Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider books about a 14 year old spy have sold ten million copies worldwide.

In an interview, Anthony Horowitz: The secret life of a spy master the author talks about the Alex Rider character: “He’s not surprised that those about Alex Rider have been the most successful. ‘Alex is the most real character I’ve written,’ he says. ‘I vividly remember being 14. That was the age when I started to get happy: I started being a writer and stopped being a loser.’”

I’ve just written an article for my new write a book membership site about defining moments in a character’s life; you discover that defining moment by evaluating your own defining moment. Once you can see what it is, you understand how to find it in story characters.

The defining moment of your story person’s life can be looked on as a seed: this is what shaped your character and it’s what will make him real to both you and your readers.

In unsuccessful novels (and you’ll know as you write it that the book’s not coming to life) characters are either wishy-washy or cardboard.

Find the defining moment: it’s the beginning of really getting to know your character.

Discover the secrets of writing a book which will sell in Writing Freelance Star: Write A Book.

When you’re selling a nonfiction book on proposal the proposal needs to make sense.

The letters in More World’s Worst Book Proposals By Angela Hoy just don’t make sense:

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p>Is there a way to supplement the submission process that might allow me to send in a representative sample chapter instead? I am confident you will be able to judge the quality of my work from such. In addition to submitting a representative sample, I could provide a letter from my lawyer supporting the quality of my writing…”

Read the entire article. Great stuff.

Knowing how to write a book proposal is essential.

It’s one of the first skills you’ll develop on our membership site.

Publisher’s Lunch reports on a major novel deal for The Lace Reader:

Brunonia Barry’s originally self-published debut supernatural thriller THE LACE READER, about a woman who can see the future by reading patterns in lace who returns home to Salem, Massachusetts after her great-aunt goes missing, to Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow, in a major deal, reportedly for $2 million (NY Mag), at auction, by Rebecca Oliver at Endeavor (world English).