Dan Absalonson asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Thanks for doing this. I know that writing a lot is the best way to improve, but what have been some things you've learned as a writer that have pushed your works to a publishable state? For instance I realized I could write well - but did not know how to craft a good story. My first novels have no structure or plot beats. Knowing story structure has helped me a lot. Thanks!

Michael J. Sullivan I have no idea. As most people know I spent twenty years writing in a vacuum. I learned through trial and error in a very incremental manner, picking up things here and there. So the craft aspect of my writing was built up over many years of unnoticeable sediment. The only real change that occurred prior to my being published was that after years of trying to be a good writer, I gave up and just wrote a good story. In other words, I stopped trying to write what the literary world would approve of, and wrote what I knew would be entertaining, because it was entertaining to me. The other stuff I have mostly mastered without knowing it, although I’m still learning new things all the time. Learning to cut unnecessary words is an ongoing adventure.

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