What else are you reading - October 2020

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tamahome wrote: "Harsh writing advice (mostly for newer writers). "Writer's block isn't real." I think she means it with love.

https://youtu.be/rYqZjCsAJeg?t=218"

Ann Patchett says something similar in one of the essays in This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

[Janet]

I just finished The Law of Becoming. I was reading it each night before sleep... a few times I admit I read a chapter or two in the afternoons too.
Now to decide which of my pile of books to start for the pre-sleep dates....

[Trike]

I always enjoy how people assume their personal experiences are universal truths.

Writer’s block is real. I’m a writer and I’ve experienced it. I don’t quote-unquote “suffer” from it because if one project isn’t working then I just switch to another one. I let my subconscious work the problem while I focus on something else.

I find that writers who claim to power through writer’s block are the ones most likely to rely on stereotypes, tropes and tricks, and there’s nothing particularly professional about churning out Extruded Fantasy Product. It’s the authorial equivalent of boxing up widgets in a factory. You can do that all day long because it’s just paint-by-numbers.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a second-rate writer say something like, “Whenever I get stuck I just blow something up.” That’s not a story solution, that’s a writing prompt trick, and ten thousand authors and screenwriters before them have done the same thing.

[Janet]

Trike wrote: "I always enjoy how people assume their personal experiences are universal truths.

Writer’s block is real. I’m a writer and I’ve experienced it. I don’t quote-unquote “suffer” from it because if on..."

My strategy too, Trike.
Plus, since I am writing hard science sci-fi, I can always spend hours researching physics, engineering, microbiology, and..well, loadssss of science. This usually gets me past my sense of a "block."
Another thing I do is I write all the chapters at once. I am very unlinear in how I perceive my long story. This way I can just switch when some bit hangs me up.
I think of it like socialising.... just move along to the next huddle. ;)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Trike wrote: "I always enjoy how people assume their personal experiences are universal truths.

Writer’s block is real. I’m a writer and I’ve experienced it. I don’t quote-unquote “suffer” from it because if on..."

Yeah even listening to the Patchett essay I felt chided, and I'm not even a writer!!

[Trike]

Janet wrote: "This way I can just switch when some bit hangs me up. "

Exactly. The only times it has been an issue for me is when I’m working on a deadline, but in those cases it’s solely been in my TV/film production life and I can rely on the footage as a crutch to get me through.

I had one SPECTACULAR bit of writer’s block in a story I was writing while I was in college. I was attempting to create characters who subverted expectations, but back in 1986 at age 21 I didn’t have the life experience to pull it off. I had the intellectual computing power to construct the set-up, but not the emotional lived experience to stick the landing. I wrote a line that I thought was funny and... nothing. It killed the story dead for me. I worked it and worked it but none of it flowed. I showed it to people and they thought it sounded stilted, so I put it aside.

The intervals between looking at it became longer and longer, going from days to months to years. Finally I had an ah-ha moment that resolved it and in a flash the entire rest of the story fell into place. That was in 2004. A full 18 years later, I was able to finish the story at 39 years old.

In the meantime I wrote lots of other stuff.

[Janet]

Trike wrote: "Janet wrote: "This way I can just switch when some bit hangs me up. "

Exactly. The only times it has been an issue for me is when I’m working on a deadline, but in those cases it’s solely been in ..."

Good story!

[Tamahome]

I don't mean to get that youtuber cancelled. She actually says in the 2nd video of "harsh writing advice" that she is exaggerating and if the advice doesn't work for you, freely ignore it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcSlV...

[Janet]

Tamahome wrote: "I don't mean to get that youtuber cancelled. She actually says in the 2nd video of "harsh writing advice" that she is exaggerating and if the advice doesn't work for you, freely ignore it: https://..."

Thumbs up, mate. That is how they get clicks...with a saucy title and/or lead in. I am sure she can handle the outcome.
The more debatable a topic, the more hits on the site.
All good.
Cheers!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

And disagreement isn't cancelling!

[Janet]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "And disagreement isn't cancelling!"

Right?

[Silvana]

Finished Grass (just okay, but too triggery for me now) and Spirits Abroad (loving this one, scary ghosts, quirky spirits, and fabulous aunties included, a good entry point for Southeast Asian/Chinese diaspora authored books).

Changing gear to milSF, the last book of the Frontlines series Orders of Battle. I thought this one would never come out tbh.

[Colin]

Where did October go? Schools were out for mid-term and reading without swords or lasers filled the time I did have available.

Today, though, I've started on Charles Stross's new one, Dead Lies Dreaming. Only tangentially related to the earlier Laundry Files novels, he is trying to pitch it as a new series - even if his publisher apparently sees it otherwise.

[Rick]

Let us know how Dead Lies Dreaming is, please. I love the Laundry series but am not real sure about this offshoot.

He/his publisher should brand this like Neal Asher's stuff is done. Asher writes in a connected world of a human federation called the Polity but some of his books closely follow a character named Ian Cormac so books are branded as "Polity N" and/or "Ian Cormac M" and crossovers are combined - "Polity #3/Ian Cormac #1" or whatever.

[Tamahome]

I would start Peter F. Hamilton's 3rd Salvation book, but it doesn't come out in America until Nov 17th even though it's out in England tomorrow. Grrr!

Maybe I'll get lucky, and B&N will accidentally put it out early. That's happened before.

[Colin]

Rick wrote: "Let us know how Dead Lies Dreaming is, please. I love the Laundry series but am not real sure about this offshoot."

Of course. I'll check back when I'm done, but you'll probably have to wait a couple of weeks.

[Rick]

Colin wrote: "Rick wrote: "Let us know how Dead Lies Dreaming is, please. I love the Laundry series but am not real sure about this offshoot."

Of course. I'll check back when I'm done, but you'll probably have ..."

I'm sorry, but you have to Call in sick and ignore your responsibilities. Inquiring minds... :) (thanks!)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I am reading Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth which is part campus novel and part Hollywood novel and part gothic queer romance horror... I am loving it!! I read over 300 pages today while the sun was still out (we've had no power for two days, finally came back tonight.)

[Geoff]

I just finished Storm of Locusts. It was pretty good, very readable. I'll probably go on in the series.

Next up: Howl's Moving Castle, which I've always wanted to read since seeing the movie. However, I probably should have read it to my daughters when they were the appropriate age (now college age).

[Ruthifred]

I finished The Year of the Witching, which was a delightful book for October. It’s a fresh tale using old tropes.

I’m listening to a non-fiction book called The Patient Assassin, about a 1919 British massacre in colonial India. It’s heartbreaking but riveting.

I also just started The Heroine’s Journey, a non-fiction by Gail Carriger. It’s about the structure of the heroine’s journey, as opposed to the hero’s journey. I think it’ll actually be helpful with my writing and plotting out story arcs.

[Silvana]

Ruthifred wrote: "I also just started The Heroine’s Journey, a non-fiction by Gail Carriger. It’s about the structure of the heroine’s journey, as opposed to the hero’s journey. I think it’ll actually be helpful with my writing and plotting out story arcs."

this sounds very interesting!

[Trike]

I read some books.

[Mark]

Trike wrote: "I read some books."

pix or it didn't happen

[Trike]

Mark wrote: "Trike wrote: "I read some books."

pix or it didn't happen"

You dare doubt me?! My word is my bond, sir! Good day! I said good day, sir!

🎩
🧐

[Brad]

@Melina I have not read that yet.