 8, 2020May 9, 2025

“Red Dennis,” Eric Shapiro’s new novel, is out. I haven’t read it yet but the reviews are excellent, which Read More...

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

Truman Capote Quote

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

Anton Chekhov

If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.

William C. Gault

Don’t annoy an author, you’ll end up in their book and you won’t look good.

Lawrence Wray

I haven’t got 10 rules that guarantee success, though I promise I’d share them if I did. The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process.

J.K. Rowling

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.

Matthew Arnold

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

G.K. Chesterton

The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.

Raymond Chandler

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until I have a solid sense of how that ending sounds and feels. You have to know what your voice sounds like at the end of the story, because it tells you how to sound when you begin.

John Irving

The road to ignorance is paved with good editors.

George Bernard Shaw

Just don’t be boring!

Robert Liebmann

A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.

Sidney Sheldon

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Oscar Wilde

In Hollywood, the woods are full of people that learned to write but evidently can’t read. If they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing.

Will Rogers

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

Mickey Spillane

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil, trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

William Faulkner

It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.

Bob Dylan

Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.