Susan Stephens' Writing Diary

The only good thing about flying is the amount of time you get to read.
I have just devoured Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Fantastic. What a mind, what a writer, what a plot. Absolutely fantastic.

Now I'm reading The Da Vinci Code. Something tells me you are not supposed to read these two books back to back. Why? Well, everyone accuses romance of being formulaic, which it is not- at least no more than a murder mystery where you must read to the end to discover 'who dunnit'.
Dan Brown is a brilliant writer- but within ten lines of the first page of The Da Vinci Code I knew exactly what was going to happen to poor Jacques Sauniere, because his demise so closely followed the pattern, if not the actual method used to kill him of poor old Leonardo Vetra in Angels and Demons.

There is nothing wrong with sticking to a winning recipe. If your readers love chocolate cake, why shouldn't they have chocolate cake? Why try to snag some lovely unsuspecting bod's teeth on date and walnut?

Will I read on to the end of The Da Vinci Code? You betcha! It's not knowing the outcome of the journey that keeps me hooked, its the road Dan Brown takes to get there that keeps me reading...

Happy writing and reading every genre everyone!!
Love to you all!
Susan