Robert Brighton On The 5 Things You Need to Know to Become a Great Author

In a very crowded writer’s market, good writing isn’t going to be good enough to cut through the clutter. You have to turn in a great effort — your very best effort — every single time. The key to that is not to rely upon genius, inspiration, or ‘the Muse’ — but rather to devote an outsized amount of time and effort to careful, dogged, repeated editing.

As part of my interview series on the five things you need to know to become a great author, I had the pleasure of interviewing author Robert Brighton. Robert Brighton is the author of five novels, including The Phantom of Forest Lawn, The Buffalo Butcher, and the Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries — all of which are in within what he calls the ‘immersive historical fiction’ genre. Prior to becoming a full-time author, he has been a mule wrangler, vintage automobile restorer, and has traveled to fifty-six countries around the world. He currently lives in Virginia with his wife and two British Shorthair cats.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

Thank you for inviting me! If I had to tease out a single moment or episode that convinced me to be a writer, I would suppose it would be something that happened one morning quite a few years ago. At that time I had what people used to call a ‘high-powered job’, working for some of the chief executives of DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware. My office was on one of the upper floors of the DuPont Building downtown, and every day I would take the stairs as an exercise thing (and to wake myself up in the morning, if I’m honest).

The DuPont Building is a lovely old Italian Renaissance building, and even the fire stairs were all made of polished marble. Well, this…