There's a particular character I want to discuss, because she is one of Dickens' finest drawn characters. Mrs. Jellyby is just horrible. So terrible you will just love her. When we switch back to one of her scenes, you cringe to read it, but read it you must.Thursday, January 31, 2013
Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) More About Those Wacky Characters
There's a particular character I want to discuss, because she is one of Dickens' finest drawn characters. Mrs. Jellyby is just horrible. So terrible you will just love her. When we switch back to one of her scenes, you cringe to read it, but read it you must.
Monday, January 28, 2013
A Book's Beginnings
It happened again.
The first time was on March 6, 2009. I woke up from a dream. It was wonderful and terrible. It consumed me as I lay in bed, thinking about it over and over. I relived it as I drove in to work. I pored over the details again and again while sitting at my desk. During my lunch break I began writing. I continued writing when I got home. I wrote 10,000 words that day. I wrote 10,000 words the next day as well. And the next. In fact, for 16 days I wrote 10,000 words every day. On days 17 and 18 I wrote 5,000 words each. That included editing and rewriting. After 18 days I was staring at the completed first draft of a 170,000 word novel.
The first time was on March 6, 2009. I woke up from a dream. It was wonderful and terrible. It consumed me as I lay in bed, thinking about it over and over. I relived it as I drove in to work. I pored over the details again and again while sitting at my desk. During my lunch break I began writing. I continued writing when I got home. I wrote 10,000 words that day. I wrote 10,000 words the next day as well. And the next. In fact, for 16 days I wrote 10,000 words every day. On days 17 and 18 I wrote 5,000 words each. That included editing and rewriting. After 18 days I was staring at the completed first draft of a 170,000 word novel.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Ripping the Heart Out of Your Book
Step one, spend an untold amount of time pouring your soul into your book.
Step two, reach in with both hands, grab a big hunk of words, then yank them out and throw them away.
When your novel is 112,000 words and no one will read it over 100,000, you can either leave it as is, your pride and joy, your child, and keep art for art's sake. Or you can strip it down, sell out to "the man", give in to commercialism, trade in your artistic roots and make the darn thing salable.
That is your choice. Good luck!
Step two, reach in with both hands, grab a big hunk of words, then yank them out and throw them away.
When your novel is 112,000 words and no one will read it over 100,000, you can either leave it as is, your pride and joy, your child, and keep art for art's sake. Or you can strip it down, sell out to "the man", give in to commercialism, trade in your artistic roots and make the darn thing salable.
That is your choice. Good luck!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Perfect Pitch
That's what I'm doing. Working on that perfect pitch letter. You may write a great novel, but unless you can play salesman and convince someone to publish it, no one will know. I can't believe how much time I'm spending on this. Draft after draft, just trying to get the wording right.
There are actually entire books about how to write a "query letter". The query letter contains your pitch. You send it to an agent or publisher. If it's stupid, or doesn't follow the exact format, they won't read your book.
Plus, I have this terrible fear of rejection so I've never submitted anything to anyone, ever. And guess what? I've never been rejected. How many other writers can say that?
There are actually entire books about how to write a "query letter". The query letter contains your pitch. You send it to an agent or publisher. If it's stupid, or doesn't follow the exact format, they won't read your book.
Plus, I have this terrible fear of rejection so I've never submitted anything to anyone, ever. And guess what? I've never been rejected. How many other writers can say that?
Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) Continued...
This is not the first time I've waded through this book. I remember feeling bogged down like a wanderer in a misty wood, wondering who these characters are and how I should feel about them. This time was better, although it helps to write names down.
Dickens was a master of pulling in a variety of characters who hover on the fringe of a storyline, each adding their part at the right time. That's even more interesting considering how Dickens wrote. You probably know his books were serialized. Each month another chapter would be published in a magazine. But wait, here's the catch. He wrote them as he went along. When he published chapter 12, chapter 13 wasn't written. Pretty cool, right? But I'll talk more about that in a post about Dickens.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) First Look
I'll have a few posts about this book. I wanted to throw out some initial thoughts on it.
The first two chapters are boring. I'm not going to lie to you. But you have to get through them to understand what the heck is going on. Or I can just tell you. Chancery court is where they haggled over disputed wills, divorces, alimony and that sort of thing. Big deal, right? Well, Victorian Britain had huge problems with their Chancery court, with cases lasting for years and years. Sometimes decades. The lawyers got rich, much like here in America. In the end, the actual individuals - plaintiffs or defendants - ended up with junk. They got smack, zip, nada. Dickens was using this for his social commentary.
The first two chapters are boring. I'm not going to lie to you. But you have to get through them to understand what the heck is going on. Or I can just tell you. Chancery court is where they haggled over disputed wills, divorces, alimony and that sort of thing. Big deal, right? Well, Victorian Britain had huge problems with their Chancery court, with cases lasting for years and years. Sometimes decades. The lawyers got rich, much like here in America. In the end, the actual individuals - plaintiffs or defendants - ended up with junk. They got smack, zip, nada. Dickens was using this for his social commentary.
Oh Come Ye Next Apocalypse
The problem with apocalypses, as opposed to Christmas or New Years, is that they only come once and you really have to enjoy them while you can. I feel like I didn't get enough out of this last end of the world. Years ago I imagined having a huge Mayan World's End Bash. But instead I went to bed early while the wife watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.
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