My deadline is fast approaching. I gave myself all of May to read and research and tinker with writing. June will be the month that I dive in. There is no turning back. This will be the time that it sticks. It will be hard with the kids home all summer, but if I just write instead of read I should be able to produce at least 3000 words a day and be well on my way to having a complete novel by the end of the summer.
I'm tired of just talking about it and writing about. It is time to do it. I can't let another year go by with nothing to show for it but well-behaved and well-adjusted children. This year I want a stack of pages that in some way form a coherent story.
This will be the year that I decide my own fate and finally take back my life and start writing for real.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A Tale of Two Cities vs. Under the Dome
It looks like Amazon will only give me one link per post, either that or I haven't figured it all out yet.
Anyway I think I'm going to give up on A Tale of Two Cities. I'm already on page 100 and I haven't been sucked in yet. That's usually my limit on a book. If it's not good by page 100 then it's not going to be good. But this is Dickens. Shouldn't there be a special rule for him? This is supposed to be a classic, but is it the best of Dickens? I read the first few chapters of Oliver Twist a few weeks ago and it seemed far more interesting than this one.
Making things harder is the fact that my name finally came up on the waiting list at the library for Under The Dome by Stephen King. There is no way I can read both A Tale of Two Cities and this 1100 page monstrosity. The library only gives you 2 weeks on the new books. So I've got to get cracking on this one. And you know what, it's already got me sucked in on page 10. That's Stephen King for you. Sorry Mr. Dickens. You lose.
Anyway I think I'm going to give up on A Tale of Two Cities. I'm already on page 100 and I haven't been sucked in yet. That's usually my limit on a book. If it's not good by page 100 then it's not going to be good. But this is Dickens. Shouldn't there be a special rule for him? This is supposed to be a classic, but is it the best of Dickens? I read the first few chapters of Oliver Twist a few weeks ago and it seemed far more interesting than this one.
Making things harder is the fact that my name finally came up on the waiting list at the library for Under The Dome by Stephen King. There is no way I can read both A Tale of Two Cities and this 1100 page monstrosity. The library only gives you 2 weeks on the new books. So I've got to get cracking on this one. And you know what, it's already got me sucked in on page 10. That's Stephen King for you. Sorry Mr. Dickens. You lose.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Amazon Links
Yea! I just signed up to put the Amazon links directly in my posts. Before, I was searching for the book jacket photos and saving them and inserting them. Not any more. I've stepped into the 21st century. You can now buy a book directly from my blog and I'll make a little money. How freaking cool is that?
Yesterday and today I've been doing my book transcribing. I started with Twilight. The language is so simple and easy to transcribe. It took me probably 4 hours to copy out the first chapter of 29 pages. It was fun and it really brought the story closer to me. What was most surprising to me was the placement of commas in fully edited text. I thought I used a lot of commas, but man they are everywhere, in places I never would have imagined them.
We all know that Stephenie Meyer is not the world's best writer, but she sure can tell a story. It's very interesting the copy it all down and filter it through my hands. It makes it obvious that what she writes is so simple. There are no fancy metaphors or similes. She's not going for a lot of description or even a lot of emotion. It's basically just a list of events and a series of conversations. That is pretty much what life is like if you just copy down the obvious. There are no deep insights into the human condition here. Bella's thoughts are given and described, but she is not a deep thinker. She's just a teenager and this is written from a distance even though we are supposed to be in her head in a first person narrative. It's fascinating to write it all down. It's like I'm in the book. I highly suggest trying it for your favorite books.
Yesterday and today I've been doing my book transcribing. I started with Twilight. The language is so simple and easy to transcribe. It took me probably 4 hours to copy out the first chapter of 29 pages. It was fun and it really brought the story closer to me. What was most surprising to me was the placement of commas in fully edited text. I thought I used a lot of commas, but man they are everywhere, in places I never would have imagined them.
We all know that Stephenie Meyer is not the world's best writer, but she sure can tell a story. It's very interesting the copy it all down and filter it through my hands. It makes it obvious that what she writes is so simple. There are no fancy metaphors or similes. She's not going for a lot of description or even a lot of emotion. It's basically just a list of events and a series of conversations. That is pretty much what life is like if you just copy down the obvious. There are no deep insights into the human condition here. Bella's thoughts are given and described, but she is not a deep thinker. She's just a teenager and this is written from a distance even though we are supposed to be in her head in a first person narrative. It's fascinating to write it all down. It's like I'm in the book. I highly suggest trying it for your favorite books.
