In this book veteran adventure author Michael Newton helps you hammer the heavies in your own rapid-fire action novel. Here, in words as plain as a three-day beard, he shows you: *how the genre exploded into prominence - and why it's hot today *how to pull subject ideas from this morning's headlines *how to hone your opening - and hook your readers *how to deliver believable, suspenseful well-paced action *how to people your book with vivid, hard-edged characters *how to handle violence effectively and realistically *why you need to know your weaponry *how to go about getting your book published. Set your sights. Then take Newton's advice. You'll write a tough, taut adventure novel. And the city will be safe once more....until your next book.
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More About the Author
A California native, Michael Newton has published 215 books under his own name and various pseudonyms since 1977. He began writing professionally as a "ghost" for author Don Pendleton on the best-selling Executioner series and continues his work on that series today. With 104 episodes published to date, Newton has nearly tripled the number of Mack Bolan novels completed by creator Pendleton himself.
Newton's first book under his own name was Monsters, Mysteries and Man (1979), a survey of unexplained phenomena for younger readers. While 156 of Newton's published books have been novels--including westerns, political thrillers and psychological suspense--he is best known for nonfiction, primarily true crime and reference books.
His firearms manual for writers, Armed and Dangerous (1990), remains a best-seller for Writer's Digest Books in its 8th printing. Newton's Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Facts on File, 2000) is currently in its second edition. His history of the Florida Ku Klux Klan, The Invisible Empire (2001), won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. His Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology was just named as one of twelve books on the American Library Association's 2006 List of Outstanding Reference Sources. Newton's shorter work includes horror fiction, true crime articles and case histories for Court TV's Crime Library online.
He is a member of several organizations, including the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and Feral Cat Friends Inc.
His 24 upcoming books, scheduled for release through 2011, include 8 novels and 16 nonfiction works. He lives in Nashville, Indiana.
Newton's first book under his own name was Monsters, Mysteries and Man (1979), a survey of unexplained phenomena for younger readers. While 156 of Newton's published books have been novels--including westerns, political thrillers and psychological suspense--he is best known for nonfiction, primarily true crime and reference books.
His firearms manual for writers, Armed and Dangerous (1990), remains a best-seller for Writer's Digest Books in its 8th printing. Newton's Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Facts on File, 2000) is currently in its second edition. His history of the Florida Ku Klux Klan, The Invisible Empire (2001), won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. His Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology was just named as one of twelve books on the American Library Association's 2006 List of Outstanding Reference Sources. Newton's shorter work includes horror fiction, true crime articles and case histories for Court TV's Crime Library online.
He is a member of several organizations, including the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and Feral Cat Friends Inc.
His 24 upcoming books, scheduled for release through 2011, include 8 novels and 16 nonfiction works. He lives in Nashville, Indiana.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lively & useful writing guide,
By Anthony D Ravenscroft (Santa Fe, NM United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How to Write Action Adventure Novels (Genre Writing Series) (Hardcover)
I've got a couple of books in print, but for leisure I comb the libraries & bookstores for older "how to write" books, especially of category ("genre") fiction styles. As a fan of hard-boiled mystery with an occasional foray into action stuff, I thought Newton's book would be a lark.Imagine my surprise as it unfolds into a very good analysis of the genre markets, a deft guide to the craft of modern fiction writing, & a glimpse into the life of the best-selling novelist -- not the gazillionaires like King or Koontz of Mailer or whoever, but the scrivener who just makes a nice living at cranking out entertainment for the rest of us. Newton shows you many passages that don't quite make the grade (but went to press anyway, because that's often how it works) & chunks that he feels are golden. He berates you to make it all larger-than-life -- that's the market! -- but also stops you short of falling to mawkish self-parody. This is certainly a vital book for the mystery writer & those who do war stories, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a tonic before writing Western, Gothic, space adventure, or quest fantasy. It's worth ten bucks, & certainly a fiver, even though the world has changed so much since 1989 -- another great book Writer's Digest has allowed to languish.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful information, but you have to dig for it,
By
This review is from: How to Write Action Adventure Novels (Genre Writing Series) (Hardcover)
Newton addresses a topic he knows very well: action adventure/writing. Having authored more Executioner books than the series creator, he has had a fair share of success in the genre. That real world experience fills the content with excellent advice and suggestions.The poor organization of the book, however, destroys much of its usefulness. The text hops from one topic to another so the book takes on the form of a writer's stream-of-consciousness. Weak arrangement choices dog the book everywhere. Even lists of information -- very useful if they had been enumerated as a set of bullet points -- are written out in long paragraph form. For example, chapter 7 contains a list of reference books for military information, intelligence, police procedure, etc. Not only is the catalog of books presented in two pages of dense paragraphs, it's located in the chapter titled "Heroes and Heavies" -- hardly an obvious place for this reference information. There are also irritating misattributions that should have been caught by his editor (e.g. the author repeatedly mentions the novel Firefox written by Clive Cussler -- although Craig Thomas is the true author). If you're writing action/adventure novels, I would suggest you instead check out Newton's "Armed and Dangerous: A Writer's Guide to Weapons." It describes all manner of weapons from knives to artillery and has proven very useful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
How to write novels,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: How to Write Action Adventure Novels (Genre Writing Series) (Hardcover)
The book was informative and helpful. Even though I have two published novels, I picked up some great tips. It would be a great resource for a novice writer.
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