Off the Bookshelf: STORY GENIUS, by Lisa Cron

 

The subtitle and sub-subtitle say a lot about the value and usefulness of this book:

How To Use Brain Science To Go Beyond Outlining And Write A Riveting Novel.

(Before you waste three years writing 327 pages that go nowhere)

My craft book club at Great Lakes Fiction Writers had the fascinating, educational and fun experience of being able to talk with Lisa via Zoom, when we got together to discuss this book. Wow. So much common sense and moments of "Well, yeah, how come I didn't figure that out before?"

Basically, when you know your characters, what they believe and misbelieve, the forces that shaped them, the choices they've made in their past, in many ways the story kind of writes itself. Yeah, that's the simplified version. Or to rephrase that: most of the story is back story, because the past strongly affects the present of the character's story.

There's too much valuable information in the book, too many exercises you need to do for yourself, too many examples to be condensed into this book review. Go buy the book and read it for yourself -- don't borrow it -- you want it on your shelf to reread and go back to for reference again and again.

Thanks for giving us some of your time and talking with us, Lisa. Very much appreciated.

Off the Bookshelf: STEERING THE CRAFT, by Ursula K. Le Guin

 

This is a writing craft book, chosen by the craft book club of Great Lakes Fiction Writers.

I honestly have to say I had a hard time getting through this one. The advice is so applicable, and every little common mistake and misunderstanding she discussed when going through the basics or mechanics, I've encountered in editing. Things about which people who believe they are writers should know better -- and yet make the same mistakes time and again. Like keeping verb tenses and POV constant, and choosing the write voice with which to tell a story. On and on.

I think some of my difficulty was that 1) I have less than a week until our group gets together to discuss the book, and I was reading three or four chapters in a row -- and this is one of those books where you need to read one chapter and let it digest before reading another -- and 2) I'm still fighting with Covid brain fog. (Yeah, I went to a writing conference and somewhere picked up Covid from someone else in the huge convention hotel who either wasn't paying attention to their own health, or was just inconsiderate of everyone else around them ...)

This book is just jammed tight with examples of how writing should be DONE, clear examples of what Le Guin is discussing, and each chapter has exercises, to practice what she is teaching. Highly valuable, and when I have more time I will go back and actually do some of those exercises. Not now, though. Too many projects and deadlines breathing down my neck, and I just don't have the energy. 

Highly valuable writing advice and wisdom from a prolific author who apparently did a lot, if not all. I only knew her from the Earthsea books, but ... yeah, she's done a lot, fiction, non-fiction, poetry. Someone to be listened to, and her lessons applied diligently.

Off the Bookshelf: HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL USING THE SNOWFLAKE METHOD, by Randy Ingermanson

 

I've had this book sitting in my iPad library for a while now ...

Could somebody please tell me WHY I didn't read this sooner?

Well, maybe because whoever I heard talking about the snowflake method gave me a really twisted, off-the-mark idea of what was involved, and I was getting psychosomatic hives thinking of all the nitpicky work.

As in dozens of pages of character charts and psychological analysis and writing out a description of each scene and all sorts of anal-retentive-to-the-maximus work before I wrote one word ...

It ain't so!

For those of you who consider yourselves mega-pantsers, this won't interfere with your method. And it's adaptable so that the most organized of plotters will be happy and cozy.

The big word is flexibility.

And yeah, going back and revising, the more you learn about your characters and setting and their goals and dreams and fears and values and figuring out what will work -- yeah, BEFORE you write that opening scene.

The really fun part is that our esteemed teacher presents this as a story -- appropriately, set at a writing conference. There's conflict, fear, shame, old secrets and grudges, humor, angst, suspense, and discovery. Whew! Essentially, as our heroine Goldilocks learns to prepare to write her book and know where she's going and more importantly WHY she's going there in the story, we also learn along with her.

This is one of those writing books where it makes sense to go back and re-read it every few months, as a refresher course. If you haven't read this one yet ... don't be like me, and let an itchy fear of hives get in your way. Read it!

New Releases: Installment #3

The third book released May 1 from Ye Olde Dragon Books:

Non-Fiction, if you can believe it.

TO ETERNITY (and beyond): Writing Spec Fic Good For Your Soul

Many moons ago, when I was in grad school, I had a dream. An idea, motivated by a statement from C.S. Lewis about using speculative fiction for evangelism.

 

Could I actually use my love of SF, my far-roaming imagination, for the glory of my Savior … and reach people who wouldn't come within a mile of a church if it was the last building standing at the end of the world?

 

If Lewis thought so, why not at least try?

 

Then a classmate decided that my science fiction books had invited demons into my life. This was a year before Peretti published This Present Darkness. So what could a recovering Trekker do, when someone tried to impose their square hole on her star-shaped peg?

 

Contained in the pages of this book is my answer.

My master's portfolio thesis and defense of speculative fiction as not only an evangelistic tool, but good for your soul.