The collection / 34 fragments

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01Undated

Believe in yourself and start achieving your dream. It waits for you on the other side of the publish button.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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02Undated

Honesty makes stories real and characters memorable. From there, taking them to where they need to go will be all the development they need.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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03Undated

I take the rawest, realest moments in anyone’s life and I open them up and lay them bare. The innocence of a five year old child, the awkwardness of a teenager’s first sexual encounter, the heartbreak of longing for a relationship you can’t have, confronting the possibility of the death of your newborn child, whatever it is, you open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day. You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe. Great writing isn’t safe.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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04Undated

Pound it out, get it done, write every day. No excuses. Kerouac said you can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. Damn straight. You’ll sleep a lot better getting your word count in than another quick Twitter check or keeping up to date on the Kardashians.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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05Undated

You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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06Undated

Kids are flat-out freaking hilarious if you are paying attention. Not just my kid, but every kid.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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07Undated

I wasn’t a class clown, because my parents were very strict and because nuns in general have no sense of humor. I mean zero, zip, nada. I wasted some of my best stuff on those old hags! Look at these knuckles - those are ruler marks, and they’re still visible all these years later. But I could usually get out of trouble at home if I could get my mom laughing. That’s a huge ace up your sleeve as a kid.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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08Undated

Open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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09Undated

The best part of being a writer is you get to tell people you’re a writer. That’s still considered cool.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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10Undated

Who do I think would appreciate my book?I’m surprised anybody does. Oops, did I say that out loud?

Dan Alatorre / quote

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11Undated

I wasn’t a class clown, because nuns have no sense of humor. They have rulers.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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12Undated

Don't be afraid to get off the internet, the answers aren't all there. You may have to ask a cop about the kickback from a shotgun, or how sweaty they get in summer wearing body armor. Or what color blood is in the moonlight, or the vibrations through a serrated knife’s handle you feel in your fingers when you are hacking through somebody’s neck and hit cartilage.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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13Undated

I come up with an idea and I’ll start throwing little suggestions for possible scenes into a folder, but before I seriously sit down to write Word One, they whole outline is finished. Sue me. It works.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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14Undated

The more time you can put between you and your manuscript, the more fresh your eyes become and the more mistakes you’ll catch. Let a chapter rest for a day, you’ll see ways to improve it. Let your completed book rest a month or more and you’ll see stuff that’s long or that you want to skip. Read it out loud to get rid of awkward phrases and listen to your critique partners if they are good.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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15Undated

I write in complete silence using only two fingers so I can’t type faster than I edit at the same time, saving me from having to go back. Although it does create a lot of capitalization issues. And punctuation problems. I didn’t say it was a good routine.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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16Undated

It’s amazing how my mind opens up right when I have to run on the treadmill. I’ve finished three chapters rather than run a mile.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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17Undated

I get up at 4am or 5am and write for a few hours before the rest of the world wakes up. And I don’t drink caffeine. That combination is basically a deal breaker for every other author I know. I don’t usual check email, Facebook or Twitter until at least 6:30am, either, another killer for most authors.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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18Undated

I usually end have one outrageous minor character. He or she says the stuff I wish I had said in real life. Readers will love that character.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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19Undated

Writers need to be open to trying new things. My first bestseller was a cookbook, and from that experience I learned things about marketing a book that benefitted me greatly.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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20Undated

Don't have every dialog go in a straight line to solve the problem. Let your characters argue, be sarcastic, disagree or joke around.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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21Undated

I think if a writer is being honest they’d admit to a file full of a dozen or more stories that are all started to varying degrees. They’re like the kid who wants to be a firefighter and a police officer and an astronaut.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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22Undated

Not knowing stuff - like how your story ends before you start writing - is the seed of a lot of writer’s block.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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23Undated

The more time you can put between you and your manuscript, the more fresh your eyes become and the more mistakes you’ll catch.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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24Undated

What I can tell you is DO IT. Publish book one and get book two out as soon as possible. There are very few Harper Lee’s. Most of us are going to have to write a few books to get good at it.

Dan Alatorre / quote

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