Burning Through 13 Books

I have been burning through books lately.  

Since I'm not yet up to speed on GoodReads, I'll use this post to share 13 books I've read recently.

I just reached the end of this one earlier this evening so I'll kick things off here:

1. No Shelter (Holly Lin) by Robert Swartwood

Very solid thriller with a well developed female protagonist.  The pacing in Part II was too slow and I felt a bit impatient waiting for more to develop.  Fortunately the chapters are short and read quickly.  Once through her 'daily life' section, there was a bigger payoff.

Over all it was well written and definitely a page-turner.  If you like over-the-top, kick ass female characters, then Holly Lin is for you.
Good for a debut novel.  Recommended.

2. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

I like Chuck, but this was like a bad porno script – and not in a funny, ironic way.  
Not recommended.

3. Sloppy Seconds: The Tucker Max Leftovers by Tucker Max

I'm almost embarrassed to admit to reading this, but it was free.  I saw it was from the I Hope They Sell Beer in Hell guy and thought I'd see what all the hoopla was a few years back since I never read that.  This one was mildly entertaining.  Somewhat humorous.  Certainly obnoxious and juvenile.  I think the "fratire" moniker for the genre is dead on.
Not recommended (unless you are a pubescent boy).

4. Kitchen Confidential:  Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

I like the guy's travel show.  He's full of snark and loves to drink.  Who knew he could write?  This is a great book and very interesting.  This is how to write memoir.
Highly Recommended.

5. The Abysmal Brute by Jack London

Inspiring story about boxing and corruption.
Recommended.

6. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

It won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason.  It's short.  It's great.  Perfect before the trip to Cuba.
Highly Recommended.

7. Coding Isis by Davis Roys

Pretty good techno-thriller.  The story was pretty solid and fast paced, but there were some minor distractions.  Mainly the fact that all of the characters use British colloquialisms, especially since it's set in Washington D.C.  Otherwise, well-written.
Decent debut.  Recommended.

8. The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted by Andrew E. Kaufman

I loved this book.  It's a psychological thriller.  Patrick, the main character is easy to identify with and very likable – even though the story opens at his mother's funeral and he's basically spitting on her grave.  Hooked.  You've got to read more.

You get two parallel stories with Patrick investigating a toddler's murder and the back story of him being abused by his mother.  It's multi-layered and it works wonderfully.  Great twists and turns that are surprising in the best possible way.

This ranks as the best book I have read so far this year.
Highly, Highly Recommended!

9. Baby Shark by Robert Fate

Decent revenge thriller.  The premise is unique.  A strong female protagonist seeking revenge for the murder of her pool hustler father.  It's set in the 50s, although at times I was having to force myself to suspend disbelief.

Well-written, but only average over all.  Penn of Penn & Teller highly recommends the book, but I'm pretty sure it's mainly because he's friends with the author.
Recommended if you like this genre or strong female MCs.

10. Pandemic by Jesse F. Bone

This is actually a short story, but I like the premise so much I included it here – also I read it on my Kindle, so that counts as an eBook, right?

This SciFi story was written in the 60s so it was a little difficult to read the dated prose.  Also, not terrific writing, but again the premise was really cool.  Read it and see why.
Recommended.

11. The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Stephen King doing young adult fantasy.  This was a reread and it reminded me why I liked this story so much.
Highly Recommended.

12. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

I gave up halfway through.  I just couldn't do it.  I know it's supposed to be some sort of classic for fans of fantasy, but it's one of the few books I've given up on.
Don't Bother!

13. Touch by Elmore Leonard

If you're looking for the Elmore Leonard who writes gritty Crime Novels, then you're in the wrong place with this story.  I love those other novels, but Touch is by far my favorite Leonard novel so far.

This young stigmatic seems to perform miracles – or are those simply coincidences?  It doesn't matter.  Lots of people want to exploit him.  And it wouldn't be a Leonard novel without the wacky cast of characters including con men and outlandish priests.
Highly, Highly Recommended!

Any significant book you've read so far this year?

Thanks to Pcorreia on Flickr for the nice photograph!

How To Write Fiction

This image originally appeared in my Don't Over Think It post.

If you don't know what you're doing then everything seems impossible.

Take the Rubik's Cube.  When you open the package, an "instructional booklet" will fall out.  It may as well be a booklet on Quantum Theory printed in Aramaic.  Really, it's supposed to be a booklet of hints to make solving the Rubik's Cube achievable.  Fun even.

