The Fear of Writing Real Characters Writing strong, interesting characters is not easy. Many writers use real people, or combinations of real people, as the basis for their characters. Because they are, in essence, real people, readers relate to them. It’s no surprise then, that quite a few authors base their protagonists or at least […]
Animal Intelligence Depending on which list you look at, the order of intelligence for the different species usually looks something like this: 1. human 2. ape 3. dolphin 4. pig 5. elephant 6. octopus 7. dog 8. crow Most scientists agree on the first two, though I personally have doubts about the number one ranking […]
Clarifying What We Mean—When is Midnight? I was doing a book promotion this week and communicating by email—always a dangerous thing. The people running the ad sent me this message: Hi Giacomo, I will be posting your book, Murder Has Consequences, as a bargain book on Wednesday, 7/17. Please leave you book on sale until […]
Book Reviews I often talk with other authors about the glaring differences in reviews that some books get. And I’m amazed at how some authors are confused and dumbfounded. How can someone not love my book, they think? I’m never confused. If I ever begin to wonder how a book can have so many five-star […]
July 4th is our anniversary, so I’m dedicating this post to my lovely wife. How To Stay Married For 44 Years This is my wife (she’s the one holding the brush). Her name is Michele, but I have known her as Mikki since I was 13 years old. We got married a few months after […]
