“The act of sitting down to write a novel is a deeply personal one. It’s an act of faith and of pure giving. Write from your center, about people who move and involve you. Be inside the story, feeling it, living it — because that’s where you want your readers to be when they open the cover. And when you come up for air, read books that transport and inspire you to recharge your writer batteries. Because all writers are readers first, that’s where we fall in love with story and find the urge to tell our own.”
—Lisa Unger

“One of the best nuggets of advice we received early on was that sometimes you need to slow down a scene in order to build the tension. Our instincts were to speed up dramatic scenes, but we realized that in order to draw out a reader’s experience and emotions, it is far better to slowly unfurl these moments. This was truly a lightbulb moment, and we remind ourselves of this particular element of writing every time we tackle scenes that we want to feel like nail-biters.”
—Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks

“Study and learn story structure. Then put your butt in the chair every day and work to get better.”
—Robert Dugoni

“Don’t fall in love with your first draft. You’ll be tempted to. All of us are. Instead, set it aside and look at it later with more objective eyes. Then, as tough as it might be, take the time to revise in the pursuit of excellence as a show of respect for your readers. It won’t be easy, but the truth is, if you like long hours in solitude, emotional turmoil, constant self-criticism and bouts of heart-wrenching disappointment, you’ll make a good writer. That’s what it’s going to take. And if you can actually tell an engaging story, well, you might just make a great one.”
—Steven James

“My best advice to those in the early stages or aspiring to break through into the business are three things: patience, rewrite, and outline. Patience, in that the urge to rush your story both within the book and on the business side too, forces a story out ahead of itself and maybe into an agent’s hands too soon. You generally get one crack at things. Rewrite, akin to patience, to hammer out over constant repetition those clunky phrasings, those scenes that don’t’ quite work those “sexy” clues or reveals which seem so seamless but many times don’t’ come out till the third or fourth draft. And outline. Have a roadmap for where your plot is going. For where you are going to end up. Learn to get your arms around your own story.  You can still change it organically, but it is always best, especially in my view, for the author to be in control.”
—Andrew Gross

“Read everything and anything that interests you, especially in your genre. Understand the publishing business so you know how to position your work when pitching agents and/or editors. Become part of a writing community, especially within your genre – attend conferences, book events for other authors, and just reach out through social media.”—Wendy Walker

“When I hit a writing roadblock, I remind myself that conflict–the engine that keeps thrillers flying–is a result of decisions. And that decisions create action. So I ask myself: what does my character really want? How far will they go to get it? What will they decide to do to make it happen?  Then I think: who’s trying to stop them? What will they do about that decision? And then the story takes off.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan 

What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten on writing?