It won't take long to realize that booklet is useless.  If you persist and don't smash the cube into a million tiny pieces, then you will eventually discover a "Beginner's Method" to solving the Rubik's Cube.  These are all over the Internet.  These methods actually used to appear in books – (you know, those paper thingies).

It may seem awkward at first, but the instructions provide a series of tried and true steps and before you know it, Viola!  You have a solved cube.  But there are many different ways to skin a cat.

I have studied many different methods over the past few years.  This gives me a lot of flexibility to adapt different tricks and techniques for each situation.  I achieve the same end state, a solved cube, but I'm not forced to do it the same way every time.

The same is true for writing.

If you don't know what you're doing, getting published may seem impossible.

When you first become serious about being a "published" author, it's natural to start with the tried and true.  What did Stephen King and Nora Roberts do to get published?  The real question to look at is what did they do to create fascinating stories for their readers?

But don't get too confident too soon.  Learning about character development is one thing, but don't expect to be able to put 20-30 three-dimensional characters into your story right away.  You'll need to focus on the craft at first.

What works for King or Roberts, might not work for you.  And that is just fine.  Don't just try to emulate their processes either.  There's a lot of talk in the writer community about outlining or not outlining.  Writing every day or only on the weekends.  Editing as you go or not looking back until you have a completed draft.

The truth is.  It really doesn't matter how you get there.  You need to allow yourself to understand what works for you.  For any given situation.  You may be experienced writing romance but trying to sell thrillers.  You need flexibility.

So, whether you use a "Beginner's Method" straight out of a writing craft book, or an "Advanced Method" gleaned from the likes of King or Roberts, you will find some basic and universal truths.  These truths are what makes writing worth reading.  That's why Nora Roberts has published more books than I have probably read in my lifetime.

What is the best writing lesson you have learned?

Tumbling into Wonderland

The one that started it all.

Little did I know that solving the Rubik's Cube for the first time was like tumbling down the rabbit hole.

I discovered a fascinating Wonderland of twisty puzzles.

An entire world of strange and exciting puzzles materialized before my eyes.  Just months earlier, I thought I had finally joined an exclusive brotherhood having solved the Rubik's Cube.

How could so many other puzzles exist beyond the Rubik's Cube?  Had they always been there?  Was I blind?

If it weren't for the original Rubik's Cube, would I ever have been introduced to the other puzzles I have come to love?

And then it hit me.

How different would my life be if I weren't a writer?

Much like my discovery with the Rubik's Cube, I discovered something when I became a writer.  Had I not pursued a writer's life, I might have missed out reading the following books.

WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Conner

I have always had a love for short stories, but I was not very well read in my younger years.  Sure, I read Poe and Hemingway, but I devoured King's short story collections after I became overwhelmed by his unabridged novels.

Once I reinvigorated my writing life, I found a secret river of writing knowledge that had been rushing in my own backyard the whole time.  I wanted to write short stories and I had to learn from the best.  And that's when I found Flannery O'Conner.

She demonstrated such skill in such a short amount of time, I found I had to read everything I could get my hands on.  So I read Wise Blood.  I really enjoyed it because it was so quirky.  It almost read like a collection of short stories.

Had I not become a writer, I would not have been compelled to read anything but her short stories.

SOME OF YOUR BLOOD by Theodore Sturgeon

This isn't the first time I have discussed this fantastic novel.  In my earlier post, It's the Journey, Not the Destination, I talk about why it was such a joy to read.

But this book also taught me a great deal about breaking the rules of writing.  I could have easily become frustrated early on and tossed the book aside had I not appreciated it for what it was.

You hear stories about garage sale Picasso's.  Well, had I not become a writer, I may have discarded this book and been none the wiser.
MONEY: A SUICIDE NOTE by Martin Amis

When I read this novel, I did not know much about the writing craft.  To be honest, I did not enjoy it too much.  I laughed in a few parts and the protagonist was interesting, but certainly not likeable to me.

Then again, I didn't really know the difference between a character-driven and a plot-driven story.  All I knew was this book was mildly entertaining, the characters were unpleasant, and I felt like the story was rather pointless.

Had I not wanted to learn from the "greatest" novels, I may not have ever read this book.  But this novel was another rule-breaker in many ways.

BOOKS ON WRITING CRAFT

Finally, I doubt I would have read so many books on the craft of writing.  There are far too many to mention.

Although, I certainly would have still read the greatly cited ON WRITING, by Stephen King.  I read anything by King.  I would have lined shelves with boxes of cereal if the box panel copy had been written by him.

What about you?  How do you think your life would be different if you weren't a writer?

