Let Robert Ludlum help you write a best selling mystery novel. He gave me a number of tips I am now sharing with other writers. For many years he wrote very little. Then he began to do voice-overs for TV commercials;
At age 40 he had a talk with his wife. "I want to take two years to see if I can become a writer. I really don't know whether I can. But we have enough money to get by during that period if we are careful. If it doesn't work, I will go back to one of my earlier occupations."
His wife agreed.
Of course he succeeded, so well that his books have now been published in seventeen countries - with titles virtually every writer knows - The Osterman Weekend, The Matlock Paper, The Rhiemann Exchange, The Bourne Identity
One surprise: He got most of his "inside" information for writing about the CIA, FBI, and criminal investigations from the U.S. Government printing office store in Washington, D,C.
Here are some of his other writing tips.
1. Collect information when you travel. I met some fascinating people who had run away from life in the Caribbean. A successful New York ad man became a disk jockey on St. Thomas. I changed his name and put him in one of my books.
2. I travel with my family. I ask them to join me in collecting everything as we go - theater stubs, taxi receipts, menus, tourist brochures, maps - I put them in a giant scrapbook along with pictures. Then I have a complete reference book for my hero - where he stops, what he eats, trouble on a bridge in Venice.
3. Keep a diary every day. Some things are hard to believe. Once my son and I had a cab driver in Greece who drank too much Greek wine. He could not drive us back to the hotel. I had to take over as cab driver. These are things you can't invent. Write them down. Writers will find a use for them.
I originally thought I would auction one copy of this tape on ebay to the highest bidder. But then I realized that was old-fashioned greed. I decided to sell copies to any writer who wanted one for $29.95. If it wasn't what they expected, I also stated that I would buy it back and refund the money. It's available at a buy now price on ebay. Easy way to find it is to go to search in www.ebay,com and type in "Write a mystery novel Robert Ludlum" in the box and you will go right to the page with complete details..
