On Becoming a Novelist

My second book about writing is John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist.

This book has been gathering dust on my shelf for two years; it was required for an MFA workshop I signed up for and promptly dropped when I found a comedy writing class at another school. It's always been one of those books I'll get to someday, but when Jennifer (almost done with the aforementioned MFA program!) said the Gardner books were most helpful for her, I decided now was the perfect time to tackle one.

Something I really loved about this book was how Gardner encourages honestly - he doesn't glorify the writing life, nor does he make you feel bad if you can't stick it out.

        "The worst that can happen to the writer who tries and fails ... is that he
        will discover that, for him, writing is not the best place to seek joy and
        satisfaction. More people fail at becoming successful businessmen
        than fail at becoming artists."

I've been stuck in a strange writer's block limbo; I'm getting ideas for stories, essays, and sketches, but when I sit down and put the pencil to the paper, the sentences don't flow. I have limited views in my head of characters or things that should happen, but that's as far as it goes. I feel like I've lost my ability to spin a simple thing into a full blown story, and it's a little alarming. I'm not even close to quitting writing, but it's still nice to read encouragement that isn't pushy.

Workshops and education are given their own section. I found it refreshing that Gardner didn't hail MFA programs as the answer, despite his background in the academic sector. He's good at showing the pros and cons to everything he brings up, putting information out there for the reader to interpret and decide what is best for themselves.
+ "Nothing is sillier than the creative writing teacher's dictum 'Write about what you
     know.' … Preliminary good advice might be: Write as if you were a movie camera."
+ "What [the beginner] does not need is a teacher who imposes his own solution,
     like an algebra teacher who tells you the answer without showing how he got
     there, because it is process that the young writer must learn."

Gardner writes for the "young writer" or "beginning writer," but he also addresses getting published, getting an agent, and interpreting feedback from editors, lumped together in a section appropriately titled Publication and Survival. The section after that? Faith. And in that section was exactly what I needed to read, after explaining my writer's block up there:
        "The writer suffering writer's block can think of good plots and characters, or
        anyway he can think of good starts, which is all a healthy writer needs, but he
        can't persuade himself that they're worth writing down or developing. It's all
        been done before, he tells himself. And if he does, by a supreme effort, get down
        a few sentences, he finds the sentences disgustingly bad."

Does he have a solution? Well...

        "If children can build sand castles without getting sand castle block, and if
        ministers can pray over the sick without getting holiness block, the writer
        who enjoys his work and takes measured pride in it should never be troubled
        by writer's block. But alas, nothing's simple. … Give the general oddity
        of writers, no wonder there are no sure cures."

No. No he doesn't.

It's funny I thought Annie Dillard's The Writing Life would have more generalized writing tips/feedback/whatever, but seemed to discount short stories as pointless and imply novels were all that was worth writing… yet here is a book titled On Becoming a Novelist, and Gardner is taking time to address issues with short stories and even poetry. Doing so didn't make the book feel like it was tackling too much, either - it was all well-balanced and informative regardless of what you're writing. "The real message is, write in any way that works for you: write in a tuxedo or in the shower with a raincoat or in a cave deep in the woods."

Dirty Laundry

I've always loved making small spaces cozy little hideaways from the real world, and that's exactly what I have in the studio, which I call my Treehouse. It's been a month now, and I'm used to living the "little" life - I don't forget what I have stocked up for later, because I only buy what I need now, plus it's not like there's a lot of room to lose anything, so I can easily find what I have. It also means I'm good at using things for multiple purposes: the dining table is also my writing desk; my computer monitor is also the TV; the closet is also my laundry room.

Having a washer and dryer in your closet is better than I thought it would be.
+ I don't need a hamper, because I just toss my dirty clothes in the washer until it's full enough to start a load.
+ When the laundry's done, I have no excuse to put off hanging up my clothes, because I'm already in the closet.
+ They're out of the way, tucked back in my closet, which is past the bathroom. Which means I have two doors I can close to muffle the noise they make.

"Noise?" you ask. "Washers and dryers don't make that much noise."

These do, my friend. These do, and I have proof:

Lovesick

Isn't "Lovesick" a great blog title for the day after a sickeningly sweet Valentine's day? Even better - this post isn't about flowers or candy or relationships...well, ok, it's about relationships a little bit. Twisted relationships that author Spencer Seidel created in his book, yup, you got it - Lovesick.

I was contacted by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations to participate in a blog tour for the upcoming release Lovesick. The tour includes a variety of blogs posting a scavenger hunt - excerpts from the first chapter. I have one to share, and be sure to check out the other links to see what you think of the book!

From Chapter 1:
Chad wasn’t the first student to give her the eye. She was attractive, so it happened frequently. But the Little Bugger was the creepiest in recent memory, and despite her rather cold approach to him—she had a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, after all—she understood that her discomfort wasn’t some high-level cognitive function at work. This was visceral, atavistic. Plain fear. Good old man-woman stuff that she’d tried so hard to explain and understand over the last ten years.

She tried to focus on the words in her book, but her mind kept returning to her car, parked in the dark outside, far from the building that night because she’d been running late. She was in for a long walk alone in the dark.

A half an hour of distracted reading later, the stirrings of the students indicated to Lisa that class was over.

- - -

I was also given the chance to host a Q&A with the author, Spencer Seidel.
1. What are your current projects?
I’m now working on a horror novel, or what you might call a supernatural thriller. It’s not gory, just creepy. It’s a bit of a departure for me, but I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. I’m not quite ready to reveal the plot or title, but I am excited about the project.

2. Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
Oh, I have to give this one to all of my online friends, new and old. I’ve reconnected with some old friends from high school and college because of my last book, Dead of Wynter, and they’ve all just been wonderful, genuine fans. And many of the people I’ve met on Twitter and Facebook have gone out of their way to support what I’m doing. I love them for it.

3. If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Of course! I never feel that a book is perfect or complete. I could edit and revise forever. But I really do like Lovesick and my characters and believe in them, so I have to stand behind it as is.

4. Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster about six times each as a kid (and more again as an adult), I knew that writing was something I wanted to do.

5. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
The most challenging thing about being a writer for me is keeping the faith that it’s something worth doing. It’s awfully easy to get carried away by the doom-and-gloomers in the industry, or with the ego-maniacal folks in the industry you run into occasionally who don’t seem to realize that we’re all in this together. It’s a tough, tough business, and sometimes it’s hard for me to separate that from craft.


My Review:
Lovesick starts off by introducing the reader to Paul, a teenage boy who is found crouched over his best friend Lee's body, covered in blood and holding a weapon. Seems like an open and shut case, right? It's not. Paul claims to have amnesia and not remember what he saw at the crime scene, but never stops proclaiming his innocence. Psychologist Lisa Boyers is brought on board to interview Paul about that night, and she begins unraveling secrets about the victim, Lee, and his girlfriend, Wendy, who is missing. A love triangle is uncovered, which is just as delightfully dramatic as you'd expect a teenage relationship to be. But there are more secrets in this book, including some of Lisa's own. The last hundred pages or so will keep your heart pounding in suspense until you discover the whole truth. The story is mostly told through Paul's flashbacks as Lisa interviews him, but there is enough present action to keep you reading to see how the case will be solved, as well as what pans out with the present-time mystery.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free and was given the excerpt and Q&A material, but the review is my own and is, as always, completely honest.