52 NovelsPosts filed in “On writing”

Writer = lawyer = linebacker

Rob @ 52 Novels — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:07:28 +0000

So says big time Hollywood screenwriter John August last Friday, in a great piece about what he calls “The One.”

While the essay’s specific to screenwriters, turns out they’ve got no monopoly on the nut of it: writing is still ass plus chair plus tippity-tappity.

The highlight?

Screenwriting is a career of continuous effort marked by occasional highlights, not unlike trial law or professional football: a single case or game might be notable, but it’s what you do on a daily basis that determines your overall success. And, like trial law and professional football, you may discover that you’re just not cut out for it. But you need to approach screenwriting with the same perspective as a lawyer or linebacker. Expect it to be very hard work, with long hours and continuous setbacks.

Image via jercraigs at flickr.

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A Dozen on Denver

Rob @ 52 Novels — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:10:10 +0000

The Rocky Mountain News needs a short story to round out its series “A Dozen on Denver: Stories to celebrate the city at 150.”

The winner gets $500 and the story gets published by the Rocky in a special section slated to run November 14. The story must be set in in the future and in Denver, must mention Larimer Street, and be original. Also, there’s a 2500-word maximum, and the language and situations must be appropriate for a daily newspaper.

Here’re the details:

E-mail: Stories must be submitted as an attachment using standard short story formatting. Send the e-mail to spotlight@rockymountainnews.com with “A Dozen in Denver” in the e-mail’s subject. Be sure to include your name, daytime phone number, and an e-mail address (if you have one).
Snail mail: Mail properly formatted stories to Rocky Mountain News, ATTN: Patti Thorn/A Dozen in Denver, 101 W. Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colo 80202. Again, be sure to include your name, daytime phone number, and an e-mail address (if you have one).
Entrants: You just be at least 18 years-old and a Colorado resident. Employees (and their families) of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Newspaper Agency and The Denver Post are ineligible to enter. One entry per person.
Deadline: All e-mail entries must be received by 5 p.m. on September 15, 2008. All snail mail entries must be postmarked by September 15, 2008.
Complete rules: Go to the Entertainment page at RockyMountainNews.com.

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J. A. Konrath finally pulls the trigger

Rob @ 52 Novels — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:41:59 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve written about writing. Books, too, for that matter.

I won’t get into the reasons why, but now’s a good time to shake the disease: J. A. Konrath released another free e-book.

This time around he’s compiled nearly every article and blog post he’s ever written about writing, publishing, and being a full time novelist. People have been asking him to do that for years and he’s always replied, “It’s already out there for people on my blog.”

It’s a good thing for all of us that he finally caved. For real… this is one big honkin book.

Big enough to crush a bus. More than 750 pages big. And it’s free.

What’s more is that it’s loaded with links back to his Newbie’s Guide blog, so you can easily join conversations about publishing and stuff in progress.

The book also has a fully-linked Table of Contents so your online browsing of topics and articles is quick and easy. Wanna learn about why J. A. thinks book advertisements are worthless? Just look in the Contents under the Promotion topic then click the page number for the “Ads” entry.

Boom. It’s right there.

So what’re you waiting for? Go get your free copy of The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing Book right now.

P.S. While you’re in a book mood, be sure to pick up a copy of FUZZY NAVEL, J. A.’s latest book in the Jack Daniels thriller series. I’ve read the first four or five chapters and it’s shaping up to be his best yet.

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The Sunday Salon Monday Edition: Where the hell have you been?

Rob @ 52 Novels — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:17:02 +0000

Every time I think about The Sunday Salon, Deb Hamel’s terrific group of reader blogs, I’m reminded of the bit in the movie Dances With Wolves when Timmons is driving John Dunbar out to his new post.

Along the way Timmons and Dunbar come across a picked-clean human carcass — presumably that of a post-war pioneer — with a broken arrow in its skull.

Timmons, never missing a thing, says, “I bet someone back east is askin, ‘Now why don’t he write?’”