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This book looked so cute when I bought it last Friday that it jumped all the way to the front of the reading pile and I finished it Sunday morning.
I like it. I really liked it. I flew through it while reading. It didn't seem like it was going to end well, but it did more or less.
At first I thought the kid was a little slow mentally. He seemed to write more like a 13 year old than a 15/16 year old. It was almost like he hadn't really lived until he started his freshman year of high school. Everything seemed to be so new to him.
The writer seemed to me to capture what it was like to listen to music as a teenager. I think that is what spoke to me the most in this book. Music was everything to me when I was 15 and 16. It made memories and it made me feel infinite too. I don't think it works that way for everyone, but he sure as hell captured it for me.
It seemed a little unbelievable to me that so many crappy teenage things could happen to one kid, but it was all squeezed in there. The only salvation this guy had was that his parents seemed fairly normal and genuinely cared for him as did his English teacher. If only every kid could be so lucky. Usually coming of age books talk crap about both parents and teachers, but in this one they were the most caring people.
Overall a good quick read. I would recommend it and I might even read it again.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Acquisitions of the Day
Today's Book Acquisitions
1. Archaeology - David Hurst Thomas (a used textbook from Abe Books)
2. Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past - Mark Sutton and Robert Yohe (a used textbook from Abe Books)
3. In a Dark Wood Wandering - Hella Haasse (Abe Books)
4. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery - James N. Frey (Abe Books)
5.The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (I didn't even know MTV had a publishing dept)
The first four came in the mail today and the last two were from a 15 minute run into B&N. Really I should know better than to try and kill time there and not buy anything.
1. Archaeology - David Hurst Thomas (a used textbook from Abe Books)
2. Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past - Mark Sutton and Robert Yohe (a used textbook from Abe Books)
3. In a Dark Wood Wandering - Hella Haasse (Abe Books)
4. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery - James N. Frey (Abe Books)
5.The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (I didn't even know MTV had a publishing dept)
The first four came in the mail today and the last two were from a 15 minute run into B&N. Really I should know better than to try and kill time there and not buy anything.
Transcribing Books
The last few 'how to write' books I've read have given me and interesting tip in how to become a better writer:
Copy long passages out of your favorite books and written by your favorite authors.
So far I have chosen 5 books that were influential in me deciding that I want to write and that I have deemed worthy of spending several hours transcribing passages:
1. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice. I love this book, not necessarily for the story, but for the style. I love the long luxurious descriptions of the house in New Orleans. Those are the passages that I want to copy out. I want to learn to create a sense of place the way Anne Rice has here in this book recreating New Orleans. You actually feel like you can walk up the sidewalk and see the house and feel the humidity as you read along.
2. Ghost Story - Peter Straub. This book is haunting in it suspense. You can feel yourself trudging thru the snow at the end of the book in the final climax. You get scared shitless when the ghosts appear. You feel like an old man sitting in the library listening in on the other old guy's stories. I can't quite put my finger on what made this book so great, but it is one that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It's mesmerizing.
3. Atonement - Ian McEwan. Again this book is not my favorite story, but I love the first half of the book (before they all go off to war). The description and sense of place here again are amazing. It's like reading a modern day Victorian English novel. He writes more beautifully than any other modern author. In re-writing his words I hope to be able to suck up some of his polished use of the English language.
4. I Capture the Castle - Now this book I love the story. It's a fairy tale that has a little girl with a missing mother and a mad father living with her sisters in an old manor house next to a ruined castle. It's every little girl's English fantasy. There is something so romantic about the whole book. I want to put my finger on what it is that makes this book stand out for me. The only way to do that is to write it out.
5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. I know, but don't roll your eyes. This is the first book and the best book. I am going to transcribe out he first few chapters of this one so I can get a handle on dialog. There is something magical about this first book that hooked us all. To me it was the immense tension created in the first conversations between Bella and Edward. I want to take them apart and learn from them. That is the best sexual tension I have ever read.
Now as to when I'm going to find the time to actually do this I have no idea, but it theory it sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
Copy long passages out of your favorite books and written by your favorite authors.
So far I have chosen 5 books that were influential in me deciding that I want to write and that I have deemed worthy of spending several hours transcribing passages:
1. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice. I love this book, not necessarily for the story, but for the style. I love the long luxurious descriptions of the house in New Orleans. Those are the passages that I want to copy out. I want to learn to create a sense of place the way Anne Rice has here in this book recreating New Orleans. You actually feel like you can walk up the sidewalk and see the house and feel the humidity as you read along.
