Block On Writing

Telling Lies for Fun Profit by Lawrence Block
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Crime writer Lawrence Block's book on writing is one of the best I've ever read. By being specific and giving practical advice from long experience, it's much more helpful than many others.

Telling Lies for Fun & Profit is like a 47 chapter course on how to write like a pro...well, hold up! It doesn't propose to turn you into the great American writer. You won't necessarily become a rich and famous novelist because of this book. What I mean is, Block gives you a career's worth of tips on how to hone your craft after you've mastered the basics. Quite literally, you must be able to arrange your nouns and verbs in the right order before a book like this will be of any use to you. Sound simple enough? Well, you'd think so...

Having read a dozen or more how-to-write books from established writers, I found that Telling Lies for Fun & Profit treads on some familiar territory now and then. But even when it did, I still garnered some useful knowledge just from Block's unique take on a subject. Even if it wasn't completely unique, it would at least have a fresh angle to its approach.

One of my favorite parts was when Block admitted that he essentially hates writing. Here's the whole excerpt. I'll underline the specific part, but as a whole it makes more sense:

...writing’s not much fun.

I really wonder why that is...It’s been my observation that painters, both professional and amateur, love to paint. They get genuine enjoyment out of the physical act of smearing paint on canvas. Sometimes they’re blocked, sometimes they’re frustrated, but when they’re painting the very process of creation is a joy to them.

Same thing certainly holds true for musicians. They only seem to feel alive when they’re performing. The jazz musicians I’ve known spend their afternoons practicing scales and such, work all night performing, then jam for free at an after-hours joint until dawn, just for the sheer pleasure of it.

In sharp contrast, almost every writer I know will go to great lengths to avoid being in the same room with his typewriter. Those of us who are driven to produce great quantities of manuscript don’t necessarily get any real pleasure out of the act; it’s just that we feel worse when we don’t write. It’s not the carrot but the stick that gets most of us moving.

I don’t mean to suggest that there’s no positive pleasure connected with writing. I enjoy getting ideas, for example—both the initial plot germs and the ideas that develop in the course of extended work on a novel. And I very much enjoy having written; the satisfaction of having completed a taxing piece of work can be monumental.

This latter pleasure, come to think of it, is a negative one, isn’t it? When I’m delirious with joy over having finished something, my joy stems in large part from the fact that I do not have to work on it any more, that the dratted thing is over and done with. So it’s nice being about to write, and it’s nice to have written. But is there no way to enjoy writing while it’s going on?

One thing that impedes enjoyment, I would think, is that writing’s hard work. Painters and musicians work hard, too, but there’s a difference. You can’t really relax and go with the flow while you’re writing—at least I can’t, and if anyone can show me how, I’ll be delighted to learn. Writing demands all of my attention and focuses me entirely in the present. I can’t let my mind wander, and if my mind wanders in spite of itself I find I can’t write, and when I want to write and can’t write I find myself possessed of murderous rage.

When a painting doesn’t go well the artist can keep on painting and cover it up. When a musician’s not at his best, the notes he plays float off on the air and he can forget about them. When I’m off my form, the garbage I’ve written just sits there on the page and thumbs its nose at me. And when it gets into print that way, it’s there for all the world to see, forever.

Painters and musicians would probably quibble over a few points there, but from a writer's perspective, it was nice to hear this sort of stuff from a seasoned professional.

From the standpoint of a fan of Block's fiction, this was also fun to read, because it was written in the early '80s. By then he'd published countless books and even completed a series or two. At the time though, he was just getting back into the flow of working on his Scudder detective series, the one that most Block fans seem to regard as his best work. To hear him talk about it with uncertainty provided a nice, autobiographical insight.

Highly recommended to writers, as well as to Block's fans!






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Wicked Good Starter to Wicca

The Beginner's Guide to Wicca: How to Practice Earth-Centered Spirituality by Starhawk
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not looking to convert. Although being called a warlock does sound cool! I've been reading a lot of stuff like this for research. Boning up on religions lately and this is yet another.

The Beginner's Guide to Wicca is a very basic intro to wicca. That's not a knock on it. After all, that's what it sets out to be. Just keep that in mind. You're not getting deep insights here, just the basics. I'm only just starting my research into wicca, so this one made sense to me at the time.

Another bonus was that I found it at the library on audiobook, so I was able to listen to the whole short thing while I did the dishes and cleaned the house. The narrator might have been the author herself, I'm not sure. Regardless, whoever read it had a nice casual-yet-knowledgeable approach. This was a good, bit-sized intro that spoon fed me the basics. Just what the shaman ordered!

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A Behind the Scenes Look at...Nothing Much

The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was my bowling-ball-with-my-name-on-it gift to my wife this Christmas, à la Homer's gift to Marge in that old Simpsons episode. What I'm saying is I bought this for her, but it was really for me.

Thing is, I knew she'd love it, and she did. She read it in its entirety on Christmas day. I finally got around to it just now, but once I got into it, I also gobbled it up quick. You see, we're both big fans of Chip and Jojo, the hosts from the tv show Fixer Upper. We've watched plenty (too many) home remodeling shows over the years, especially around the time when we were looking to buy a house, but Chip and Jo meshed with our personalities more than others.

While a handsome couple in their own way, they're not "Hollywood handsome" like some others.