Not that I’m a significant member of the group (I’m not), but my blog’s listed near the top of the list at The Sunday Salon. Again… it’s not because I’m anyone special. We’re presented alphabetically and those of us with numbers at the beginning of our blogs were put first.

“What does this have to do with anything,” you ask.

Fair question. It has everything to do with the fact that I get a decent amount of traffic from The Sunday Salon — if for no other reason than this joint’s third from the top of the list. As a result, I often wonder if I’m disappointing people who get here from there because there’s, you know, no salon-ness hap’nin when they walk in the 5 to-the 2.

Then again, I also wonder if I’m an arrogant prick for wondering that in the first place.

In any case, a member of a forum I help moderate recently asked the community for non-fiction recommendations.

Despite what you see here — fiction, fiction, and more fiction — I also read a lot of non-fiction over the course of the year. I don’t count those books in the 52 novels because, well, they’re not novels. I suppose if I wanted to pad the resume here, I could include them.

Alas, 52books dot com was already taken and there ain’t no way I’m gonna make the owner an offer for it.

Anyway… here’re a few recent non-fic reads:

THE HARDEST (WORKING) MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS

I picked this up more out of a desire to read Eric Spitznagel’s words than because of any overarching interest in porn. (Disclaimer: I’m a dude and I like porn about the same as the next guy.)

The fact is, Ron Jeremy’s a fascinating guy who’s led an intriguing life. He was a serious actor who stumbled in to porn. He’s legendary in the adult entertainment industry as much for his, you know, as he is for his tireless work ethic and networking. He’s as famous for the brand called “Ron Jeremy” as he is for the on-screen product.

Quite literally, Wayne Gretzgy is the Ron Jeremy of hockey.

Sadly, I didn’t care for this book as much as I’d hoped. It got to be more of the same after the first few chapters: “One time on the set of (movie title), I was (doing some sex act) with the beautiful (female porn star’s name), and (something humorous/serious/endearing) happened.

I will admit, though, that the stories about his family were often rather touching… and the reason I finished reading this one.

STEROID NATION

I really wanted to like this book… and I did like some of it.

But what left me feeling cheated was the way the author, ESPN The Magazine’s Shaun Assael, cobbled together the narrative. We got short vignettes of concurrent history and it made it difficult for me to understand the context. And as soon as I thought I was getting to meat of the vignette, it stopped and moved on to the next.

There’re better ways to tell concurrent histories — see any of Stephen Ambrose’s fine World War II books, for example.

Again, there was good stuff in the book: the changing political priorities and how they affect enforcement policies, how the International Olympic Committee used steroid testing as window dressing for many years, and how many, at the time, virtually unknown players — from Dan Duchaine to Patrick Arnold to Bill Phillips — were instrumental to bringing the drugs into the mainstream.

Still, what I didn’t know seemed far less than what I did know. Combine that with the format and it left me disappointed. Take that for what it’s worth… if you’re not so hip to steroid history, this’ll probably be an enlightening read.

Of course, this isn’t the limit to my non-fic reads in 2008. I’ve also read a number of books as novel-related research: finding missing people, con games, guns, the psychology of killing, and so on. I’ve also been learning a lot about modern American gangs — not for this book, but for maybe the next book. My current non-fic read is THE COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS… and it’s fantastic.

So how ’bout you… what non-fiction have you been reading? Drop a comment and let’s talk books about real people, places and things.

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On being prolific

Rob @ 52 Novels — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:17:48 +0000

A couple of things I noticed yesterday around the Intarwebs:

First, Lynn Viehl of Paperback Writer posted her Novel Notebook template… including what a completed version looks like. In a nutshell, the book serves as her novel-writing blueprint and covers everything from cover art concepts to deep, deep character maps. She even gives her characters a birthday.

Girl knows what she’s doing, too. If you’re one of the three people who’ve never heard of her, she’s written thirty-eight novels in five genres over the last eight years. And she cracked the NYT in 2007. Plus, Lynn’s one of the most generous writers you’ll find anywhere on the Web. Download The Novel Notebook for free.