2. Ghost Story - Peter Straub. This book is haunting in it suspense. You can feel yourself trudging thru the snow at the end of the book in the final climax. You get scared shitless when the ghosts appear. You feel like an old man sitting in the library listening in on the other old guy's stories. I can't quite put my finger on what made this book so great, but it is one that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It's mesmerizing.
3. Atonement - Ian McEwan. Again this book is not my favorite story, but I love the first half of the book (before they all go off to war). The description and sense of place here again are amazing. It's like reading a modern day Victorian English novel. He writes more beautifully than any other modern author. In re-writing his words I hope to be able to suck up some of his polished use of the English language.
4. I Capture the Castle - Now this book I love the story. It's a fairy tale that has a little girl with a missing mother and a mad father living with her sisters in an old manor house next to a ruined castle. It's every little girl's English fantasy. There is something so romantic about the whole book. I want to put my finger on what it is that makes this book stand out for me. The only way to do that is to write it out.
5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. I know, but don't roll your eyes. This is the first book and the best book. I am going to transcribe out he first few chapters of this one so I can get a handle on dialog. There is something magical about this first book that hooked us all. To me it was the immense tension created in the first conversations between Bella and Edward. I want to take them apart and learn from them. That is the best sexual tension I have ever read.
Now as to when I'm going to find the time to actually do this I have no idea, but it theory it sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Magazine Article Writing
I know I said I was going to talk about writing magazine articles. I know nothing about it other than what I have read in how-to books. It's something I need to learn more about. It's something I need to do in order to make a little money at writing. Now even though I may never have actually written an article to be published, you would be hard pressed to find someone who knows more about magazines than I do. I currently subscribe to over 20 publications and always seem to supplement my subscriptions with an additional 10-15 from the grocery store and book store each month. I know the magazine rack like the back of my hand.
I know the audience pretty well for most home design, travel, writing, women's, and decorating magazines. Those are my genres of choice.
The next step is to actually find something worth writing about and submit it. It's niave I know to think that it will be that easy, but I have to start somewhere. I'll try and start with our local newspaper and the local Mountain Living magazine published right here in Flagstaff. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I'm devoted to this full time now. Well as full time as I can, but this is going to be my focus for the summer. I will succeed sooner or later.
I know the audience pretty well for most home design, travel, writing, women's, and decorating magazines. Those are my genres of choice.
The next step is to actually find something worth writing about and submit it. It's niave I know to think that it will be that easy, but I have to start somewhere. I'll try and start with our local newspaper and the local Mountain Living magazine published right here in Flagstaff. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I'm devoted to this full time now. Well as full time as I can, but this is going to be my focus for the summer. I will succeed sooner or later.
The Actor and the Housewife
I couldn't read this. I only read the first three chapters and the last chapter. It was horrible. It gave me a headache on so many levels. I'm a description kind of gal and I like my books to be full of it. This thing was all dialog and not just regular dialog, but mind bending banter and smart remarks. It was like trying to read a seasons worth of Moonlighting episodes. I found the main character to be annoying not charming as she is described in the book. She just talks and talks and talks. Where is her internal dialog?
Maybe I just don't like chick lit- but if I want to see or hear a conversation on children arguing I don't need to read a book. This is just everyday life and I guess I don't want to read about the life of a housewife. It's not very interesting.
And since I didn't find the main character charming I had a really hard time believing that the mega star actor would want anything to do with her. It just didn't make any sense at all and I didn't buy it, not for one minute. She was such a goody goody. I know that is the basic premise of the book, but it was too much for me. She freaking reprimanded her children for using the word "pee" and told them to watch their language. I mean really come on. Who does that? Certainly no one I know, but then again I don't live in Utah. It just seemed like all God and prayer and perfect housewife-ness.
Then skipping to the last chapter I didn't feel like I had missed a thing. I'm going to spoil it for you here..... after 10 years and a spouse conveniently dead from cancer the actor and the housewife finally end up together and kiss for the first time. I was relieved to find out that I didn't have to read the whole thing to be disappointed at the end.
Overall it's just not my type of book. The premise seemed so good and interesting, but it wasn't done to my taste. I don't really want to slam a book, but I just think I'm not the audience for this book either.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Overwhelmed
After yesterday's post it should not be the least bit surprising that I am overwhelmed by my reading list. Even now I feel guilty that I should be reading and not writing, even when the whole purpose of me reading is to get better at writing. It's ridiculous.