Thursday 13: Why You're Not Published

13 Reasons Why You're Not Published:

1. Best-selling authors are not discovered by talent agents wandering the local shopping malls.
2. Your male-male-male paranormal romance is not Middle Grade fiction.  Ever.
3. You tout yourself to be the next King, Rowling, or Shakespeare – sorry, you're not.
4. You're not ready to be published yet.  You haven't written enough.  Scouring the web for farting Pandas is not writing.
5. Your pitch is too weak.  "I can solve the Rubik's Cube."  Big deal, who can't?  Tell me you can solve it while juggling and now you've at least got my attention.
6. Forty chapters of your main character staring at themselves in various mirrors will not sell.
7. The Simpsons did it already.
8. Your first novel does not deserve solid gold typesetting for your revered masterpiece – nor a seven-figure advance.
9. Your scented submission printed on glow-in-the-dark paper was sent directly to – the recycling bin.
10. You handle rejection as poorly as one of your angst-ridden YA characters.  Despite the temptation, always bite your electronic tongue.  Admittedly, the use of profanity and insults via email, Twitter, Facebook, and your blog will get you noticed – but only as unprofessional and difficult to work with.
11. Your mom is not an editor.
12. Your novel cannot be sold as a series.  Publishing is a business.  I got hooked on the Rubik's Cube, and then on every variation of that theme.  Just ask my wife how much money we're sending overseas to find the next great twisty puzzle ;-)  It was the original one that started it all, and each subsequent one brings in the real money.  Keep that in mind with your novel.
13. There is simply too much competition.  Vampires, need I say more?

Thirteen is certainly not an exhaustive list.  Do you have any to add to my list?

Thanks to the queen of subtle on Flickr for the fantastic picture.

What Would You Save From a Burning Building? (Part 1)

I don't do well with hypothetical questions.

Force me to save my favorite anything from a burning building and I'll be reduced to a charred pile of indecisiveness.  I simply can't choose.  I love variety too much.

This might explain why I have a puzzle 'shrine' in my office.  Some days I feel like doing the Rubik's Cube, other times it might be the Rubik's Revenge, still others, the Mirror Cube.

So don't ask me which stories I would save from a burning building.  I won't post a static and boring list of my 'favorites' here.  Nope.  My tastes evolve like an ever-changing mosaic.

Therefore in this series of posts I will share a cross-section of stories and authors I adore, but no favorites.  I love my children equally, but in different ways.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King
There's nothing like the original master.  Besides Stephen King, I don't read much from the horror genre, but it's hard to cram his work into any one genre.  His uniquely insane voice opened my eyes to the power of great storytelling.  He has taken on Fantasy with The Dark Tower (series) and The Eyes of the Dragon.  The Tommyknockers showed us his take on Sci-Fi.  Of course, any aspiring writer will cite his Nonfiction On Writing as a masterpiece.

I always coveted his short stories.  Ever since reading Stephen King in high school, I have marveled at this literary master's range.  I absolutely adored the story "Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption".  But of his work, I think Bag of Bones, originally published in 1998 by Scribner, is what really reinvigorated me back to writing.

Bag of Bones is beefy compared to most novels I read.  It's over 700 pages long, still, it didn't feel overwhelming.  It is the story of a widowed writer with writer's block.  It wouldn't be King if there weren't elements of the supernatural.  It's a ghost story.  But that is not why I loved the book so much.

I wanted to spend time with the characters.  The story is emotionally charged and very moving.  Anyone interested in how the "Master of Horror" does "heartwarming" (or heartbreaking) literature should read Bag of Bones.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
Survivor is a truly unique story.  It is my favorite by this author of Fight Club.  The narrator of the story is the last remaining survivor of a suicide cult.  He hijacks an airplane and recounts his life story to the black box recorder in the cockpit.

The novel begins at Chapter 47 and counts down toward the final Chapter 1.  How the story is told is not the only gimmick.  Palahniuk's humor and satire keep the reader engaged.  There are many twists and turns and surprises in the story.  It had been optioned in 1999 by a large movie studio, but the project was dropped after the September 11th attacks.

One side note, the title of the novel certainly should not be confused with the television series of the same name that premiered in the US in 2000.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Life of Pi was first published in 2001 by Knopof Canada.  There are many layers to this story.  It has it all...literally.  Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.  Read this and you will not have to suspend disbelief because the narrative effortlessly blurs the line between fiction and memoir.

How can a story about a boy stuck on a lifeboat with deadly zoo animals be so believable?  Because it was masterfully written.

What are some noteworthy authors or stories you treasure?

Does One Size Fit You?

