DANPOLLOCKTHRILLERS.COM

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : ORIGINS OF 'THE RUNNING BOY'

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014/11/origins-of-running-boy.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Sunday, November 16, 2014. ORIGINS OF 'THE RUNNING BOY'. Back in 1963 there was a movie called The Running Man. Starring Lawrence Harvey (just one year after he played The Manchurian Candidate. I never saw it, or the 1987 flick of the same name (this one with Arnold Schwarzenegger and based on a 1982 Stephen King book). But I salted away the title, as I did the premise of John Gilstrap’s terrific 1997 thriller, Nathan’s Run,. In a 1941 Hollywood version). Andrew Da...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : October 2013

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Friday, October 11, 2013. TO PLOT OR NOT. Plot Outline Map from Hollywood Story Structure Guru Robert McKee. When it comes to plotting a novel, there are two basic approaches and, thus, two kinds of writers. There are the naturals, the seat-of-your-pants folks who “just do it.” Their stories “just grow’d,” like Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It’s all overdue for the recycling bin. But what about the “naturals”? How does yarn-spinning work for them? 8220;Most thrillers...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : April 2014

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Tuesday, April 29, 2014. MY ‘COLLISION COURSE’ NOVEL. I remember as a boy reading a gripping account of the 1956 collision of two passenger ships off the coast of Nantucket, the Andrea Doria. The book, Collision Course. Was a best-seller, and deservedly so. The author, Alvin Moscow, told his tale in a straight-ahead journalistic style (he was a former New York Times. Which details a more famous maritime collision, between the RMS Titanic. Hen it did, it turned on a...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : July 2013

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Thursday, July 25, 2013. Your characters are obviously more important than their settings, but there is a critical and creative synergy between character and setting- a synergy that takes place in the reader’s brain. The late, great John D. MacDonald codified it this way: "When the environment is less real, the people you put into that environment become less believable, and less interesting.". Note also that MacDonald is using sensory cues in his quick sketch of t...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : MY ‘COLLISION COURSE’ NOVEL

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-collision-course-novel.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Tuesday, April 29, 2014. MY ‘COLLISION COURSE’ NOVEL. I remember as a boy reading a gripping account of the 1956 collision of two passenger ships off the coast of Nantucket, the Andrea Doria. The book, Collision Course. Was a best-seller, and deservedly so. The author, Alvin Moscow, told his tale in a straight-ahead journalistic style (he was a former New York Times. Which details a more famous maritime collision, between the RMS Titanic. Hen it did, it turned on a...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : AUTHOR INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER BARTLEY

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014/12/author-interview-christopher-bartley.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Wednesday, December 31, 2014. AUTHOR INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER BARTLEY. Incredibly, in his spare time, Chris has now written a stunning series of. What are your novels about? Why did you choose 1934? Tell us about your protagonist, “Ross Duncan”? Who is he and what drives him? Before I started writing my first novel They Die Alone. 8221; He is humbled and alone in the big concrete city, overcast by the planetary conditions of an indifferent god, still searching. Why a...

my-thrillers.blogspot.com

Thriller-Writer: April 2015

http://my-thrillers.blogspot.com/2015_04_01_archive.html

GUESTS. and the random scribblings of a novelist. Wednesday, April 29, 2015. My Guest: Dan Pollock. You've heard that old cliché 'Write what you know'? Well my Guest this week is here to reveal a few secrets regarding writing about stuff outside your comfort zone. Ladies and Gentlemen. Writing What You Don't Know. I’m not one of them, alas. I’m a bookish, sedentary guy who conjures up macho heroes for fun and profit. Which means I have to research almost everything I write about. Ambler promised to read ...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : October 2014

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Sunday, October 19, 2014. BEST-SELLERS OF YESTERYEAR—EDISON MARSHALL. When it comes to my taste in books and music and art, I am, I confess, a contrarian. If I’m reading a best-selling novel, it’s far more likely to be from the 1950s than the current “hot” title by Donna Tartt or Ian McEwan or [insert name of currently incandescent author here]. But let him tell it:. Despite avoiding Hollywood, Marshall enjoyed some major book-to-movie sales. Benjamin Blake. A hist...

danpollock.blogspot.com

Dan Pollock's Thrillerblog : June 2014

http://danpollock.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html

MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS. Tuesday, June 10, 2014. AUTHOR INTERVIEW: T.S. O’NEIL. TS O’Neil reprints a review that describes his “action-packed crime novels” Tampa Star. As artful blends of “Fifties detective noir with modern-day high-tech suspense.” I agree, but when I speed-read the opening chapters of. Author T.S. O'Neil. So what do I call you? Please call me Tim. Okay, Tim, let me start with a compliment. I was carried away by the unique narrative power in Tampa Star. So all of these ama...