How NY Times Bestselling Author Peter Heller Writes: Part One - Redux

Part 1 of 2 Throwback to a Pre-Pandemic podcast! Pete has some big news on the radar …

The New York Times bestselling novelist, award-winning adventure writer, and journalist, Peter Heller, spoke with me about his early life as a starving poet, breaking into journalism, how he makes things up for a living, and what it's like to be compared to your heroes.

Peter is a longtime contributor to NPR, and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in fiction and poetry, is the author of four nonfiction books, and winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.

Heller is also a notable bestselling author of a half-dozen novels including The Dog Stars – a lauded breakout bestseller, now published in 22 languages – The Painter, and Celine (a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize that won the prestigious Reading the West Book Award, shared in the past by Western writer Cormac McCarthy).

His latest novel, and Edgar Award Nominee, The River, has been called a "... heart-pounding survival story of .... two college students on a wilderness canoe trip – [and] a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence."

The New York Times called The River, “[A] modern-day survival tale .... [with] the urgency of a thriller.”

[This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to⁠ ⁠ulys.app/writeabook⁠⁠ to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."]

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In this file Peter and I discussed:

How the author channels his fictional characters

The only way to start a novel

Why once you start "making it up" you can never go back

Productivity hacks for writing 1000 words a day, rain or shine

The importance of connecting with your #writingcommunity

And fantastic advice from other award-winning authors to help you relax and let it rip

Show Notes:

The River: A novel⁠ by Peter Heller [Amazon]

peterhellerauthor.com

⁠Peter Heller on Amazon⁠

⁠Peter Heller on Facebook⁠

Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer⁠

⁠diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram⁠

⁠Kelton Reid Instagram⁠

⁠Kelton Reid on Twitter

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