Attending to details so that the bigger picture can emerge.
Are you looking at this period of home detention as a golden opportunity to begin your novel? It is that, of course. But before you think seriously of getting started, here’s a word of advice: Make sure your subject will … Continued
You can never predict where research will lead you when writing an historical novel. One fact I could not avoid when doing research for “The Designated Virgin” was the deep political divides that existed at the time of the Civil … Continued
Rambo’s Hotel was a favorite location spot for Biograph actors and other film companies looking for a rustic backdrop for their motion pictures in the early 1900s. Set back in the trees and grape arbors of Coytesville, New Jersey, it … Continued
In the beginning, the movies were of two minds —D.W. Griffith’s and Mack Sennett’s. Griffith and Sennett were both young men when they came stumbling into the Biograph Co. in 1908. Each had tasted professional failure and was more than … Continued
When I sat down to write “The Ben-Hur Murders,” one of the things I most wanted to do was dramatize Hollywood’s historically American roots. Early silent movies may have been pitched to immigrants but it was their vision of America’s … Continued
“The historian’s problem is always the separating of fact from fantasy,” wrote film historian Robert M. Henderson. That should make everyone who writes “reality-based” historical fiction his arch enemy, including me. My novel “The Ben-Hur Murders: Inside the 1925 Hollywood … Continued
A lot changes in the course of shaping a novel. Early in the writing of “The Ben-Hur Murders,” I put more emphasis on the ex-cavalry soldier, Buddy Ardale. He had ridden with the Rough Riders in Cuba, but by the … Continued
My new Kindle Book is now available on Amazon — both as a Kindle digital download and as a paperback edition. You can find the book by clicking on the button below:
I’ve always loved historical fiction. Historical fiction takes us as close as we can get to the people who actually lived through past events. Historians can’t do that; in fact, it’s not their job to do that. But within the … Continued