Second, Sarah Weinman dropped a snippet about Japanese crime novelist Jiro Akagawa, who just published his five hundredth novel. Yes. That’s a five followed by two zeros. 500. Like the famous race in Indiana.

So, Lynn Viehl writes five books a year. Jiro Akagawa writes sixteen a year.

The question I have is, “The fuck you waiting for?”

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How to find your voice, Part 3

Rob @ 52 Novels — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:42:16 +0000

So far in this three-part series on “voice” we’ve talked about choosing your pronoun (I, you, he/she/it, we, they) and building rhythm. Now it’s time to really nail some Jello to the wall. Let’s take a look at the elusive characteristics of “style” and “attitude.”

In fact, these traits are so tough to describe, I’m not even going to try. Instead, I’m going to show by example.

Style

Just as skirt lengths can be long or short (or somewhere in between), so too your writing style can range from formal to casual. Notice how a writer’s word choice and point of view will affect your perception of his or her style.

Casual: “One of the popular girls came home with me after school one day, to spend the night. We found my parents rejoicing over the arrival of my dad’s new novel, the first copy off the press. We were all so thrilled and proud, and this girl seemed to think I had the coolest possible father: a writer. (Her father sold cars.)” (Bird by Bird. Anne Lamott.)

More formal: “The eyes of the pioneers were set on this corner of old Oregon, their gazes measuring the dusty distance to the Willamette Valley as their oxen clopped out the miles, day after day, one hoofbeat at a time along the trail leading to the far lonely edge of the continent.” (Oregon: An Explorer’s Guide. Mark Highberger.)

Most formal: “Good writers craft every element of their work, down to the joints between the words. During this meticulous process it’s nearly impossible to step back and experience the text as a new reader would.” (Telling True Stories. Mark Kramer and Wendy Call (eds).)

Attitude

If you thought style was hard to pin down, brace yourself for attitude — it’s even more evanescent. But I think it comes down to this: Where are you, the writer? Are you at once everywhere — a bit like the God of my grade 1 catechism? Or are you an opinionated so-and-so who wants to persuade or sell or render judgment? Or are you a clever combination of the two previous types — on the one hand, removed and superior, but on the other, itching to deliver a punchline? Let’s take a look and see:

Detached/neutral: “The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, was born in 1703 in the Old Rectory, where his father, Samuel Wesley, was the rector. The house was rebuilt in 1709 after a fire, and contains furniture associated with the Wesley family. American Methodists financed much of the restoration.” (AA Illustrated Guide to Britain.)

Persuasive/judgmental: “Almost the first sound we hear in Joe Wright’s Atonement is the tap of typewriter keys. Soon, the tapping becomes regular, like drumbeats, and it sets the tempo for the music that comes surging in. Later in the film, it rings out as loudly as gunshots. The implication is clear, words can stir us and set us dancing, but they can also kill. That mysterious double power infused Ian McEwan’s novel, published in 2001, and it lingers in Christopher Hampton’s screenplay, which displays immense ingenuity in facing a basic human conundrum: how do you film a story about language and not leave it reeking of books?” (Movie review by Anthony Lane in the Dec. 10, 2007 New Yorker.)

Ironic/comedic: “The problem at Starbucks, the thing I call the Starbucks Paradox, is the assumption that we, the customers, have sophisticated enough palates to tell the difference between Aged Sumatra coffee (tenderly stored for five years in a warehouse in Singapore, shipped green and then roasted to perfection) and Columbia Narino El Tambo coffee (juicy, with intriguing floral notes, a citrus complexity and a chocolaty sweetness so rarely found in Narino region coffees) whilst simultaneously counting on us being unable to tell the difference between a piece of Italian biscotti and a biscuit-shaped wedge of drywall.” (Column by Tabatha Southey in the March 1, 2008 Globe & Mail.)

