Max McCoy FAQ

A: No. I don't have time to read manuscripts, screenplays, or give personal advice. All such material will be disposed of unread. Please don't take this personally, because it is no reflection on your talent. If I agreed to all the manuscript requests I get, I wouldn't have time to write my own stories. But I can freely share some advice: find a writing workshop that features agents and especially editors in the genre you want to work in, spend some time listening to what these folks have to say, and then if you have a manuscript or book project that you honestly think an editor or agent would be interested in, pitch it -- but do it politely. Many workshops have agent / editor sessions in which you sign up in advance, and then get five or ten minutes to pitch your story. This is an excellent opportunity, because even if you went to New York and started knocking on doors, you wouldn't be able to have a face-to-face meeting with these folks unless you've just (insert imaginative act here) the president or otherwise become notorious.

Q: I have a great idea for a novel / movie. I'm sure it will make a bazillion dollars, and I will give you 50 percent, and all you have to do is write it.

A: I get two or three of these letters a month. There are very few truly original ideas out there (and cloning Jesus is not one of them), and I have more than enough ideas of my own to keep my busy for the rest of my natural life. In fact, it makes me sad to think I just won't get to them all. I suggest that if your idea is that good, you write it yourself.

Q: I'd love to write the next Indiana Jones. Will you help me get my Indy book published?

A: Sorry, I can't do that. The Indiana Jones novels are licensed by Lucasfilm, and George Lucas was kind enough to allow me to play in his universe for awhile, based on the recommendation of my editor at Bantam and a sample chapter that apparently had the right stuff. If you'd like to write media tie-ins, I suggest you do what I did: Write some other novels first to prove you can tell a story, find an editor who believes in your talent, and -- most important of all -- be in the right place at the right time. That last is the tough one. I would have liked to have written some of the Highlander novels, because I'm such a fan, but I doubt that I will ever get the chance. There can be only one!

Q: Can you tell me about the next Indiana Jones movie?

A: Yes, but I'd have to kill you (rim shot). Actually, I don't know anything that hasn't already been in Variety or the Hollywood Reporter and I don't believe half of that. So, your guess it just as good as mine when it comes to the next Indy movie.

Q: Are your Indiana Jones novels for adults or children?

A: Adults. Adolescents can probably handle them, but I did not intend them for children. Please do not confuse them with any Young Adult (YA) Indiana Jones novels.

Q: Will you speak to my school, library, or writers group?

A: Yes, if it fits into my schedule. Sorry, but I can't speak for free. Request fee me schedule by email. If you think I should work for free because I owe it to my fans, then try using that logic on your physician or grocer or plumber. What I owe my fans is my best work. Speaking engagements are time consuming, and even if I'm just speaking for an hour at a location a few hundred miles away, that shoots two or three days out of my writing schedule in travel time, preparation, and decompression.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: If you have to ask, you're probably not a writer. Ideas are all around us, every hour of every day, crying out for our attention. Heartbreaking stories on the newspaper's front page, scenes worthy of Shakespeare taking place on every city street, conversations overhead in coffee shops and malls and doctor's offices that are more dramatic than anything you're ever likely to write -- and probably better than anything you've ever read. If you're a writer, keep a notebook. Jot the ideas down. And if you're lucky, you might be able to do justice to one or two if you work hard every day and you survive to the Biblical fourscore and then.

Q: Why do you have to use sex, violence, and bad language in some of your books?

A: Because it is sometimes needed for a better story, because it mimics reality, and because I just feel like it sometimes. Hey, this is art. Watched Showtime lately? I think you can handle the eroticism and violence in The Moon Pool. And, as Mark Twain pointed out, there's a book in most libraries that is filled with the murder of innocents, incest, mass killings, and other assorted mayhem -- and it's called the Bible.