Pete Sutton's Blog, page 10

Writing About Writing About Writing Review 8

Part 8 of an intermittent series where I read or re-read the writing books on my shelf to see if they’re worth keeping. See previous part here

I’ve been on my holidays for a couple of weeks but i still managed to re-read a couple of the books on the shelf.

I got the Bestseller code as an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) some point in the past. The authors have used ‘big data’ analysis methods to study thousands of books for patterns that bestsellers (NYT Bestsellers) share. There’s some interesting information in here (but it’s in no way a ‘how to write’ book) not least of which is the shape of stories in bestsellers. Also how Dan Brown and E L James write similar books beat-wise (but obviously very different plots). They analyse character, theme and style and say that their model can predict a bestseller with over 90% probability. This book was published in 2017 and I wonder how the model has evolved since and if any publishers have started using it.

It’s an interesting read and I think I’ll keep it but it won’t stay on the ‘how to’ book shelf.

My copy of Understanding Fiction by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren was published in the 40’s so it’s a bit musty. There is a 3rd edition on Amazon from 1979. Brooks and Warren present a book aimed at teachers of fiction with a collection of classic and contemporary (30’s/40’s) stories that highlight how fiction works in 5 sections and an appendix. There is a note for the teacher (which for some odd reason goes off on a tangent about irony) and explores fiction by intention, what plot, character and theme reveals, ‘special problems’ (style, atmosphere, symbolism etc.) and an appendix on ‘Principles on the composition of fiction.’

Having read the stories before (some of which are quite old and dull e.g. Kipling, Dickens, but some of which are old and still fresh e.g. Chekov, Bierce) I re-read the commentary and appendix. Although it’s a bit fusty it’s more useful (imho) than The Art of the Short Story – which attempts the same thing, but the commentary on stories in that book are by the authors of the stories and very hit and miss.

I found the information to be mostly still relevant and am retaining this one even though its a bit of a monster at over 500 pages. However it seems to be quite expensive to obtain and if I hadn’t picked it up at a second hand shop I wouldn’t have sought it out at the kind of price being asked for. (The fact that the cheapest UK copy on Abebooks is over £100 tempts me to sell my copy!)

Next up I’ll start on the ‘How to Fiction’ pile starting with a general guide to writing: “The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing,” which is over 600 pages so may take a while. After that I’ll read the classics like Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones (I’ll literally start with the classics though! I have a Penguin copy of Aristotle, Horace & Longinus called “Classical Literary Criticism” which I’ll read after the Norton.) This is going to be a long series of posts, I do have a lot of writing books!

Drop a comment with your favourite writing book or tip here or email me via the Contact page. If you’re a publisher or Indie Author and would like me to review your writing book drop me a line!

Writing about writing about writing Review 7

Part 7 of an intermittent series where I read or re-read the writing books on my shelf to see if they’re worth keeping. See previous part here

So we are onto ‘How to Fiction’ books and I started with the subject of reading. All writers start as readers and the writer’s path should start with an effort to understanding what you’re reading. So the first up was Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (how’s that for nominative determinism?)

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We are still in dull cover territory (see previous posts) but this one is slightly better. Sadly though the book isn’t very good. Maybe I’ve changed as I gave this a 4 star review the first time I read it (in 2013.)

Prose starts this book questioning if “creative writing can be taught” and concluding, as a teacher of creative writing, that it cannot. The chapters are “Words”, “Sentences”, “Paragraphs”, “Narrative”, “Dialogue”, “learning from Chekov” and “Detail” which give you some idea of her approach. Throughout she is a passionate advocate of reading and liberally intersperses her points with quotes (sometimes very long quotes that last several pages) from her favourite writings.

My issues with the book this time round was in the fact that the long quotes are often dull and sometimes don’t show whatever point she’s making. It seems like a way to make the word count. In ‘Details’ for example she tells a 3 page story about a writing class in order to make the point that the little details matter – but the story is odd, it’s all in reported summary so she doesn’t actually give you the details. And those long quotes – do we really need several pages of someone else’s writing out of context, extracted, to understand the points the author wants to make? I’d say not. Prose does make some good points – but you have to wade through a lot of verbiage to glean them.

