Timid Living

I was struck by the following sentences from Radical Son by David Horowitz. He is describing his father, but they could have been written about me.

I came to see that my father's "no's" were a
language of self-preservation directed not so
much at me as at himself. Denial defined a
zone of safety: nothing ventured, nothing lost."

Poet or Storyteller?

From The Ethical Assassin by David Liss

"In Florida, August is perpetual, relentless, refusing to unclench its fist, and despite the looming sunset it was close to a hundred degrees."

Wow - what a sentence! It takes me there, helps me to feel the heat, understand the climate and the setting. What a sentence. Now I'm ready for some story.

But unfortunately, that isn't what I get. It continues "The heat settled in my body, dull and enervating, and it accentuated the smell . . .It was more than a smell, but a thing, heavy enough to weigh. . . A putrid miasma whirled and eddied . . . I don't mean hot-garbage-by-the-curb smells . . ." Etc.

I read a couple more pages, but it feels way too much like MFA writing. People who are in love with words sometimes forget how addicted the rest of us are to a good story.

A good story that is well-written is truly a delight. But when a writer can't let it go, has to pound in my head how good the writing is . . . well, give me a storyteller any day of the week.

Show Don't Tell

I've been reading as a writer, and so when a book isn't good, I ask myself, "Why not?"

The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman sounds like it should be good, at least entertaining. It is a variation on Bridget Jones Diary.

But it is flat. It took me a while to figure it out, but all of her scenes become excuses for flashbacks. All the action in the book has already happened. IThere is a series of men that she has slept with and she tells us about them in scenes with an almost friend, Libby, who owns the dress shop next to the florist where she works.

The flashbacks reduce each of the action scenes to a reminiscence. And the reminiscence is always tinged by the narrator's current cynicism and worldly wisdom. The point is that there is no plot tension generated by each of these situations, because they don't get told until they have already been resolved. And, we never get to see her flounder in expectations that get disappointed, actions that get regretted, or hopes that she's too chicken to act on.

It feels like a long conversation, not like a book. Some people might like it, but it isn't what I go to the library for.

I want to be carried away into situations where i live through them and experience the uncertainties along with the character.

It was a good book for learning how not to write.

Another Entry - A Picture of Herie

Just messing around, finding out what happens. Also, going to post a picture.

Here is our newest Golden Retriever, when he was about 4 months old.

Herie is short for Heracleon, a 2nd century heretic.

First post - Forgive me

This will start out ugly, but if I don't I'll never learn.

Reading like a writer.

Recent discovery. Laura Lippman.

I just finished reading No Good Deeds. It is a delicious read. She is a competent writer, so the sentences flow well and have character. She is a competent storyteller, so the story has an arc, it always feels like it is going somewhere.

And she has a conscience as she writes about life in Baltimore Maryland. Truly a fun book.