Goodreads asked James Dalessandro:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

James Dalessandro I'm one of those writers who also teaches, mostly screenwriting, though I have edited a lot of fiction manuscripts and magazine articles. Here's the big secret: read. Learn from the masters, the people who inspire you should also guide you. Master your craft - I see people writing books and screenplays who can't write a sentence. Forget the "write what you know' nonsense. Know what you write. See what others have done in a similar genre, and try to be different, to do what they didn't do. Hang out with crazy, creative people. I was on the morning news in San Francisco for my 1906 novel, and the host asked me the secret to a successful writing career. Assuming I had one. "A wife with a steady job" was my answer. Thy were howling when I left.

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