T.D. Severin - Award-Winning Medical Thriller Author

So the real question then, is what is your book about? You can write a story about a doctor who solves a mass murder case at her hospital, but underneath the story, if you look hard, you'll probably find a deeper message or idea running through. This is the theme, at least in the way I use the word. Now, after you've finished your first draft, poured your heart and soul out onto the paper (or as I heard it referred to once,"breaking open the bones to find the marrow") it's time to take a look back at what you've done. Most authors recommend a cooling off period, which I agree with. Stephen King recommends six weeks, which seems about right. Finish the draft, put it away, clear your mind, meditate on a mountain and work on another project for a short while. A short story, a magazine article, your blog, whatever it takes to keep your fingers and mind writing, but not on your novel. Then, when the grapes have fermented, bring the book back up and re-read it. The ...

We'll continue our conversation on revising the novel, but I just wanted to pass on some news.  I’ve been holding off posting about this but since I just got the signed contract back I guess it’s really happening.  For years I’ve been writing my debut novel, a medical thriller, Deadly Vision, and now I’ve been offered a publishing contract.  Can’t believe it’s really happening, but I’m about to become a published novelist.  Penmore Press has graciously offered me the publishing deal.  Can't tell you how much it means that they believe in me and my story. I guess this means that the 10 Point Revision Strategy worked for me.  I hope it works for you too.  Of course that means I’m gonna subject you to all kinds of malarkey about the book, and promo, and stuff, so feel free to ignore me.  But for those of you who’ve ever written or tried to write, you’ll know my excitement.  Now, off to start plotting the next novel.  Which will inspire a wh...

  Let's get back to our earlier conversation about  theme . There's an excellent discussion of theme in Steven King's book,  On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft , which I would recommend to anyone who's interested in writing novels. Considering that these are the words of one of the best-selling writers of all time, it's certainly worth paying attention to what he has to say. His take on theme is very similar to mine, or should I say, my take is very similar to his (as I'm certain his views on this topic came first.) First of all, theme doesn't have to be big, overblown deal, and in fact, it shouldn't. To sit down and write a book about "X" theme, because you really want to make a moral or philosophical statement is usually a set-up for failure. In the days past, readers may have had patience for a dissertation on what the authors moral views of a subject were or their grand view on life, but not today. With the short-attention spans we're co...

 I had a very interesting experience recently in a conversation with Robert Dugoni. For those who don't know Robert, he's a very talented, quite successful writer, who first books have all been best-sellers. As we were talking, he asked me what my novel was about. Now, I've been working on this book since before the dawn of time. I've been living with it, married to it, at times divorced from it. I know it inside and out. I already have an agent for it, and Warner Books has asked me for this final revision that I'm now working on, as they're considering it. In other words, I know this book. But do you know what I said? To paraphrase my babbling: "It's a story about a guy who is working on this amazing medical research project, and his family is dead, and his wife is the daughter of a senator, and there's this company in Silicon Valley, and there's this contract killer, and they want the project to stop, and it all goes wrong, and. . . and. . . a...