Michael Connelly

Michael ConnellyMichael Connelly is the author of the many bestselling mystery novels including The Burning Room and The Lincoln Lawyer.

What is your method for overcoming writer’s block?

The battering ram. What I mean by that is rewriting. I back up into the pages I have already written and start rewriting and moving forward. It usually helps me gather momentum that takes me through the block like a battering ram.

What are your favorite or most helpful writing prompts?

My answer to everything is probably rewriting. It seems to me to be the key to everything. I usually start each day by reading and editing what I wrote the day before. I, then, enter the fixes and rewrites and this seems to get me going.

What is the most valuable advice you received as a young writer?

From an interview I read with Kurt Vonnegut: Make sure that on every page every character wants something, even if it is only a drink of water.