Today's book acquisition........ The Actor and the Housewife - Shannon Hale
I've been waiting for this book for a while and finally I got the e-mail this morning that it was waiting for me at the library. Why didn't I buy this book? Even I don't know the answer to this one. The book hooked me as soon as I saw the synopsis in a magazine 6 months ago. It's taken that long for my library to acquire it and then even longer for my turn on the library's waiting list.
This goes into the huge pile on my desk. I'm not kidding when I say that there are 5 stacks 8 books deep on my desk. It's just so much and I want to read it all, but really how much is too much reading? I'd say I'm right at 2-4 hours a day at least. I could easily spend 6-8 and on a really good weekend I can squeeze at least one six hour day. Now if only I could channel that same energy into writing.
Tomorrow's post will be all about magazine article writing and what little I know about it.
Today's book acquisition........ The Actor and the Housewife - Shannon Hale
I've been waiting for this book for a while and finally I got the e-mail this morning that it was waiting for me at the library. Why didn't I buy this book? Even I don't know the answer to this one. The book hooked me as soon as I saw the synopsis in a magazine 6 months ago. It's taken that long for my library to acquire it and then even longer for my turn on the library's waiting list.
This goes into the huge pile on my desk. I'm not kidding when I say that there are 5 stacks 8 books deep on my desk. It's just so much and I want to read it all, but really how much is too much reading? I'd say I'm right at 2-4 hours a day at least. I could easily spend 6-8 and on a really good weekend I can squeeze at least one six hour day. Now if only I could channel that same energy into writing.
Tomorrow's post will be all about magazine article writing and what little I know about it.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Writer's Journey
Nothing gets me hotter and more worked up than lists of books. If you've found this blog you must be the same way, so in order to titillate your senses today's post will be the lists of books I'm reading and the list of reading material that I acquired yesterday.
Maybe that will be a bigger part of this blog as I get it up and running again. I am a very prolific book buyer. I'm trying to cut back, but it never seems to work. It's just in my blood. I am a reader and a collector.
Books I'm reading this week:
The Writer's Journey - Christopher Volger - This is a classic, so I felt I must read it. It really focuses more or films than books, but still it should be an interesting read on how to tell a story.
The Modern Library Writer's Workshop - Stephen Koch - This is a little gem I found at the library. It is awesome. It's one of those literary books that tells you to go for it. Just write. Write in your own style and don't worry about being right or wrong. Find your voice and start yelling with it. I like this book. I'm not very deep into it, but I like the tone and I'll read the whole thing.
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - I'm going to give this a go. It's not technically on my reading list this month, but I keep seeing it referenced in all of my literary books and I just think it's time that I got this one under my belt.
Books I bought yesterday:
Half Broken Things - Morag Joss - Weird people living in an abandoned manor house. You had me at manor house. Should be a good book.
People Are Unappealing - Sara Barron - This looks like one of my favorite kinds of books... kooky memoir of a young person.
Beowulf on the Beach - A book about books? Love it. It seems to have summaries of all the best books I've never read, but intend to read.
I got these three from the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes and Noble.
Magazines I bought yesterday:
The Paris Review
O The Oprah Magazine
Writer's Digest
The Writer
Poets and Writers
Wallpaper
Fine Homebuilding Annual Houses Design Issue
I know I went on a bit of a magazine rampage yesterday. I know the lady that checks me out at Barnes and Noble is wondering when I find the time to read everything I buy from her. She seems to be rolling her eyes at me lately as I check out. She must know I am not going to be able to read The Brothers Karamazof, Oliver Twist, and War and Peace before I come back and buy another arm load of books.
I'm going to try and stay out of the bookstore for the rest of the week. Hopefully there will be no more new purchases this week.
Maybe that will be a bigger part of this blog as I get it up and running again. I am a very prolific book buyer. I'm trying to cut back, but it never seems to work. It's just in my blood. I am a reader and a collector.
Books I'm reading this week:
The Writer's Journey - Christopher Volger - This is a classic, so I felt I must read it. It really focuses more or films than books, but still it should be an interesting read on how to tell a story.
The Modern Library Writer's Workshop - Stephen Koch - This is a little gem I found at the library. It is awesome. It's one of those literary books that tells you to go for it. Just write. Write in your own style and don't worry about being right or wrong. Find your voice and start yelling with it. I like this book. I'm not very deep into it, but I like the tone and I'll read the whole thing.
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - I'm going to give this a go. It's not technically on my reading list this month, but I keep seeing it referenced in all of my literary books and I just think it's time that I got this one under my belt.