Prose seems to think people have time to read the classics slowly and that reading genre is bad for you. Both of which snobbish attitudes I dislike.

I don’t think this was very useful and onto the discard pile it goes.

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The other book I read was Understanding Novels by Tom Foster. A better cover, a better book. However this is essentially a LitCrit book and although you can retroengineer litcrit in your writing I don’t think it’s at all necessary. Although I enjoyed this book it’s not a ‘how to’ except by example. And if you want to read examples of writing it’s probably best to actually read novels. So another for the discard pile as it’s not really something I’ll reference.

I have two other books in the same ‘class’ – The Bestseller Code and Understanding Fiction. Which I’ll move onto next. Understanding Fiction fits the ‘how to’ subgenre where full stories are provided and then ‘interpreted.’ The Art of the Short Story which is already on my discard pile is another example. Narrative Design, by Madison Smartt Bell is another. I feel that the problem with these books will come from not wanting to re-read the short stories to get to the discussion part. Narrative Design I’ll come to when I read books on story structure.

Drop a comment with your favourite writing book or tip here or email me via the Contact page. If you’re a publisher or Indie Author and would like me to review your writing book drop me a line!

Interview with M E Rodman

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Tell us about your book (what’s the sales pitch?)





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Mad princes, forbidden magic, and a plot to take control of an Empire. A dark and twisted LGBT+ epic fantasy.

If you could be a character in the book who would you be and why?

I think it would have to be Gift, the main character’s adopted daughter. She’s laid back, relaxed, and living her best life, as a chill-ass soft butch lesbian.

Alternatively, I might pick Sindri, a calm and collected healer who’s good at dealing with other people’s drama.

They’re both secondary characters because, as I’m not very kind to my main characters, I don’t think I’d want to be any of them.

What did you learn about writing by writing this book?

Writing is hard, and you never get it quite right. But you try until its as good as you can make it and then you send it out into the world.

Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?

I’m a total pantser and write instinctively. My first draft is usually whatever comes into my head in the moment. Consequently, it’s a complete mess.

During the second draft I go in and fix all the plot holes, character inconsistencies, add scenes, delete scenes etc. I make changes as I go along when I’m working on the first draft so people will have different names, personalities or motivations on page 5 than they do on page 250. I spend a lot of time retconning these changes to make everything consistent.

Sometimes I pants my way into dead ends and am forced to back track, but after years of writing I can usually feel when I’ve gone in the wrong direction before I’ve written more than a couple of thousand words. Pantsing can be tricky for complicated plots, especially mysteries or crime stories, which I love to write. But I’ve tried plotting, and, for me, it kills the story dead every time. For me writing really is re-writing.

I listen to music when I work and compile separate playlists for each project to help me get in the zone.

What’s one question you think would be really fun to answer, but has never been asked of you?

How much time do my characters spend on their elaborately styled and intricately braided very, very long hair? Are Imperial shampoos all that?

What made you choose to write your book as a fantasy?

I grew up on LOTR and the Hobbit (my dad read them to me at bedtime, he did voices and everything). So, fantasy has always been my bag. I enjoy reading Science Fiction, Horror and Crime. I’ve written a few horror shorts and use crime to drive a lot of my plots. But I find reality constraining and feel limited when I set stories in the real world. The thrill of shaping new worlds, of making my own rules and designing my own realities has always been the biggest hook for me.

How much research did you do before writing the book and how did you go about it?

For Blood and Thorn, I researched eunuchs in a range of ancient cultures, Mongolian society, food from different regions, climate, planetary formation, samovars, languages, names and naming conventions, horses and riding and much, much more.

I used the internet, knowledgeable people, non-fiction and fiction books, documentaries and TV shows/films, visual images and visited museums to see real objects.

