[On October 1, 1950, the Philadelphia Phillies played the greatest game in their long history—their historic victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. I realize that there have been other important, and significant games, playoff wins, World Series wins, clutch games, etc. But, in my humble opinion, no other game had the stakes, displayed the guts, and …
When I wrote Drink to Every Beast, an environmental legal thriller, I was asked if my book was an “eco-thriller.” I associated eco-thrillers with such great thrillers as James Patterson’s Zoo and Preston and Child’s excellent Relic. I wondered how my book could be lumped into the same category as a book about all of …
The hero dashes from one continent to the next trying to stop the evil scientist/ evil corporation/ evil megalomaniac from flipping the switch and causing a world-wide catastrophe. The eco-thriller! Not only a novel, but coming to a screen near you. There was a time when the vast majority of thrillers involving environmental issues, so …
Basic Writing Craft Library (and a few other resources) This list started with one compiled by Geri Krotow and my debut author friends at Int’l Thriller Writers and I have added to it: by Joel Burcat, Elena Hartwell Taylor, Ricky Treon, Sue Hinkin, L.A. Chandler, Heather Chavez, Richard Santos, Harvey Freedenberg The Elements of Style …
Since finding out that I have written and published a novel many people have told me that one of their bucket list life goals is to write a novel. They’ve asked me many questions. I have a lot of thoughts on this and am happy to share them. There are many, many books and articles …
What is the difference between Eco-Thrillers, Environmental Thrillers, and Environmental Legal Thrillers? By Joel Burcat My novel, DRINK TO EVERY BEAST, is an environmental legal thriller. That makes it different from eco-thrillers and environmental thrillers. All are thrillers, meaning that there will be a lot of action, quick pacing, suspense, dread, excitement, surprise, anticipation and …
One year ago today, January 7, 2018, I was on a business trip to Oklahoma City. Earlier that morning I noticed a slight distortion in the vision of my right eye along the very bottom, almost as though there was mucus along my eyelid. It had been two years since I had experienced NAION, https://tinyurl.com/y72a6xfp, …
Since finding out that I have written a novel many people have told me that one of their bucket list goals is to write a novel. They’ve asked me many questions. Here are a few of their questions and my thoughts and takeaways. 1. I’m not sure what I want to write about, but what do …
SO, YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL? (January 4, 2019) Read More »
This is complicated, so I’m going to break it down. I’ll send out a series of FAQs on this. Stick with me for a minute. There are a couple of concepts you need to know then you can take a break. First, climate change is not weather. It is not a single Category 5 hurricane …
Joel Burcat contracted non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in his left eye in July 2016. This disease caused permanent blindness in that eye. While he could still see, he could no longer see well enough to read out of that eye and the disease made correction–either through lenses or an operation–impossible. On January 7, 2018, …