Books I bought yesterday:
Half Broken Things - Morag Joss - Weird people living in an abandoned manor house. You had me at manor house. Should be a good book.
People Are Unappealing - Sara Barron - This looks like one of my favorite kinds of books... kooky memoir of a young person.
Beowulf on the Beach - A book about books? Love it. It seems to have summaries of all the best books I've never read, but intend to read.
I got these three from the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes and Noble.
Magazines I bought yesterday:
The Paris Review
O The Oprah Magazine
Writer's Digest
The Writer
Poets and Writers
Wallpaper
Fine Homebuilding Annual Houses Design Issue
I know I went on a bit of a magazine rampage yesterday. I know the lady that checks me out at Barnes and Noble is wondering when I find the time to read everything I buy from her. She seems to be rolling her eyes at me lately as I check out. She must know I am not going to be able to read The Brothers Karamazof, Oliver Twist, and War and Peace before I come back and buy another arm load of books.
I'm going to try and stay out of the bookstore for the rest of the week. Hopefully there will be no more new purchases this week.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ready, Get Set, GO!
So there has to be a time when I stop reading everything in site and actually start writing. I have all the abilities to start. I have all the abilities to finish. I love to revise and edit. Why am I not starting? Like right now. I'm not doing anything. I thinking about going to Target to pick up a few things, stop at the book store and look around, maybe hit the library too, but why don't I just write? Why don't I re-read what I've already started? The first step is to just sit down and start it. The next step is to open a file and start writing. Well I'm sitting down. I'm in front of the computer, but there are so many other things to do while sitting here. Do I really need a laptop to write? Do I need to research Mac's or use my Ipad or use my HP laptop I just bought for the boys? What to do? What to do?
It's frustrating. It's such a huge undertaking and it starts with just one step just like anything else. Do I focus on writing magazine articles? or just jump right in to the novel? What is the best path? Is there anyway to really know?
No there isn't. That is the only thing that is true. There is no one way to find out what will work for me until I just start writing. I have all the tools. I don't need any new books or computers to write. All I really need is to have read a lot of books (check), a pencil and paper (or a computer) and I'm good to go. So Go already!
It's frustrating. It's such a huge undertaking and it starts with just one step just like anything else. Do I focus on writing magazine articles? or just jump right in to the novel? What is the best path? Is there anyway to really know?
No there isn't. That is the only thing that is true. There is no one way to find out what will work for me until I just start writing. I have all the tools. I don't need any new books or computers to write. All I really need is to have read a lot of books (check), a pencil and paper (or a computer) and I'm good to go. So Go already!
Agatha Christie
I read my very first Agatha Christie book this weekend while in Vegas. I was all settled in at the pool at the Monte Carlo and ready for a juicy read. I'd read all the hype on Agatha Christie, seen her referred to as one of the best mystery writers, and read that her formula was perfect in creating a mystery.
Boy was I disappointed. The book was horrible. It was so easy to put down that I would never call it a page turner. It was just a dry statement of facts. I felt no emotion for any of the characters. The victim was dead when the book started. Yes there was an interesting twist at the end of the book when the mystery is solved and the killer revealed, but I didn't buy it. It seems like the murderers went out of their way to make it unnecessarily complicated. I just didn't like it at all. It was all surface and no depth. There was no description, no feeling of time or place for me. I was so disappointed.
Of course when I went out shopping Friday afternoon to pick up my reading material for the weekend, I got 3 Agatha Christie books not knowing how crappy they would be. This story was a short one. I will hold my breath and try another one the next time I'm looking for a quick easy read. Maybe 'And Then There Were None' will be better, but as it stands I am not impressed.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Literature vs. Fiction
I'm going to write, for reals this time, so I figured I should come back to this blog and get it going again.
I've been reading a lot of 'How to Write' books. I usually read a lot of these. There are a lot of crap books on how to write out there, but there are a few gems. They usually fall into two types of categories. One is the easy talking, don't worry about it, just write, conversational tone of book and the other is the scare the shit out of you, you will never format your query or manuscript correctly, get used to piles of rejection letters, and never misspell anything type of book.
