What to Expect

​

 

First of all, I write to express, not to impress. I have a fairly good vocabulary but don’t use a big word where a more familiar one will serve just as well. You won’t need to have a dictionary handy when reading my books. Even if you run across a new word, you’ll know immediately what it means just by the context in which I’ve used it. At some later point, you could look it up for the exact meaning, but you won’t need to slow down or lose concentration while reading.

Second, I consider myself a minimalist and here’s what I mean by that. When I write, the first thing I do is crash, get all of my thoughts on paper. At this point I’m not concerned about spelling grammar, punctuation, or any of the English teacher stuff. Once I’ve got all my thoughts written down, then I’ll go back and get everything letter perfect. Then comes the hard part: editing out huge chunks of the manuscript. I’ll be ruthless about deleting every word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph that isn’t absolutely essential to the story. For example, when editing Warriors about a quarter to a third of the manuscript ended up on the cutting room floor. When you read one of my books, you get nothing but meat. You won’t find any fat, bone, or gristle. I don’t get paid by the word and I don’t want to waste your time with filler.

And finally, I do my very best to stay in the active voice. Just in case it’s been a few years since sophomore English class, allow me to explain. First, here’s an example of the passive voice:

 

The prisoner was taken out and shot.

 

Yes, it conveys the author’s message, but it reads like a dull report. Now here are some examples of the active voice conveying the very same message:

 

I took the prisoner out and shot him.

We took the prisoner out and shot him.

 

Both of these examples are in the active voice, the first example in first person and the second example in second person. In each case the reader might feel he’s a witness to the event, maybe even an active participant. That’s what the active voice does for writing—it gets the reader involved. The more involved the reader is, the more interesting the book. I want my readers to get hooked from the first page.

If you’d like to sample any of my books, just click on one of the cover photos and you’ll be taken to the Amazon Web page where you can again click on the book cover for a sample of what’s inside.

Should you decide you’d like to read the whole volume, they’re available in either paperback (order on-line or from a bookstore) or Kindle edition. Don’t have a Kindle device? The Amazon site will allow you to download free enabling software to whatever device you’re using.

I’ve had several people tell me, “Ed, you wouldn’t need to sign your personal correspondence and I’d still know it was you. You write just like you talk!” That’s my goal, to make my writing conversational. A sister-in-law finished reading an essay and asked, “Ed, did you write this?” When I admitted I had, she replied, “I should have known because it reads so easy!” I hope that’s exactly the way you find my writing.

​

Thank you so much for your interest in my books. Happy reading!