A lot of my research was adapted or amalgamated to fit into the secondary world of my book, which is not based exclusively on any real-world place or culture. For example: The health issues eunuchs experienced in the real world do not exist in my world due to differences in pharmacology. Imperial society conducts tea ceremonies, but these incorporate the use of samovars, which are culturally important in the Empire.

As I don’t plan, I research while I’m writing, stopping work to dig out the answers to questions as they come up. This can lead to falling in research black holes that eat into writing time. But as I don’t know what I need to know until I get there, it’s my only option.

Do you remember the first story you told? What was it?

I’ve been telling stories since before I could write them down. But the earliest story I remember clearly was for a school project. It impressed my teacher quite a bit, which is probably why I remember it. The story was about a village outcast making a deal with an otherworldly demon in a very creepy graveyard. I think I was about ten.

What are you reading? Who do you think we should be reading (apart from you!)?

I read a wide range of crime, speculative fiction and queer romance. I recently finished J Y Neon Yang’s amazing ‘silkpunk’ Tensorate series notable for its diverse gender representation and am halfway through Zen Cho’s The True Queen, which is as excellent as the first in the series: Sorcerer to the Crown. They are funny, adorable books, set in a Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel-esque world.

I would also recommend Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon as a long-read epic fantasy with dragons and lesbians. Ann Leckie’s Ancillary series for ground-breaking science fiction. City of Lies by Sam Hawke is hopeful political fantasy with great disabled representation while Empire of Sand by Tash Suri has an awesome Bollywood take on magic. Ben Aaronovitch’s River’s of London series marries urban fantasy with the police-procedural genre. T.J Kingfisher writes fantastic horror, romance and fantasy novellas.

For older books I love, re-read often, and which inform my own writing, I would recommend the Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Sarah Monette, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Reliquary Ring by Cherith Baldry and Transformation by Carol Berg.

This is just a flavour of my best reads as I love so many, many books and find new ones to love every time I open a book to its first page.

In one sentence what’s your best piece of advice for writers?

Read your own writing out loud to yourself. Best editing tip ever.

Social media and Sales:

Sales link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Thorn-M-Rodman/dp/1911497839/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=blood+and+thorn&qid=1596705584&s=books&sr=1-1

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/merodmanwriter/

Website: https://me-rodman.wixsite.com/writer

Twitter: M E Rodman @TheCantingBones

Publisher: Grimbold Books/Kristell Ink http://www.grimboldbooks.com/about-us/kristell-ink/

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Writing about writing about writing Review 6

Part 6 of an intermittent series where I read or re-read the writing books on my shelf to see if they’re worth keeping. See previous part here

As explained last time I’ve been reading the poetry ‘how to’s’ on my shelf. I feel that prose writers can learn a lot from poetry. About rhythm, cadence and other effects. I’ve had a couple of poems published but I wouldn’t call myself a poet – I don’t have the technical know how. Even after reading these books I don’t feel confident in poetry, but I’ll be practising anyway.

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Poetry in the making by Ted Hughes. This is a short book but it packs a punch. Lots of what Hughes says in here applies equally to prose. Aimed at children learning poetry and their teachers it also has a couple of chapters on writing novels. I feel that Hughes’s words about how to be evocative about animals, people and landscapes are worth reading every now and then so I’ll be keeping this one.

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How to be a Poet by Jo Bell & Jane Commane. This one isn’t a how to write (although there are some chapters on how to draft and edit poems) but more a guide on the poet’s life, and publishing poetry. Lots in here is just as applicable to how to be a short story writer (for example) and it’s a useful book so this one stays too.

Then I read two books on the technical aspects of poetry – metre, rhyme, form etc.

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The Poet’s Handbook by Judson Jerome is really technical and what he said slid off my brain. Maybe if you’re a poet this book will be useful but I didn’t find it very accessible and certainly not as good as the next book, which covered a lot of the same ground. One for the discard pile I think.

