Six on the brain #12

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1. Three Books On Writing I Can’t Live Without

   Like a lot of my peers, I love books about writing. And also like my peers, I have my favorites and host of others I think are terrible.

   Okay… maybe terrible isn’t the right word. A matter of taste? In any case, I don’t like ’em.

   And I’m leaving off some of the biggies, namely Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD. Both those books are on all of our bookshelves and I’ve never seen a writer badmouth either one. Just assume I love them, too.

   As a general rule, the ones I hate are the ones that tell me how to write… or, I should say, talk about the process of writing without couching the text with the caveat that it’s how the author writes.

   On the other hand, the ones I love the most are the books that help me solve a problem. The first writing book that ever fit that bill for me was James Scott Bell’s PLOT & STRUCTURE.

   I remember standing in Barnes & Noble one afternoon and cracking this book open to read the introduction. He titled it “Putting The Big Lie To Sleep.”

   How’s that for a grabber?

   What he wrote described my writing life. He told the story of how he’d wasted valuable years of his own writing life because he had the misfortune of being informed in college that writing cannot be taught… that either ya got it or ya don’t got it.

   It was actually worse for me because it was my own wrong thinking that dissuaded me from pursuing fiction writing further. I can remember sitting in a fiction class while in college and reading a fellow student’s short story for critique.

   His beautiful prose, his command of language, his seemingly effortless craft… it floored me.

   I also remember thinking to myself, “I don’t think I can ever be this good.”

   So, there, sometime in late 2005, in the middle of Barnes & Noble, it was spelled out to me that all these years—fifteen years to be more exact—were nothing more than hogwash. And like I said, I’d been the one that did to me.

   But getting to the more practical matters, the book is rife with exercises and examples that illuminate the concepts Bell teaches in the book… from basic story structure and plotting (duh), to character arc, to plotting systems, to troubleshooting common mistakes. It doesn’t always help me solve a problem now, but it was a significant find for me in believing I can write fiction.

   Next up is James V. Smith’s FICTION WRITER”S BRAINSTORMER.

   This isn’t an idea book as much as it’s a strategy book. Each page is loaded with exercises that help readers think beyond the scope of what they would normally. In fact, each chapter begins and ends with brainteasers designed to stimulate the creative process.

   Perhaps the thing I like best about the book is that Smith emphasizes that waiting to be in the mood to be creative is selling ourselves short. If you can’t be creative because the weather is bad or because they’re stuck in traffic, then it becomes easier to talk yourself out of writing.

   I also love this book because Smith strives to push writers: one idea isn’t enough. Heck, ten ideas aren’t enough. Get going and come up with a hundred.

   Overkill? Perhaps. But because ideas are what drives what we do it helps to have the engine running at all times.

   Last on the list is Tom Sawyer’s and Arthur David Weingarten’s PLOTS UNLIMITED. It’s a limitless source of throughlines, conflict situations, outlines, subplots and plots.

   Not a lot people like this book for any number of reasons… chief among them is that it’s complicated. I agree: it is, in a nutshell, a database in book form. This means there’s a lot of flipping back and forth between pages to match up the dovetails between “database” entries.

   You’ll want to grab a pad of paper and pencil when you use this because you’ll be making lots of notes. And, while the instructions seem muddy, there’s a nice set of real story examples in the front of the book to guide you. Once you’ve got it, the system really is pretty easy to follow.

   Again, to get back to the practical, I like this book for no other reason than it helps me crystalize my ideas by showing me how something progresses from start to finish (I am, after all, an outliner) while letting me discover alternatives to what I’d originally conceived. Oftentimes, what I thought would be my story got shelved in favor of something that excited me far more.

   So, now, tell what writing books you like. Please. Comments, as always, are open.

2. Will Work For Books

   I did some freelance Web work for J.A. Konrath a couple months back. As payment, he shipped me a stack of his books plus a few copies of mystery mags in which he’s published stuff.

