Advice from the Masters: Michael Crichton

May 2, 2012 | Better Writing

Michael Crichton sold over 200 million books in his life. Most of them were action novels with a strong background in science and technology. Many of them were re-crafted into television productions and films. In 1994, he was the only writer ever to have a work ranked number one in books (Disclosure), film (Jurassic Park), and television (ER). Here’s his advice about writing books.

“Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

One of the biggest challenges when you’re writing a book is staying with it until you get it right. Sometimes that means blowing it all up and starting over. Sometimes it means going over and over and over the same chapter until it’s right.

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