The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

How Bestselling Author Greg Iles Writes: Part One


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The hyper-prolific, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Greg Iles, took a few minutes to chat with me this week about the conclusion to his epic trilogy, his unique writing process, and making the move to television.

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Start getting more from your site today!At 16 novels and counting — all but one of which have hit bestsellers lists — Greg has been called the “…William Faulkner for the Breaking Bad generation,” and his books have been adapted for film, translated into over 20 languages, and published in more than 35 countries.

His epic Natchez Burning trilogy clocks in at close to 750,000 words and started out as a single novel that he expanded after a near death experience — a car crash that left him in a coma — which ultimately changed his mind about how he wanted to write it.

His final installment in the series, Mississippi Blood, concludes the story of Southern lawyer Penn Cage, (the protagonist of six of his books including The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and New York Times #1 bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl).

Iles’s epic tale of “… love and honor, hatred and revenge … explores how the sins of the past continue to haunt the present,” and Stephen King described the series as “… extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful.”

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In Part One of this file Greg Iles and I discuss:

  • Why the author decided to take a break from rock’n’roll to start writing novels
  • The importance of finding your unique writing voice
  • How Greg tries to go as long as possible without writing a word
  • On the author’s frenetic writing sprints and impressive word counts
  • Why writers need to not “overthink” the process

  • The Show Notes

    • If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress
    • GregIles.com
    • Greg Iles Event Dates
    • Greg Iles – Author page on Amazon
    • Greg Iles concludes his spectacular Natchez Burning trilogy – The Washington Post
    • Greg Iles on Facebook
    • Greg Iles on Twitter
    • Kelton Reid on Twitter
    • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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      The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and NeuroscienceBy Kelton Reid

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