   In the crazy insane chance that any of his peers out there in the mystery world read 52 Novels and need some Web stuff done, please feel free to contact me at rob at 52novels dot com.

3. Get A Signed Stephen King Book!

   Speaking of King, his Haven Foundation announced its signed book selections for February, March and April. Twenty-five copies of February’s book, HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, go on sale today went on sale yesterday (February 23, 2007) at noon (ET). They’ll be on sale in small lots at random times during the day… $60 plus shipping. Considering it’s well past noon yesterday, I imagine all 25 copies are long gone… but who knows? Your mileage may vary.

   Look for DREAMCATCHER (also $60 plus shipping) in March; and look for BLACK HOUSE, signed by both King and Peter Straub ($80 plus shipping) in April.

   All quantities are limited and there’s a one signed book per household lifetime limit so as many people as possible can get one.

4. Author Events At Denver’s Murder By The Book

   February 24, 2007 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
   Giles Blunt — BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS
   Detective John Cardinal returns in this fourth book set in Algonquin Bay near Ontario, Canada. This time, he and his partner must investigate an assignment from the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit: an online sexual predator.

   March 2, 2007 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
   Janis Kaplan — LOOKS TO DIE FOR
   This is an entertaining debut crime novel introducing Los Angeles amateur sleuth and celebrity interior designer Lacy Fields.

   March 6, 2007 12:30 p.m. to 1:30p.m.
   Tim Dorsey — HURRICANE PUNCH
   This is a stock signing so there will be no formal talk, but everyone is invited to come and meet this increasingly popular author.

   March 6, 2007 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   Peter May — THE FOURTH SACRIFICE and EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
   EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE is a new series featuring forensic biologist Enzo MacLeod. THE FOURTH SACRIFICE is the second mystery featuring Beijing Detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell.

   March 8, 2007 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
   Robert Dugoni — DAMAGE CONTROL
   This page-turning legal thriller follows Seattle attorney Dana Hill as her messy personal life weaves into her professional life when she tries to solve the murder of her brother.

   March 10, 2007 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
   Nancy Atherton — AUNT DIMITY GOES WEST
   The twelfth book in this fun and popular series has Lori Shepherd travelling to Bluebird, Colo. to solve her next case with the help of her spectral sidekick, Aunt Dimity.

   March 14, 2007 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   Stephen White — DRY ICE
   This is fifteenth mystery to feature Boulder psychologist, Alan Gregory. This time, one of his ex-patients escapes from a mental institution and seeks out Alan and his wife.

   March 20, 2007 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   Laura Lippman — WHAT THE DEAD KNOW
   In this tale of a 30-year Maryland missing-child case, a woman tells police that she was one of two girls missing from a mall years prior, a cold case gets a new look and a new twist.

   March 21, 2007 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   Steve Hockensmith — ON THE WRONG TRACK
   Cattle-drivers-turned detectives, “Old Red” and “Big Red,” return in this second hilarious 1890’s romp through the Old West as they investigate cases on the railroad.

   March 24, 2007 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
   Chris Goff — DEATH SHOOTS A BRIDIE
   In this sixth bird-watching mystery, sleuth Rachel Wilder investigates when the keynote speaker at a birding convention on the Georgia coast is murdered. Paperback original.

   March 28, 2007 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   Craig Johnson — KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED
   Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire returns for his third outing, but this time he spends some time in the big city when his daughter’s ex-boyfriend is murdered in Philadelphia.

5. Link Trades Wanted

   If anyone who’s got a writing-related blog wants to trade links, let me know at rob at 52novels dot com.

6. Great Reads Wanted

   I’ve got a great list of books in the 52 Novels Stash, but most of what’s there has been out a while. If anyone has a recommendation of new paperback, please be sure to leave a note in the comments.

Tags: On books, On writing, Six on the brain

Tagged as: On books, On writing, Six on the brain