Featured Author - Jeffery Deaver

[Cheryl Bradshaw]

Ever see the riveting and emotionally charged movie The Bone Collector with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington? Then you are familiar with Jeffery Deaver. And his success doesn't stop there. Jeffery was chosen by Ian Fleming's Publications to write Carte Blanche. What's so great about that? I'll tell you. Carte Blanche is the next James Bond novel. Aside from that, he has additional novels coming out in 2012 (Kathryn Dance book) and 2013 (Lincoln Rhyme book). With how busy he must be at the moment, I was thrilled when he accepted my request to offer advice to all you writers out there.

"I can tell you that I truly look at writing as a business. That means I get up each day and go to work for eight to ten hours, whether I'm in the mood to write or not. I never wait for inspiration. If I did, I would never write anything.

I'd encourage new writers to read as much as possible and write as much as possible. The more we write, the better we become at the craft of writing. Remember not to be discouraged if your work meets with rejection at first, because all writers--even published ones--have work rejected all the time. You just have to keep trying.

Some readers want to know if I plan my books out or if I just start writing. Because my books are so plot-driven, it's important for me to know exactly where I'm going before I begin writing the book itself, so I spend the better part of a year writing a detailed outline that runs hundreds of pages. Creating the outline is the hardest part of the writing process, but the most necessary.

I realize this is just general information, but I hope some of it will be helpful to your readers.

Good luck to all my fellow writers out there!"

All best wishes,

Jeff Deaver