And their interactions feel more natural. Or at least they're not as irritating as some. No doubt that's because Chip and Joanna Gaines are a married couple with a family and a past. They worked on house building and remodeling projects prior to the show, and so their onscreen conundrums and strategies to overcome real obstacles that pop up in the process feel real. They also have almost polar opposite personalities that play off one another well onscreen. Chip's occasional Puck-like behavior can be entertaining, too.

It was the Gaines' past and the behind-the-show stories that I was interested in reading about when I picked up The Magnolia Story. Unfortunately this is a slim, fluff piece. Yes, there is plenty of their past to read about, but the thing is, their pasts aren't that interesting. Meh, my fault. I mean, I asked for it. It's not their fault that they haven't lived torturous and depraved lives. No wait, it is their fault! Lol! Anyway, what I'm saying is, don't expect huge amounts of drama and degradation in their history.

The lack of behind-the-scenes info on the tv show is something a little more substantial to complain about. That's what drove me, and no doubt many other readers, to this book. I wanted to hear about the production, what it takes to put the show together, how they decide on the properties to be featured, what makes good tv and what gets left on the cutting room floor, etc. Aside from the story of how the show's producers found them and how it eventually clicked, it's just not there. Possibly it's just not interesting.

All in all though, I can't complain. This is what it is and I didn't truly expect the world from this book. I got a fan's perspective and that's all one honestly deserves. I suspect most of the show's fans will be perfectly happy with The Magnolia Story. I scanned over a few reviews and noticed complaints that I hadn't considered, but in hindsight, yes, they do bother me too. Such as, Chip's manchild-like habit of buying new houses and even houseboats without consulting his wife, or forgetting that he's a dad and leaving his newborn to go to the store on multiple occasions, really does not endear me to the man. Some of it can be forgiven for reasons given in the book, but still, there was some negligible behavior going on there. Also, if you don't want to here the name God spoken every other page, steer clear. I didn't realize they were so churchy, because you don't get much sense of that on the show. And there were times when I want to shake them and say "No, you were the cause of the that, not anyone else!" whether it be for good or bad reason. Often decisions are attributed to "the voice of God" and I want to say, "In actuality, you decided to sell that property to the Gaines' at their asking price, because they're good people who are very charming, and jeez louise, it's an old farmhouse in the middle of Waco, Texas during a time when Waco wasn't all that! You weren't about to get a better offer and you know it!"

Charming, as I said above. This couple and their family are quite charming, and so is this book. If you're already a fan of Chip and Jojo, I recommend The Magnolia Story.

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Excellent for the Writing Reader!

Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The best book on how to write I've ever read! Novelist and screenplay writer James Scott Bell has won awards for inspirational fiction. I say he deserves awards for inspirational non-fiction! So many of his books are how-to-write guides and even if only a small portion of them are as helpful as this one, he's a bloody writing guru!

Plot & Structure is part of the Writers' Digest series, Write Great Fiction. Most writers are quite aware of Writers' Digest. Before the internet, WD published the would-be author's bible, Writer's Market, an annual tome of articles with tips and contact information on publishers and agents. I gleaned some helpful lessons from the occasional Writer's Market I'd buy or borrow over the years, about as much as I'd get from reading books about writing from established writers like Stephen King or Ray Bradbury. "Just write" was and still is the most boiled down, golden rule essence of what 99.9% of them will tell you.

Bell's book goes well beyond that. Not only does it give advice like the above, it gives practical assistance, step-by-step instruction on how to put a readable, or even captivating novel together.

Granted, this is best for genre writers, those who pen thrillers, mysteries, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and what all else where a model has clearly been established over the last century's worth of published work. But that doesn't mean literary writers won't benefit from this. Bell does his best to explain how the different aspects that make up a fine novel are nearly interchangeable. That intriguing character who meanders about in your favorite lit fic would be just as at home and welcome in chick lit. Just as the rigid three act in the countless mysteries that have downed many a tree over the years is often and surprisingly floating about behind the scenes of that supposedly inventive work of genius.

What is plot? How does it work? How do you come up with plot ideas? What is plot up to during the different stages of a book? How does the character arc unfold over a plot? These questions and more are not only answered, but many an example is given...and not only that, but helpful systems for coming up with your own answers are laid out. Recognizable patterns are discussed. Writing and revising techniques are detailed. Tips and tools are readily dispensed like candy to children on a successful Halloween outing.

This is my second time through Plot and Structure and it won't be my last. This is the sort of book that writers should read intermittently until all aspects are down pat. Read this and use the wealth of helpful advice, tips and techniques and you should be able to pump out as good or better a book than much of what's being put out these days.

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Cheerleading By The Cheerless

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Natalie Goldberg's whiny drone sapped the life out of anything of value she had to say. And what did she have to say? Nothing beyond what other books of this kind say and say with more clarity.

This is just your bog-standard cheerleader-style writing advice, but delivered in a cheerless voice.

GO YOU! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Yeah, that sort of stuff can be inspiring, but a whole book's worth will take the punch out of any pep talk. Plus, when Goldberg says it, it sounds like, "Go...you. *sigh* You can...do it?"

Clearly it was a mistake to listen to this one on tape. Hey, I had an old car with a cassette deck and 30 minutes to and from work to kill. Roadrage can be quelled with a good audiobook. Unfortunately. Writing Down the Bones made me want to play pinball with my Hyundai, using the other cars on the highway as the bumpers.

Frankly I found a great deal more worth in Stephen King's On Writing and I'm not even a King fan. Writing Down the Bones won't steer you wrong, hell you might even learn a thing or two, but it nearly had me steering for the nearest bridge abutment.





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