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Judging A Book By Its Cover

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Sure you can. Most people do. And the thing is, it doesn’t matter if their assessment is right, because they’ll never know.

If someone looks at a book cover and judges it to be of poor quality, or not interesting, and they believe the contents of the book are the same, what are the chances they will read the book to see if they’re right? Zilch. Nada. Because there are too many other books out there, books with far more interesting covers that will draw their attention, and ultimately their reading time. Continue reading “Judging A Book By Its Cover”

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Creative Writing Teachers Should Never Tell Students ‘No’

Nick Mamatas went on a Tweet storm yesterday about creative writing teachers barring students from writing genre fiction. It sparked conversation in the various Internets where writers dwell. I had thoughts.

I think Nick took it too far. Were we close, I’d ask him who hurt him, but alas, we’re not. I do think Nick was onto something, though.

(I should preface the rest of this with the disclaimer that I am not a fiction teacher, nor have I ever had the opportunity of teaching fiction writing, and nor is this a criticism of any creative writing teacher in particular. It’s a hard and thankless job, and it takes a special person to legitimately be excited to help others grow and succeed.)

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The Path

Everyone works differently.  I’m going to focus on writing, here.  Not that it’s what I do best (that would be eating cookies while singing in the shower), but because it’s something I put a lot of thought and thinking time into.  As a note, it would be better if I used that time for actual writing, but that’s hard and I’m tired and stop telling me what to do.

One thing most writers do is talk to other writers.  We discuss the craft, the process, the joys and the pains.  Well, just the pains.  There are no joys.  No, there are, but they’re not really joys.  They’re just the absence of pain.  Important thing to keep in mind.

Continue reading “The Path”

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A Picture May Be Worth A Thousand Words, But An Imagination Is Way More Efficient Than That

If you had someone encourage you to write when you were young, he or she may have said, “paint me a picture.” As it turns out, this would be the worst advice anyone would ever give you. Even more dire is it may be the foundation of what many people believe to be good writing, and it’s evident as one of the most pervasive problems I see in the work of new writers.

Sometimes I think, maybe one day, I’ll get to teach a creative writing class. I think I would really enjoy it, and I think I could be reasonably good at it. In these times of grand fantasy, I consider the lessons I might bestow upon the next generation of writers.

Chief among them would be, as the writer, you’re not the painter. You’re the person at the paint store. Your readers aren’t using your imagination. Your readers are using their imaginations.

Continue reading “A Picture May Be Worth A Thousand Words, But An Imagination Is Way More Efficient Than That”

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Dark Fiction, Author Anxiety, and Personal Judgment

The lady and I recently watched Netflix’s The Staircase, a docu-series about the novelist Michael Peterson who was charged with murdering his wife in 2001. Similar to Making a Murderer, it’s another fascinating investigation of the American justice system. I highly recommend both of them.

A bit of a disclaimer, though: these are not mystery stories. They are not about whether the suspects did or did not murder the victim (I realize the marketing image I chose to plop down to the right of these words poses that very question, but it’s the most compelling way Netflix could find to sell you on it).

These docu-series put the American justice system on full display, exposing its flaws. They will make you question your faith in the fundamental tenet of American justice that a defendant should be considered innocent until proven guilty, and they will make you question our very humanity, especially given the context of the cruel times in which we live. If you watch them, they will anger and sadden you because the reality they portray is not one we confront often, or maybe because it’s one which we are increasingly forced to come to terms with.

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Writing Q & A with Nick DeWolf

I was recently honored with title of Author of the Month for a Book Review Bloggers group.  Part of this was making myself available to answer questions posed to me about writing and myself.  Below, I’d like to share one of the exchanges.

QUESTION: Which book did you most enjoy writing and why?

I don’t know if “enjoyed” is a word that applies. Writing a book, for me anyway, is like raising a child. The beginning is always that wonderful mix of scary and exciting. You have all these ideas about how things will go. You can see it all in your mind, step by step, each little bit and moment. How you will soothe and smooth, putting things just as you imagine them, and watching as it grows into the something wonderful you believe it to be.

And then, it shits all over you.

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The State of Publishing (a.k.a “Same as it ever was.”)

NOTE: I wrote this a few years ago after attending the Writer’s Digest Writer’s Conference. I was working as a temp for a retired literary agent who was there promoting a software program to help writers construct book proposals. Or something. Whatever. Doesn’t matter.

The important thing is… Since I wrote this, the publishing world hasn’t improved.

Attending the Writer’s Digest Writer’s Conference the weekend of January 21st through the 23rd, I was struck by more than one “sad but true” revelation:

1) Writers are desperate, needy, and borderline delusional;

2) Literary agents are egotistical and condescending.

Wait, wait, wait. Yes, I am making generalizations about a large group of people, some of whom I did not have opportunity to speak with on a one-on-one basis. And yes, there are exceptions to every generalization made, especially ones made by an opinionated bastard such as myself. But for the most part, my descriptions are apt.

Continue reading “The State of Publishing (a.k.a “Same as it ever was.”)”

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Books (Part 2)

More of my favorite books that didn’t make the top 5, but were pretty damn close:

A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS 

Dave Eggers’ autobiographical account of how he lost both parents within a matter of weeks, then had to raise his kid brother while barely out of childhood himself. It’s funny, brutally honest, and written in a hip, smart way that makes you want to read it slowly so you can absorb every word. It’s like being at a party where someone is telling hilarious stories and you don’t want to leave.

Continue reading “Books (Part 2)”

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Books (Part 1)

So, as a writer, people often ask me which authors I enjoy reading or ask for book recommendations, as if being a writer gives me some special insight into the talent behind stringing together sequences of words in order to form sentences. I suppose the belief is that I must have a knack for seeing things that the average reader doesn’t see, that if I like a particular author, then said author must really be something special. Well, let me set the record straight:

It’s all true. I do have a special insight into the written word, and I do see things the average reader can’t see. So keep that in mind as I recommend some books and authors that perhaps get overlooked or are not part of the mainstream literary establishment.

I’ll start with a list of my five favorite books:

Continue reading “Books (Part 1)”