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The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry (yes *that* Stephen Fry). Now this was a technical introduction to poetry covering a lot of the same ground as the Jerome book. But Fry has a much better knack for explanation – assuming you know nothing and working from first principles. I found this better written, more engaging and much easier to understand than the Jerome. So I’ll be keeping it. Besides I have yet to do any of the poetry exercises in there.

I’m currently reading Gyles Brandreth’s Dancing by the Light of the Moon which is about memorising poetry to keep your brain active (based on his Radio programme Poetry by Heart) which will round out my poetry reading. It’s not a how to book so not being put to the test. I’ll also be reading This is a Voice and A Mouthful of Air because they pertain to spoken language (and performing) but they’re not ‘writing books’ per se.

Next time round I’ll be moving onto How to Fiction books. All writers start as readers and the writer’s path should start with an effort to understanding what you’re reading. So the books I’ll be reading first on fiction will be Reading Like a Writer, Understanding Fiction and Understanding Novels…

Drop a comment with your favourite writing book or tip here or email me via the Contact page. If you’re a publisher or Indie Author and would like me to review your writing book drop me a line!

Interview with David Gullen

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Tell us about your book (what’s the sales pitch?)

Tim Wassiter, P.I. is a new-age detective. His ex-partner mocks him and the old lady down the road just wants him to find her missing cat. But Tim knows magic works and he can use it to solve crime.

Now Tim has his first real client, a mysterious woman with powerful, dangerous, and increasingly impatient friends. As things get more violent, more bewildering and more utterly weird, Tim discovers the case is far bigger than he ever imagined.

Because everything is connected – from missing cats to warming oceans, sea-monsters to little white flowers, the past and the future. Even the crazy stranger who stepped out of Tim’s dreams. And everyone is looking for someone who almost certainly does not exist – The Girl from a Thousand Fathoms.

Magic isn’t just real, it’s going to get him killed.

If you could be a character in the book who would you be and why?

Who wouldn’t want to be a mermaid? Having just written that I’m now thinking should I not want to be a merman? But the ones in my book aren’t very nice and no, I actually would rather be a mermaid.

While I’m not sure I’d want to be him I found myself identifying with Troy Jarglebaum, though I can’t think why. After all, he’s overweight, middle-aged, worrying he’s past it, yet still hustling for the main chance.

To put it politely Troy has some out of date attitudes at the start of the story, but he has a good moral compass and he gets there in the end. He learns a lot, he changes for the better, and in the end he makes a difference.

What did you learn about writing by writing this book?

Sometimes stories need to be forgotten about. Several years ago I’d taken this one as far as I could, and it wasn’t good enough. Disillusioned, I effectively abandoned it and went on to other things. I wrote many short stories and two other novels, and had a third in progress. (SF epic, 110,000 words and I’m only half-way. Epic, I tell you.) From time to time I’d think about this one and remember some of the things I still liked about it.

Eventually I decided to take another look and almost immediately saw what was wrong. I still loved the characters, the intricate plot, the mix of myth, magic, and the everyday, but I’d written it wrong. I sat down with a copy of the old MS and rewrote the entire thing.

I’ve just taken a look at an early draft from 2008. Haha. It’s rubbish. That’s another thing worth remembering: drafts are not the finished article and you have to get all the junk out of the drawer to find the things you’re looking for.

Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?

What my process should be is ‘Sit down and write’. Remarkably, when I do that it works well. Words arrive on the page, often in something approximating the right order. (A lot of my editing seems to be rearranging sentences in paragraphs. They’re usually all there, along with a couple of spare ones, just in the wrong order. I guess that’s an indicator of how I think.)

What the process often actually is, is a slow and catastrophic slide away from good practice into distraction and angst, followed some time later by a concerted effort to get with the program because 1) I know it works, and b) I enjoy it when it does.

Like most people, my writing flywheel spins fastest at dawn and dusk, but life doesn’t always let me write at those times. I’ve learned that it’s easy to write pretty much anywhere, and I’m discovering anywhen, though harder, also works. And once you’re done the words are the same.

What’s one question you think would be really fun to answer, but has never been asked of you?