You may wonder whether your literary piece would best be presented as a poem, an epic novel, or something in between.


Every format is unique, but there are some surprising similarities.  Depending on what you plan to convey to the reader, one format may appeal to you more than another.


Let's take a look at the literary spectrum and define each:

• POEM:  Poems are often the most compact pieces in fiction.  First and foremost, the focus is on the language, its rhythm and the emotion it evokes.  Poetry is not usually about character development and plot; it's about the words.  Words that rhyme or sound a certain way can dramatically change the overall effect of a poem.
• FLASH:  Yeah, I know what you're thinking...get your mind out of the gutter!  Flash Fiction, (or sometimes called a Short Short Story), is a story format composed in less than 1500 words.  It can be impossibly short.  Hemingway is often credited with his six word story conjured up for a wager.  "For sale:  Baby shoes, never worn."
• SHORT STORY:  A Short Story is generally comprised of 1500-25,000 words.  Usually this type of story is centered upon one major event, few characters, and has no room for subplots.  I particularly enjoy reading short stories because they can be read in their entirely in a single sitting.  The prolific writer, Ray Bradbury offered advice to write a short story in a single sitting.  That way, even as a draft, it would have a common "skin" around it.
• NOVELLA:  Novellas are usually between 25,000-50,000 words.  They are the Goldilocks of the literary world.  Between the length and complexity of a short story and a novel.  To some readers, they are "just right".  Novellas are popular in some genres, like Young Adult.  When I was in fifth grade, I loved The Great Brain novellas by John Dennis Fitzgerald.  Another example of a novella would be George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• NOVEL:  Novels can be between 50,000-150,000 words in length.  A novel is a long narrative story.  Novels allow for minor characters, subplots, and backstories to be explored, sometimes for chapters at a time.  Reading a novel takes time and is an investment for the reader.  It's all about the experience.
• EPIC:  An Epic Novel is longer than 150,000 words in length.  Its plot can span many years or require telling the stories of many, many different characters.  In some genres, such as science fiction, a novel may simply have more words because of the required "world building" in sci-fi and thus becomes an Epic Novel.  However, an epic novel is typically more complex than a novel.  Notable examples of epic novels are Moby Dick, War and Peace, and Stephen King's The Stand.

So, what do all these have in common?  Obviously, they all require words.  And the shorter the piece, the more carefully selected the words are.  But there's something else...every literary form also has a structure to it.  This is something that is as fundamental as the eight corners are to every puzzle in the picture above.

A poem has structure determined either, by lines and stanzas, or visually as it is laid out on the page.  The structure of the other literary formats tends to require the ingredients of a "story".  Where does your story fit along the spectrum above?  A story...any story, should be just long enough to convey the story...no shorter, no longer.

Okay, that's a pretty vague answer, but what do you wish to convey to the reader?  More emotion, or more of an immersive experience?  Knowing that should help you to decide how long your piece should be and which format to use. 

Of course, it's not always cut and dry.  J.R.R. Tolkien originally wrote The Lord of the Rings as an Epic Novel, but his publisher decided to break it up into smaller chunks due to paper shortages during World War II.

The great thing about writing fiction is that similar techniques can be used and adapted for the different formats.  Look at the picture above again.  Cube enthusiasts will tell you that each of these puzzles offers a unique set of challenges, but they also share a common thread...a common approach.  You can solve the larger cubes by simplifying them until they look like a scrambled Rubik's Cube and then solve it the same way as a 3x3.  And you can do that with fiction, too.  A story is a story.  There will tend to be a protagonist, he will struggle with some type of obstacle, and the story will be resolved in some way.

A popular misconception is that "shorter" means easier and that authors "progress" from shorter to longer pieces.  One format is not superior to another.  It can tend to take more time to write a novel versus a short story, but it is not necessarily any more challenging than the shorter forms.

In fact, Blaise Pascal's quote, (translated from French,) sums it up perfectly,

"I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had time to make it shorter."

Authors may decide to write in any part of the spectrum for a variety of reasons.  There are certainly notable examples of writers that have stayed strictly within one narrow category, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But there can also be joy in loving the uniqueness of every form.  If you learn about the structure and techniques typically applied to the different literary formats it may even help you become "unstuck" with a particular piece you might be struggling with.  But, ultimately, it's up to you to decide where you want your piece to fit.

So does one size fit you?  Or will you try them all out?

I Didn't Know You Could Do That!

Not too long ago, I committed myself to solving the Rubik's Cube and also to becoming a writer.

