Write historical fiction: Finding daily details
How to use historical objects in fiction without making them into fetishes In writing historical fiction, there are two main traps to avoid. One is …
Write a thriller: Do you plot or not?
Should crime fiction writers figure out the details of their plot before they write? Harlan Coben doesn’t. John Grisham does. Robert Ludlum did, …
Why you should break Elmore Leonard’s writing rules…sometimes
Elmore Leonard, who died yesterday at 87, has 10 rules for writing. They don’t cover most of the important points of writing. They could really be …
10 Historical Thrillers You Have to Read
The unmissable best historical thrillers, including at least a few you haven’t heard of Naturally I’m assuming you’ve already read …
Writing with Paint: Learning Oils for My Caravaggio Novel ‘A Name in Blood’
To research A Name in Blood, my novel about the mystery of Caravaggio’s death, I traveled to all the places where the great artist lived and worked. I …
Rescuing Caravaggio from a Bad Rap
He was a raging psycho, an uncontrollably lustful homosexual, and a bit of a bitch. Somehow he also managed to produce some of the most sensitive and …
Researching my Caravaggio novel: Learning to Kill
In the chapel of the Pio Monte della Misericordia, I stood before the great painting now known as Seven Works of Mercy (Caravaggio called it Our Lady …
Inspiration for Mozart
I’m interviewed on the CBS columnist Jeff Glor’s blog about my new novel Mozart’s Last Aria. Here’s how it starts: Jeff Glor: …
Mozart and Machine Guns
I have a guest post on the excellent Wonders and Marvels historical fiction blog. It introduces some of the story behind why I wrote Mozart’s …
Me, Mozart and the intifada
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published …
Using real locations in historical fiction
Historical novelists recreate the emotions and events of distant times. For some novelists, this is a matter of supreme imagination and invention, …
Amadeus, Murder and the real Mozart
The long wait for a successor to Amadeus is over. In fact, my new novel MOZART’S LAST ARIA answers questions about the great composer’s death that are …