Currently on my list of reading materials is the Portable MFA in Creative Writing, The Writer's Journey, and Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. Now I love, love, love these types of books and not just because they all provide additional reading lists, but because I love to talk about writing and books. What I have noticed this past month in all my writing research is that the second type of these 'How to Write' books (the fancy, scary ones) use the same few books as examples of the best is literature. I'm tired of hearing about Tolstoy, Cheever, Henry Miller, and Homer. I'm not saying they aren't great (although I really don't like Cheever), but what about the really good books? Where are they in the study of how to write? Why don't they use examples of popular fiction? And isn't that the point? To write something that people want to read and not something that they are told to read?
I would love to see a book that talks about what Stephenie Meyer did in the Eclipse books, or how great Anne Rice is at telling a story, or lets talk about Ian McEwan's prose, or how Steven King creates suspense. That would be a really great how to book. Lets get in a little bit of study on Candace Bushnell, Ayn Rand, Colleen McCullough, or even Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
When I first started reading the 'How to Write' books I had to actually go to the library/bookstore and look up all the references and read them so that I would know what they were talking about. I am fairly well read, but I was starting at ground zero according the authors of those high-falluting books. Those who write the how to books are usually MFA grads and professors of writing and it seems like it's be beneath them to admit to reading popular fiction. Do they really read it and not admit it? Or are they scared to even open a novel that is on the best-seller list?
I'm trying to keep all of my reading middle of the road, somewhere between only NYT Best Sellers, classical timeless books, and today's artsy short stories and fiction. That is what educates me the most: reading a little bit of everything.
Here is my current to be read pile:
A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens (I've never read it and feel so guilty about that )
The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell
The Chicago of Europe - Mark Twain
The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet - Reif Larsen (The illustrations look gorgeous)
The Enchanted Castle - Edith Nesbit
The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie (Again I've never read any of her mysteries)
The Preservation of Historic Architecture - US Department of the Interior
Fanny - Erica Jong
Booklife - Jeff vandermeer
and that doesn't even include all the big fat novels that have been in the pile for a while. So far this year I've knocked out Atlas Shrugged and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but eventually I'd like to get to:
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope
Drood - Dan Simmons
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Soooo many books, soooo little time.
I've been reading a lot of 'How to Write' books. I usually read a lot of these. There are a lot of crap books on how to write out there, but there are a few gems. They usually fall into two types of categories. One is the easy talking, don't worry about it, just write, conversational tone of book and the other is the scare the shit out of you, you will never format your query or manuscript correctly, get used to piles of rejection letters, and never misspell anything type of book.
Currently on my list of reading materials is the Portable MFA in Creative Writing, The Writer's Journey, and Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. Now I love, love, love these types of books and not just because they all provide additional reading lists, but because I love to talk about writing and books. What I have noticed this past month in all my writing research is that the second type of these 'How to Write' books (the fancy, scary ones) use the same few books as examples of the best is literature. I'm tired of hearing about Tolstoy, Cheever, Henry Miller, and Homer. I'm not saying they aren't great (although I really don't like Cheever), but what about the really good books? Where are they in the study of how to write? Why don't they use examples of popular fiction? And isn't that the point? To write something that people want to read and not something that they are told to read?
I would love to see a book that talks about what Stephenie Meyer did in the Eclipse books, or how great Anne Rice is at telling a story, or lets talk about Ian McEwan's prose, or how Steven King creates suspense. That would be a really great how to book. Lets get in a little bit of study on Candace Bushnell, Ayn Rand, Colleen McCullough, or even Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
When I first started reading the 'How to Write' books I had to actually go to the library/bookstore and look up all the references and read them so that I would know what they were talking about. I am fairly well read, but I was starting at ground zero according the authors of those high-falluting books. Those who write the how to books are usually MFA grads and professors of writing and it seems like it's be beneath them to admit to reading popular fiction. Do they really read it and not admit it? Or are they scared to even open a novel that is on the best-seller list?
I'm trying to keep all of my reading middle of the road, somewhere between only NYT Best Sellers, classical timeless books, and today's artsy short stories and fiction. That is what educates me the most: reading a little bit of everything.
Here is my current to be read pile:
A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens (I've never read it and feel so guilty about that )
The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell
The Chicago of Europe - Mark Twain
The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet - Reif Larsen (The illustrations look gorgeous)
The Enchanted Castle - Edith Nesbit
The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie (Again I've never read any of her mysteries)
The Preservation of Historic Architecture - US Department of the Interior
Fanny - Erica Jong
Booklife - Jeff vandermeer
and that doesn't even include all the big fat novels that have been in the pile for a while. So far this year I've knocked out Atlas Shrugged and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but eventually I'd like to get to:
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope
Drood - Dan Simmons
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Soooo many books, soooo little time.
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