In this book I reveal Michael Crichton’s technique for plotting out a story that he developed while attending Harvard Medical School.

Michael Crichton?
As some of you may remember, Michael Crichton was not just a successful author — selling over 200 million copies of his books worldwide — but he was also a successful film producer, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.

Was he?
In 1994 he had the unique distinction of becoming the only person to have the number one book in sales, “Disclosure,” the number one television show, “ER,” and the number one film, “Jurassic Park,” all in the same year.

Oh wow.
In “Writing Made Easy” I also share what I learned from master Hollywood creative writing instructor Lajos Egri, including his method for developing memorable characters. Egri also taught that “You need to formulate a premise, and start a story at a crisis, which will be the turning point in your main character’s life.”

Because I also teach creative writing, I have included all the secrets I learned along the way as a screenwriter and epic novelist.

Who do you teach? Who is this book aimed at?
“Writing Made Easy” will appeal to anyone writing creatively – from someone writing short stories, a novella or an epic novel, to screenwriting, script writing and/or writing plays.

My students in community education at Yavapai College age from 16 to 70 — although I think this book would also work for middle-school students. It is step-by-step instruction.

If you like succinct books that deliver information clearly and concisely — giving examples of how to do something, rather than just saying how to do it — this book will appeal to you.

Give us a practical example.
Chapter 1 is where most of us fail. If an agent, publisher and/or reviewer are not grabbed right from the beginning when reading Chapter 1, our manuscript will sadly be thrown into the “dead pile.”

My seven distinct steps for this crucial chapter are: (1) Setting the Scene; (2) Introducing the Protagonist; (3) Setting the Mood; (4) Introducing Important Secondary Characters; (5) Introducing the Antagonist; (6) Introducing the Pivotal Character (drives the conflict); and (7) Setting Up a Crisis.

Any chance of another example?
At the end of the book I get into the importance of research, critiquing your work, having a concise pitch, copyrighting your book, formats for novel writing and screenwriting, getting published, getting reviews, advertising your book, and good reference works.

You say you’re a novelist yourself.
I wrote the epic novel The Atlanteans.

See www.TheAtlanteans.com.

The website for “Writing Made Easy” is under construction right now.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was born in Chicago, Illinois, lived in California for about 20 years, and now reside in Prescott, Arizona.

Although my background has been working in law for almost three decades, I am also a screenwriter, an epic novelist and a creative writing instructor.

I also took a career designation program through UCLA’s extension in motion picture arts and sciences. People who work in the industry taught those courses.

“Writing Made Easy” was introduced at BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City recently. It will also be presented at the American Library Association (ALA) meeting in Las Vegas later. Following this will be the shows in Beijing and Frankfort, Germany.

I continue to enjoy teaching creative writing — many of my students have advanced degrees and are writing fascinating stories. I always do a storyline edit of their work, before they read their latest chapter to the class, and this keeps me very busy.

Recently I was invited to Writers Helping Writers, where I blogged about Michael Crichton’s technique for plotting.