✍️ 1. 13 Writing Tips From My Guilty Pleasure, Dan Brown - Article By Bobby Powers
Hate to admit it, but I’m a Dan Brown fan.
I’ve read all his books.
(In fact, he’s got a new book coming out next month.)
Brown recorded a MasterClass on thriller writing in 2018.
This week, I came across this article which summarizes 13 lessons from that MasterClass from the man who has sold over 200 million books.
Here are 3 writing tips I liked:
🤞 1. Make many promises
Brown talks a lot about promises in his MasterClass.
“When you set up the opening of your thriller, it’s critical that you make as many promises to the reader as physically possible,” explains Brown. “They have to be believable, but make as many as you can. Make them as big as you can.”
Each curiosity gap is a promise, such as the following:
- Dropping a hint that your protagonist has a dark secret in their past
- Showing that your villain just purchased a high-caliber rifle
- Creating a romantic spark between two characters
These promises need to be resolved during your story, and Brown says you must withhold delivering on each promise for as long as you can without irritating your reader.
⏰ 2. Protect the process
Brown operates on a relentless writing schedule. He begins writing first thing each morning at 4 a.m., then wraps up around 11 a.m. While many writers operate on a word count goal each day, Brown sets a goal for the number of hours he wants to write that day.
“Writing a novel is about a process,” says Brown. “It is not all about inspiration and craft. It is about making sure that you set aside time every day to do your work…Protect the process and the results will take care of themselves.”
📝 3. Set the table for breakfast
Before he wraps up each day, Brown says he “sets the table for breakfast” the next day by writing the opening paragraph of whatever section he’s planning to kick off the following day.
By doing that, he gives himself a running start the next day because he’s already partway into an idea.