Um. Er. Dunno. ‘Would you like a three-book deal?’

What made you choose to write your book as a contemporary magical detective mystery?

I could say do you choose which stories to write or do they chose you to write them? (Waves hands spookily.) Sensibly, there has to be some kind of spark that draws you in, or you’d better find one. If it isn’t there then what you have is probably an idea, not a story. File it away for later of maybe never. Ideas are cheap.

The Girl started as a fifteen minutes writing exercise at a weekend workshop. A few people said it sounded like the start of a novel and for some reason I agreed. It felt exciting, the challenge had first limited who I could write about, then freed my imagination for the story.

And here we are with an actual novel something like fifteen years later. I didn’t set out to write this, it more or less arrived. I liked what I saw and went with it.

How much research did you do before writing the book and how did you go about it?

I researched the religions and life of ancient Babylon as best as I was able, though there’s not a lot out there. A little frustrating because I wanted to get that right, but it also gave me some freedom. I also had an email Q&A with a friendly detective about various aspects of police procedure and technology, and I read up on the relevant aspects of Finnish mythology and the Kalevala. If there was more I honestly can’t remember because it was so long ago. I started The Girl back in 2005/6.

Do you remember the first story you told? What was it?

No chance, I was making stuff up as a young child. When I was at school I wrote stories for my friends, though I’m not sure I ever finished any. I wrote a collaborative piece of nonsense on night shift in my first IT job, and later on I effectively told stories for others to inhabit in my years of table-top RPG.

In 1994 I wrote my first story with pretensions to be an actual writer. It was called 2020 Vision, and you can read it on my web site.

What are you reading? Who do you think we should be reading (apart from you!)?

I’ve just finished The Sea Road, by Margaret Elphinstone, and have just started The Liar’s Dictionary, by Eley Williams. After that it’s Helen Callaghan’s Nights Falls, Still Missing. I like to read a lot of short stories too. I’ve just read Best of British SF 2019, from Newcon press, and subscribe to F&SF and a few other magazines. William Dalrymple is a brilliant non-fiction writer. Read anything by him.

What should you be reading? Whatever you want, but I would say you should only read the good stuff, whatever that means to you. I’ve no time or patience to finish bad books.

In one sentence what’s your best piece of advice for writers?

If your characters are having a conversation about what they should do next they are asking you for help; if you’ve ground to a halt writing a scene, cut it out and move on.

Bio:

David Gullen’s latest novel, The Girl from a Thousand Fathoms, is available in print and ebook. (PS-you can read my review of it here) Other recent work includes Third Instar from Eibonvale Press, and Once Upon a Parsec: The Book of Alien Fairy Tales, from Newcon Press. His short story, Warm Gun, won the BFS Short Story Competition in 2016, with other work short-listed for the James White Award and placed in the Aeon Award. He is a past judge for the Arthur C. Clarke and James White Awards, and is the current Chair of the Milford SF Conference.

David was born in Africa and baptised by King Neptune He has lived in England most of his life and currently lives behind several tree ferns in South London with the fantasy writer Gaie Sebold.

Review: Mime by Chrissey Harrison

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Full disclosure – Chrissey is a member of my writing group. I supported her excellent Kickstarter for this novel (you can find a lot more info about the novel and Chrissey on the Kickstarter page.)

I know how hard Chrissey has worked on this novel and it shows. It’s excellently plotted and the prose really shines. It’s a thick book at over 500 pages but it certainly doesn’t read that way. Chrissey has the knack of writing prose that pulls you on and eats up the pages without you really noticing. I’d compare that to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s writing (although plot-wise there’s no similarity.)

Our main character has retreated to Bristol after his brother’s suspicious death and is running ‘Weird News’ a paper investigating the weird and supernatural side of life with his one employee, Samantha. When a series of bizarre deaths happens they soon find out that the killer is a demonic mime with the power to make its invisible creations real, and deadly. This is a cool idea and Chrissey mines it for all its worth. The pair with the help of some friends, chase the clues to Oxford and Devon and into an exciting final confrontation with the demon.