When you write, you can pick your attitude. Just make sure you chose wisely — selecting one that suits your own personality and the subject you’re covering.

This is the third, and final, part of a series from writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant. If you found this post this useful, go sign up for Daphne’s newsletter. You won’t regret it.

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How to find your voice, Part 2

Rob @ 52 Novels — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:33:33 +0000

Like music, writing has rhythm. Think of Shakespeare. He wrote his plays in iambic pentameter: Da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum.

Okay, I know you’re not Shakespeare but you and your sales letter have rhythm too, whether you know it or not. The beat that exists behind your writing is a key part of what we call your writing voice. It makes your work unique and recognizable. It expresses your personality. It’s part of what makes you, you.

Some lucky people are born with an ear for good rhythm. Just as “born musicians” know when to slow down and when to speed up, “born writers” instinctively understand how to play with the rhythm of their words. Others need to learn. Here are five strategies to help you do better:

Vary your sentence length

When I teach writing workshops, I urge people to aim for an average sentence length of about fourteen words. According to studies by the American Press Institute, this is the best length for readability in today’s society. People sometimes roll their eyes at me, suggesting that I’m a proponent for dumbing-down the language.

This, I am convinced, is a misunderstanding. I am not suggesting you write only fourteen-word sentences. that, after all, would be boring. Instead, I’m urging you to aim for an average of fourteen words. There’s a key difference. Some sentences should be long — anywhere from twenty-five to forty words. Others should be short. Two or three words.

It’s the variety that matters, because this is what gives your writing rhythm. If you were to put your sentence length onto an Excel spreadsheet and then turn it into a bar graph (try this sometime!) you should see a highly uneven graph — one with lots of peaks and valleys.

Vary your word length

Just as your sentences shouldn’t all be the same length, so, too, your words should show variety. I’m all for short and basic Anglo-Saxon words: hills, fight, beaches, island. (Short, punchy words were Winston Churchill’s secret.)

But to make your writing flow, you also want to throw in the occasional three or four syllable word like, say, “occasional.” Again, it is the juxtaposition (hey, there’s a five-syllable one) of long and short that lends your writing its rhythm.

Read your work aloud

Musicians don’t practice in silence, nor should you. You will not truly understand the rhythm of your writing until you read it out loud. Do it quietly, if you wish. I won’t even complain if you whisper. Read it again and again to tweak your sentence length and adjust your word choice until the language flows and sounds musical to you.

Study the rhythms of other writers

Just as most teenagers think that pop/rock is the best kind of music because that’s all they hear, many adults think that marketing mumbo-jumbo or happy PR prattle is normal, because that’s the only type of reading they do. Please, don’t limit your reading to brochures, websites and your daily newspaper or you’ll risk developing a tin ear!

If you want to improve your rhythm, read widely and catholically. The science writer Lewis Thomas (LIVES OF A CELL) has a wonderful sense of rhythm. So do Malcolm Gladwell (THE TIPPING POINT) and Tom Wolfe (BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES), although they are very different. Study a wide range of writers and decide what you like. Many magazines also offer a terrific selection of writing that is strong in rhythm — Scientific American, Sports Illustrated, and the New Yorker, among them.

And, for bonus points, try a bit of poetry. (My all time favorite poet for rhythm is Dylan Thomas.)

Copy the work of writers you admire

When I say “copy,” I don’t mean “imitate” (although that’s a good idea too). I mean copy, literally, by typing passages from other writers into your computer or by handwriting the work onto paper. I know this sounds crazy but rhythm is something you feel rather than think. By copying the work of others, you will absorb their sense of rhythm. Did you know that this was how Benjamin Franklin taught himself to write?

This is not an intellectual exercise because, above all, rhythm comes from the heart.

Next week: Formality vs. Informality and Humor vs. Sincerity

This is the second of a multi-part series from writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant. If you found this post this useful, go sign up for Daphne’s newsletter. You won’t regret it.

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