March – On Writing and Writers

This month I’m covering fiction writing craft and a non-fiction author on policing in Ireland.
I’ve just read Stephen King’s memoir/advice book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Here is an excerpt from my review. And no, I have not sold as many copies as King.

Editing expertise was first demonstrated to King in the early chapters, when a newspaper editor pencilled through all the descriptive words in the student's basketball coverage. King reiterates that you leave out everything which is not the story. Good advice.

However, King then provides an example chapter about a man going into a hotel foyer, noting guests being served, and talking with a manager in the back room. The man is offered a Cuban cigar, and he explains why he does not smoke, although he has cigarettes on his person. We do not know why the man is visiting.
The edited, pencilled-through version removes the word Cuban, changes the manager's name to a shorter one to save several lines, especially for audiobook reading, and reduces the explanation for not smoking.

Shorter yet would have been to make the protagonist female, as nobody offers a woman cigars. I would have made the manager female, maybe a person of colour, to remove stock characters. And I would have got down to the purpose of the visit rather than discussing cigarettes, because at no time did either version grab my attention. By describing several guests and what is happening with them, and the placing of tobacco goods, the author is putting off telling us anything.
SF writers such as Harry Harrison have told us to use the first three paragraphs as an immediate hook, because otherwise the potential editor may not turn the page.

Several times King uses a long, invented pet word with five syllables to show that he is not interested in padding detail; why not a short word? Like Bin.
King also uses words such as mankind, not humanity, making it clear that, Carrie perhaps aside, his vocabulary is old-fashioned and man-oriented.
Full review here.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

During March I covered events including a UN conference on water – the side event which was hosted by Brooke, The Donkey Sanctuary and other groups, discussing how working livestock help people fetch and use water in developing nations. A woman may spend an hour with a donkey fetching water for crop irrigation, washing, drinking, cooking, and watering livestock including chickens. If she has no donkey, the time spent rises to four hours, and she has to keep kids out of school to help.

I also attended a talk on Italian Renaissance novels and writers such as Boccaccio, held at Trinity College.

At the end of the month I was pleased to cover a talk in a library by a retired Garda Detective Chief Superintendent, John A. OBrien. The talk concentrated on security issues during the 1970s – 80s. The capacity crowd was shown photos of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, policing riots in Dublin, pursuing suspected terrorists near the Border, and political figures of the day. A voice interview with a Garda who helped in the aftermath of a bomb in Dublin city centre was played.
This is part of an ongoing work to gather and preserve records about 100 years of An Garda Síochána. John’s current book is called Securing the Irish State: 1922-2022.

This month I’m making Silks And Sins free to download. This is a romantic suspense story suitable for adults, about the flat racing scene in Ireland.
Grab it 21 – 24 April. Readers not in the UK or US store should use the .com link, which will offer to bring them to their local Amazon store.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EGXYKR6
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EGXYKR6

Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. www.clareobeara.ie