Of course I’m biased but I thought this was very entertaining and well-written and have no hesitations in recommending it. Having lived in Bristol and Oxford (and for a brief time Devon too) this felt very accessible. I don’t think I was ever afraid of the mime (not a Metamfiezomaiophobe) but I was afraid for the characters, which is the sign of good writing I think.

Recommended.

Interview with Steven Max Russo author of The Dead Don’t Sleep, Thieves

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Tell us about your book (what’s the sales pitch?)

The Dead Don’t Sleep is a gritty, crime thriller about Frank Thompson, a recent widower and aging Vietnam veteran who is down from Maine visiting his nephew, Bill, and his family in New Jersey.

While at a trap range, he and his nephew have a chance encounter with a strange man who claims to remember Frank from the war.

That night, the windows in Bill’s home are shattered along with the quiet peaceful lives the two men had been living.

Three veterans from a special combat unit directed by the CIA during the Vietnam War have gathered to discuss what they are going to do about a man they claim killed one of their own over forty years ago.

Jasper, Birdie and Pogo were part of a team that called themselves the National League All Stars. They were a squad of psychopathic killers trained by Special Forces to cause death and mayhem during the war. Now, they have banded together to hunt down and kill the professional soldier who led them all those years ago.

Drawing on his military training and a resurgent bloodlust from his tortured past, Frank prepares for a final, violent reckoning that will bring him full circle with the war that never left him.

If you could be a character in the book who would you be and why?

Well, the truth is I was lucky enough (or maybe not so lucky) to have already been all the main characters in my book. You see, when I write, I sometimes feel that I take on the personality of the character I am writing about. A lot of the characters in my book(s) are rather unsavory and downright dangerous, so I don’t know what that says about me, but in order to get the dialogue right, I have to understand the character. I have to know his/her back-story (even if I don’t share that with my readers), I need to understand what he/she feels or doesn’t feel and why, I need to comprehend and accept (sometimes even embrace) my character’s motivations. It’s usually a fun, though sometimes draining (and surreal) experience.

The truth is, I have not written a book yet with a character that I would actually want to be. Geez, now that I think about it, that’s pretty scary!

What did you learn about writing by writing this book?

What I learned is that you can’t rush the process. Like most authors I guess, I hit a few dead ends while writing this story.  I’d get to a point where I’d say, “Okay, what happens next?” and not have an answer. I was once asked whether I’m a plotter or a “pantser”. That is, do I plot out or outline the story in advance, or just write by the seat of my pants. Unfortunately, I am a “pantser”. The story just flows, or sometimes sputters out. I have actually panicked a few times while writing my novels not knowing where to take the story next.

But I’ve learned that if I keep my head down and just keep writing, I seem to find a way.

Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?

No, I don’t. My writing usually begins with a single thought that gets stuck in my brain – a memory, an experience, or maybe an observation. For The Dead Don’t Sleep, it was the memory of an afternoon I spent shooting trap with a good friend and his uncle from Maine, who happened to be a Vietnam vet. That pleasant afternoon morphed into a deadly and graphic story.

When I’m writing a novel, I try to write a set amount of words each time I sit in front of my computer. I read somewhere that Stephen King shoots for 1500 words. If that’s good enough for him, it’s certainly good enough for me. So that’s my goal. Sometimes I only write 300, sometimes I write 6,000, but the trick is to sit down and write something.

What’s one question you think would be really fun to answer, but has never been asked of you?

One question that I was asked once was if I had any police experience. It was in reference to my novel, Thieves. In the book, I go into some detail about breaking into a house and how my characters go about searching for valuables. The answer is no, I have no policing experience.

The question that was never asked was whether I’ve had any experience breaking into other people’s homes. Some questions are better left unanswered!

What made you choose to write your book as a crime thriller?

I didn’t consciously choose to write the book as any genre, I just started writing. As I wrote, the story evolved into a thriller.

How much research did you do before writing the book and how did you go about it?

