Mark Gilroy

Bringing Books to Life!

Writing & Creativity

Mark has had hundreds of articles, curriculum pieces, videos, and books published throughout his writing career, which began as a local newspaper sports writer while he was in college. He offers some humble advice with a good sense of humor.

Writing: You Gotta Love It; You Gotta Hate It

Writing is a love-hate relationship.

Writing: you gotta love it and you gotta hate it!

I love churning out 5,000 words in a day. But I hate deleting 5,000 words from a section that just wasn’t working. (Some things you’ve added to your story just don’t fit and can’t be saved.)

I love coming up with a surprise ending. But I hate having to wade through 400 pages to fix spoilers and drop in appropriate hints for the alert reader. (I know from experience that alert readers will let you know when you missed one thing.)

I love approving press proofs. But I hate proof reading and finding yet another typo or a missing question mark. (I personally believe that errors are real entities that get to work after you shut down your computer for the night.) [Read more…]

Write Drunk, Edit Sober

"Write drunk, edit sober," was attributed to Hemingway - he swore he never drank and wrote.

“Write drunk, edit sober,” is often attributed to Hemingway – but he swore he never drank and wrote.

“Write drunk, edit sober,” was the advice to aspiring authors from novelist, Peter De Vries. (The quote is often erroneously attributed to Ernest Hemingway, perhaps because he was famous for his voracious drinking—though he claimed he never drank while he wrote.)

I’ll quickly note that I’m not recommending De Vries’ battle plan for writing—not literally anyway—but I think he makes a great point on the different mindsets authors need to bring to the writing process.

6 hat thinking for writing

Try on all 6 hats for your next writing project!

I recently wrote a blog called 6 Thinking Hats for Writing. The 6 Thinking Hats is a system developed for business by Edward De Bono. I borrowed his concepts and applied it to the writing task:

• The White Hat is neutral; it is simply when an author seeks more information before making any judgments.

• The Red Hat is when an author lets their emotions pour into the writing process and add passion to the story.

• The Yellow Hat is optimistic and believes anything is possible; it is positive and upbeat and encouraging.

• Green Hat thinking represents creativity; how can we come up with something new and different?

• The Blue Hat is when we have to get very organized and figure out how everything works together—and how to get the project done.

• The Black Hat plays “devil’s advocate” and challenges everything; it is not kind toward ideas that don’t quite work. [Read more…]

What Inspired You to Create Kristen?

Mark Gilroy is author of Cold As Ice

In NYC at the BookExpo America Convention this past summer.

What inspired you to create Kristen Conner? That was the lead question by author, writer, columnist, and reviewer Kim Ford in a recent interview where I am on the cover of Christian Fiction Online Magazine. Click the link to read the entire interview that includes questions on starting a new publishing company, Sydney Lane Press, whether the Russian Mafia – one of the storylines in Cold As Ice – is a real menace in America, and the biggest changes I’ve seen in the publishing industry over the past 35 years. Thanks for a great interview Kim!

Kristen Conner – one of three daughters of a felled Chicago policeman who has contributed more than her fair share toward the elimination of crime in her city. Tell us how you were inspired to create this character.

I am such a fan of character-driven mystery series, I knew that’s what I wanted to create. First question, of course, was male or female? I considered flipping a coin. The decision was simple though. I looked at my own family. With three sons and three daughters, I’ll confess, my daughters provided more drama in my life! Now I’ve probably got myself in trouble again.

Let me mention one other inspiration as I created Kristen Conner. I started with the premise that I would not write a Christian series. I would do my best to write for the mystery genre. But just as Tony Hillerman, Fay Kellerman, and many others have written series with a very distinctly religious and reflective character, I would write Kristen as a Christian – a “church girl.” That may be a nuance but I think she has been very well received by readers who bought the books from the perspective of either genre. Read the full interview.