The writing life.

It's none of their business that you have to learn to    
write.  Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest Hemingway

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.  You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
​E. L. Doctorow

Writing a book can be a great experience.   For the average person, though, it can be daunting.  So, be patient and expect criticisms.  It may take a while to be a decent writer.  And, once your work goes public, expect an occasional harsh review.  There are readers out there who are very cruel. 

                                                           WRITE, READ, IMAGINE.  REPEAT.

TALKING DIALOGUE
Dialogue is indispensable to a story, especially when it's fiction.  Good dialogue can mold a character and can sometimes be pivotal to story.   Here are eight steps to a better dialogue.
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CHARACTER NOTES.
The first Stephen King book I read was “The Stand”.  Undeniably it was a great story.  But what drew me into this story more than anything else were the characters.  He painted them so magnificently that I felt like I knew them.  And this was not a story of three or four characters.  There were plenty of them.  Yet, none of them were the same.  This was not simply a matter of changing their hair styles, or the color of their eyes.  He displayed their inner being that distinguished one personality from another.  These were not simply cardboard people.  I could see them in my mind’s eye.  
The characters are the heart of a story.  If the characters are not believable, the storyline will suffer.
Here are a few steps to create real, believable characters.
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​It is best to start a story off with a bang.  You need to get the attention of the reader.  You need to keep the reader turning pages until they feel they can’t quit.  They have to know the rest of the story.  This does not pertain to everybody.  If you’re Stephen King, James Patterson, John Grisham, or any other successful, top-notch author, people will read your book even if it starts off slow.

The middle of the book has to be good as well, pulling the reader along toward the finish.  This is where the action and conflicts unfold, where characters are developed.  This is where the plot is revealed.
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After all of this, you need to have a good ending.  As you know, not all stories end with something like “and they lived happily ever after”.  I recently finished a short story.  When I got to the end, I didn’t have a suitable ending.  It took me a couple of days to figure it out.  Even then, I had to go back to earlier pages and change some things to make it all make sense.

Sometimes when writing a difficult book, I feel like ending it by saying, “And then he woke up.  It was all a dream.”
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Suppose someone reads your book and likes it but hates the ending.  That may keep them from coming back to read a second one.

Reasons why Authors use small towns for their horror novels.

Small towns can be a compelling setting for horror stories due to their isolation. In contrast to cities, where assistance is readily available, the distance between houses in small towns can amplify feelings of isolation or being watched. Dark streets without the typical array of streetlamps found in larger towns, along with nearby woods filled with unsettling sounds, can add suspense and suggest something ominous.
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If you are about to publish your first self-published book there are a couple of things you should know.  Unless you have a lot of friends and family willing to buy your book, chances are you won't get a single sale, even if it's a great book.

People like to know what they are getting for their money before they buy something.  A relatively unknown author advertising their own book usually won't cut it.  They want to see what others think about the book.

It doesn't seem logical at first, but you have to give away books before you can sell them.  What you want is good reviews. 

People don't pass up too many things that are free.  The more people who get the book (an eBook preferred) the better chance it will be reviewed.  Reviews lead to sales.

​It is my experience that get the most reviews is the really good ones or the really bad ones.  Try to make your book the good one.