I didn’t do any research before I began writing. But as the story progressed, I wanted to add some measure of realism to it. I did a little research online about the Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War and was, quite frankly, horrified. It was a CIA operation that was responsible for some horrendous atrocities. The situations in the book are all fiction, but some of the things I learned that were actually done during the war inspired some of the action described. In addition, though I have some basic knowledge of firearms, I had to again go online to help me choose and describe some of the weapons described in the book.

Do you remember the first story you told? What was it?

The story that first got me serious about writing was a short story I penned called Putting in the Work. It’s about a young, white-collar criminal who is coerced into helping orchestrate and commit a murder. The bulk of the story is the actual crime and what this young man finds is that he not only has an aptitude for murder – he actually enjoys it.

The story was published by an online literary journal called The Rag. They actually paid me and that is what gave me the confidence to think I might have the talent to start writing seriously.

What are you reading? Who do you think we should be reading (apart from you!)?

I’m just finishing Don Winslow’s Broken. It’s a book of short stories of his and I’m really enjoying them. As for whom I think others should read, I like to advise people to try and look at someone new. I think people (myself included) sometimes get into the habit of reading the same authors over and over.

In one sentence what’s your best piece of advice for writers?

If you truly believe in yourself and your writing – never give up.

Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51072860-the-dead-don-t-sleep

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40854530-thieves

THE DEAD DON’T SLEEP by Steven Max Russo

Writing about writing about writing Review 5

Part 5 of an intermittent series where I read or re-read the writing books on my shelf to see if they’re worth keeping. See previous part here

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Metaphors We Live By by Lakoff & Johnson. Keeping to the dull cover theme that runs through this series the first up was this book that blew my mind the first time I read it. This time I clocked that it’s really quite academic/philosophic and although it does make you think of ‘meaning’ in a different way isn’t actually all that useful as a writing reference. I did wonder about basing a short story on some of the ideas in the book though, so I’m tempted to keep it. But…

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Introducing Metaphor by Knowles and Moon is in a similar vein as the Lakoff & Johnson one – it does have a chapter on literary metaphor though. But I found it less engaging than Metaphors We Live By.

Neither book is worth reading from a ‘how to use metaphors in your writing.’ So from that point of view I’ll be putting them on the discard pile.

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Poetic Diction by Owen Barfield. Barfield was one of the Inklings – along with Tolkein and Lewis and his works are on the philosophical basis of mythopoeia. This one is quite an easy read but just as mind-exercising as Metaphors We Live By. Barfield says in the preface: “This book grew out of two empirical observations, first, that poetry reacts on the meanings of the words that it employs, and, secondly, that there appear to be two sorts of poetry… Thus, it claims to present, not merely a theory of poetic diction, but a theory of poetry: and not merely a theory of poetry, but a theory of knowledge.” Again it’s a scholarly and philosophical piece and not really one I would refer back to much. As such it and Barfield’s other book I have on the shelf won’t make the cut.

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History In English words is a delightful book on the history of English, showing how our language has grown from the various roots – Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Norse etc. And also a meditation on meaning, similar to Poetic Diction. However it’s not a reference book, as such.

These four books are interesting to read – but are not accessible toolboxes for a writer. I’d argue that although gaining this level of knowledge and understanding of how language works, and specifically how English works, will not harm you as a writer it’s not actually needed.

Since these were in my “poetry” section of writing books I’m going to stick to that topic but read books that are more ‘nuts and bolts’ next. Given my level I’m going to read Ted Hughes’s book aimed at teaching children poetry – “Poetry in the making” – next.

Discoverability Signal Boost

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You’ve publisheda book and you want to get the word out. You want your book to be discovered by readers. You want your book to sell.

There’s a lot of books out there. So you need a signal boost. If that’s you then mail me an interview for this here blog about your book. I used to interview authors for my old blog but I don’t really have the time to do that so much now. So I’m just going to post a set of questions here and if you mail me (using the Contact page) a request to be signal boosted and a description of your book I’ll get in touch to let you know where to send pictures (I’ll want a headshot and a cover at the very least.) I’ll also want links – to your website, blog, Twitter, publisher, sales link etc.