Just about the time I had finally written a story I was proud of, I was able to solve the cube in under one minute.  I meticulously followed processes and conventions only to find out that somebody had done something inexplicable.

"What do you mean he can solve the Rubik's Cube blindfolded?"  Stefan Pochmann invented the first technique to do just that.  His method was to memorize the initial scrambled state of the cube and then move each piece into the correct position one at a time.

I have had similar, perplexed reactions to something a published author has done.  "What?  I didn't know you could do that!"  Writers of fiction will tell you there are rules that must be followed.  You don't want anything to "take the reader out of the story."  One of the Golden Rules states that the author shall remain invisible.  And yet, I can think of three examples of this broken rule:

1. In his most famous novel, "Money", Martin Amis writes himself into the story.
2. Kurt Vonnegut also did this in "Breakfast of Champions", but in a much more intrusive manner.  The narrator/author is the godlike writer who confronts his poor character and tells him it is because of him that he has suffered so much.
3. Though I never finished the Dark Tower series, Stephen King also wrote himself into his story.

Many writers will tell you they have had rules drilled into their heads, and you must obey!  But as I've learned with writing, rules are really just conventions and guidelines.  It's possible to break the rules for some very dramatic, fun, and even amazing results.

Unpack Your Boxes Already!

For far too long they remained packed together in moving boxes that traveled with me from apartment to apartment and house to house.  Enigmas that were to remain untouched and cherished from afar.  Would I ever be able to unravel their mysterious ways?  Maybe someday.

I'm talking about my Rubik's Cube and my fiction.  In the box, my "manuscripts" sat amongst several Stephen King books and my cube.  The cube was already solved, but only because I had cheated and popped it apart with a screwdriver.  However, I had no screwdriver to pop apart King's stories.  I didn't have the tools to cheat at writing.

Without any shortcuts or cheat sheets, my writing remained untouched in the box as if it were paralyzed by the greatness of its box mates:  the Cube and the King.

After one too many failed New Year's Resolutions, I finally unpacked the box.  If a three year old can solve the Rubik's cube and a four year old can publish a novel, then maybe I can figure out a way to do this too.  Maybe it was a Nike ad I had seen that made my subconscious whisper, "Just Do It".  I don't know, but I was inspired.

I'm not saying that self doubt disappeared and made me ready to accomplish anything.  But I was somehow freer knowing that I didn't have to be the first or the best.  It was too late for that anyway.  However, that was the day I would start to mark milestones in my own life.  Dreams don't simply burst out of the box of potential and automatically make us successful and admired.  No, I had to get on with the "doing" myself.

It was okay that I would never get to every possible twist and turn of the cube.  It was okay that I would never become a master like the King.  It didn't matter.  The cob webs were wiped away because I had unpacked the box.

And Then You Think, "I'm a Genius"

I felt elated when I finally figured out how to solve the Rubik's Cube for the first time.  There are 43 quintillion (or 43 million, million, million) possible scrambled combinations.  In other words, each variation lined up end to end would be 261 light years long and I could solve any one of them you picked...assuming we didn't die of old age waiting for your selection.

Impressed with myself, I had delusions of grandeur.  Never mind that it initially took me countless hours to finally solve it.  "I'm going to break the world record."  At the time, I wasn't aware that it someone had solved it years earlier in less than 10 seconds.

We're competitive, aren't we?  Give us a challenge and suddenly we believe our personal journey will be revered by humankind.  Like me, you have probably thought, if you wanted to, that you could write the next New York Times Best Seller, win the Pulitzer Prize, and be as famous and successful as Mark Twain, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or Kurt Vonnegut your first time out.

But, let's be realistic.  To be great, or even good at anything takes time and effort.  I never really set out to solve the Rubik's Cube faster than Man can run the 100 meter dash.  However, as I became more and more comfortable with my cube, the competitive streak kicked in:  2 minutes, 90 seconds, under a minute, less than 40 seconds, and so on, but not necessarily ever on to a World Record.

When I started writing fiction seriously, my first story was not good, and it certainly wasn't publishable.  But it was a story.  And it was a masterpiece to me.  It didn't matter what anyone else thought because I knew it was great.  Mozart didn't revise, why should I have to?  I was going to quit my job because my greatness as an author would be discovered and the world would soon bow down.  Yeah right!

Only a small fraction on the steep bell curve of life perform at the elite level.  Stories can be strong.  Stories can be published, but World Record material is rare.  Sure, I hope to be the next one to be squeezed into that elite company.  I hope you can be there too.  But in the meantime, I will keep solving the cube in the double digits and practicing my writing craft.