If you’ve edited a book, or you’re a publisher and you’ve published someone else then adapt the questions as necessary.

So, those questions:

Tell us about your book (what’s the sales pitch?)

If you could be a character in the book who would you be and why?

What did you learn about writing by writing this book?

Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?

What’s one question you think would be really fun to answer, but has never been asked of you?

What made you choose to write your book as a (whatever genre the book is)

How much research did you do before writing the book and how did you go about it?

Do you remember the first story you told? What was it?

What are you reading? Who do you think we should be reading (apart from you!)?

In one sentence what’s your best piece of advice for writers?

And that’s it – 10 easyish questions. I’ll post it up and give it a shout out on Facebook & Twitter. Can’t say I have the largest audience in the Bloggersphere but I do have ‘an’ audience – so every little helps, right?

Writing about writing about writing Review 4

4th in an intermittent series of reviewing my writing books, with an aim of reducing how many I have. The previous post is here

The subtitle for this one should be: 3 books about sentences and one about flourishes.

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I’m going to confess that I’ve never been able to finish this book, and if it were on the shelf I’d have got rid of it ages ago. It was a Nook purchase (remember Nooks? I bought one so as not to be tied into Amazon because Barnes & Noble wouldn’t disappear… ) But I’m mentioning it here because of this useful quote (from the introduction) – which is basically a retelling of something from a different writing book (which I don’t have and haven’t read)

In her book The Writing Life, Annie Dillard tells the story of a fellow writer who was asked by a student, “Do you think I could be a writer?” “‘ Well,’ the writer said, ‘do you like sentences?”

I’ve never had the energy to read this one all the way through for some reason – YMMV

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I’ve never read Klinkenborg apart from this book – so can’t verify if his advice applies to his own work. The advice in this book is to start with short sentences and master short sentences. There is some philosophy of writing in here too. I ‘quite’ like it – although it’s not an easy read. The constant short sentences with line breaks makes it look like a poem and read like someone trying to be profound, and not quite succeeding. BUT there is some good info in here and in re-reading I got different things out of it than I got last time I read it. So for that reason it’s going to stay on the shelf. it’s best to be read in conjunction with the next book though I think.

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Strictly speaking this isn’t on my shelf either – as I have an audio version (and a PDF) but it’s worth mentioning because unlike the Klinkenborg this is a celebration of the long sentence. I think Fish is a bit of both, long and short, (and potentially then the only one you need). However the good professor Brooks Landon who delivers these Great Courses lectures is so enthusiastic about sentences it’s well worth a listen.

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Forsyth had a trilogy of little books about language out a few years ago and it’s possible to pick up all three in a handsome box. But of course I picked up my copy of Eloquence in a second hand shop and haven’t got the other two. This is a nice introduction to the elements of rhetoric with clear explanations of all those bizarre sounding Greek words you may of heard of like Zeugma and Diacope and Hyperbaton. More of use in speech writing probably but worth holding onto I think. One day I may spot the other two language books by Forsyth in a charity shop…

I mention above a phenomenon that always gives me caution when deciding to discard a book or not. The ability to get something different from it upon a re-read. My good friend David Gullen has written something similar today on his blog. What I need to remind myself of is that I’m looking for books in this cull that I don’t think a re-read, or many referrals to will happen in the future. But I do need to get rid of some books, as the shelf is full! (I know – I could always build more shelves, right? But then if the house has bookshelves in every room – then what?)

I’m done with books about style to some extent, but as I said last time I’m going to take a bit of a tangent into poetry next. Although I’ll be starting with metaphor, which is just as applicable to prose. I wonder if you’ve noticed that the covers to most of these writing books are very dull? I’ve looked at the next few books I’m going to tackle and they don’t improve cover-wise.

Drop a comment with your favourite writing book or tip here or email me via the Contact page. If you’re a publisher or Indie Author and would like me to review your writing book drop me a line!