10 Writers Worth Following on Twitter
Photo courtesy of Andreas Eldh
By Daniel Ford
A snowy morning in April (one in which saw the hot water in my apartment crap out) makes a man take stock and think about what’s important in this life.
Writers kibitzing on Twitter ranks pretty high on the list, duh.
Ann Hornaday (@AnnHornaday)
Anyone who thinks Ethan Hawke is as underrated as we do is a friend of ours! Hornaday also loved the vastly underappreciated “Inside Llewyn Davis,” which earned her plenty of Writer’s Bone brownie points. Her movie reviews for The Washington Post are always spot on.
W.B. Belcher (@wbbelcher)
You drink whiskey with a man after he signs a copy of his novel, the least you can do is put him on a top 10 list. You should really buy and read Lay Down Your Weary Tune in addition to following him!
Marlon James (@MarlonJames5)
Superb author. Important voice. On our podcast bucket list.
Scott Frank (@scottfrank)
I give all the credit in the world to Sean Tuohy for holding in a high pitched squeal during a recent podcast when one of his screenwriting heroes started talking about adapting Elmore Leonard.
Matthew Hefti (@TheRealHefti)
Hefti’s novel A Hard and Heavy Thing floored me. He’s proven to be equally insightful on Twitter.
Julia Claiborne Johnson (@JuliaClaiborneJ)
If you haven’t read Johnson’s Be Frank With Me, you’re really missing something special. She’s also wickedly funny on social media (despite her claims that she’s a “dinosaur”).
Walter Chaw (@mangiotto)
Any writer that can craft something of this depth inspired by a substandard comic book movie deserves an instant follow. He earned bonus points for defending “Superman Returns.”
Rachel Harper (@rachel_m_harper)
I haven’t been able to put down Harper’s novel This Side of Providence. Look for a podcast with the author in the near future!
Tommy Wallach (@tommywallach)
Wallach wrote a wonderful book called Thanks for the Trouble and put up with me asking a bunch of dopey questions about the Young Adult market during our recent interview. I'm also pretty sure he's read every book that's ever been written.
Jay Atkinson (@Atkinson_Jay)
Last, but in no way least. Atkinson has become a vocal advocate for Writer’s Bone and has an unending supply of good stories and writing advice. Hannah Duston would be really proud of how he told her story (I’d also like to see those two compete in a decathlon or something).
The Boneyard: Don’t Let Facts Get in the Way of a Good Story
Photo courtesy of heyrocc
By Daniel Ford and Sean Tuohy
Sean: Okay, so last night I attempted to read—for the second time—a book that we received some time ago.
The book hasn't been released so I don’t want to name it, but it’s a detective novel. The writer is a former police officer. The first time, I stopped reading three chapters in because it was boring. The writer spent too much time trying to make it feel real that it slowed everything down. It happened again this time around. The author would slow the story down to give some little fact about this or that.
Now, with these types of stories you have to put in details but when is it too much? When should a writer stop trying to get in all the facts and just tell the story?
Daniel: Man, I'm glad you brought this up. I just finished a book that comes out in June and it is awful. Poor dialogue, wimpy plot, caricatures instead of characters. I plowed through it because I hate not finishing a book I start, but I threw it right in the trash when I was done. I chalked it up as a lesson in how not to do things and I'm moving on.
Anyway, I think if you're going to overload people with facts, write a nonfiction narrative or just a straight nonfiction account. The rules are essentially limitless, so why do writers hem themselves into plot devices and narration that don't move readers?
Take the movie "Spotlight." Are all the details factually correct? No, of course not. Journalism, when done right, can be monotonous to an outsider. I heard Ann Hornaday, a movie critic who writes for The Washington Post, say on a podcast a couple weeks ago that some of the scenes featuring confrontations on the golf course or at parties were actually done through email. Does that make the movie any less authentic? No. The whole point of fiction is that you get to stretch beyond the bounds of reality. You can do that without losing the essence of the story.
Also consider Dimitry Elias Leger's God Loves Haiti. He tells a spirited, haunted love story in the middle of the Haitian earthquake in 2010. He doesn't dwell on Richter scale readings or news reports. He uses the facts to build his own world, one that explores the themes unleashed after the earthquake in a way that relates to readers.
People who read fiction want the authenticity of feeling and emotion, and don't necessarily care that facts have been stretched or tweaked.
Sean: Good example with “Spotlight.” You could say the same for “Bridge of Spies.” Was the film 100 percent spot on? No, not at all. Chunks of dialogue were taken from documents and things like the exchange and sneaking people out happen but not like it did in the movie.
I like to look at Stephen J. Cannell's work. The man was known for his research. He would spend months researching people, topics, and fields for a single book or television show. But he knew how to inject that into his work without slowing it down. He knew that you shouldn't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
If you are a good cop, it does not mean you’ll be a good writer. I tend to find that they get bogged down in details that the readers do not care for.
Daniel: Right. You have to know the facts, but also know when to ignore them. Creating a mood or a deep character is much more important than, say, explaining exactly how a suspect gets booked or what streets cops actually police.
"The Wire" is probably another good example of doing it the right way. Fiction's job isn't to inform using facts and details, it's to inform with passion and emotion.
Sean: Yes! I completely agree.
“The Danish Girl,” which was a big award-winner this year, tells this "true" story about a male artist who wants to become a woman in the early 1900s. Everyone loved it. It was not a real story. The film was based on a novel, which was based off a true story. But the film and novel captured the passion and emotion of the real people but put it into a fictional setting.
Daniel: "Steve Jobs" is another excellent example. All of Jobs's life didn't happen before product launches. However, I was impressed by Aaron Sorkin's screenplay. He illuminated Jobs's entire life in a structure that would make an excellent play. I walked away feeling like I knew a little more about Jobs without caring if every detail was correct. And after reading the biography, I think Sorkin captured the man and all his faults in three acts.
Sean: "Ray," the Jamie Foxx movie, did the same. It captured the man, how witty and driven he was, but also all his faults.
I want the facts and what to know how those facts impact a character but I don't want them to slow down the story.
Daniel: I live by three commandments when it comes to writing:
- Be honest
- Be human
- Don't be boring
Facts can throw up roadblocks for all three. We're storytellers, and storytellers shouldn't be afraid to deviate from facts in order to uncover larger truths about the human experience. Move people with your dialogue and characters; don't bore them with lists and procedures. Readers get enough of that at work!
Sean: You are like Frank Ryan in Swag. You got your rules and you live by them. I like that.
But those are good rules and should be the cornerstones of any storytelling. Like Raymond Chandler said, "Every ten pages have a man with a gun." We need to keep the readers invested and interested without making them work.
The Boneyard Archives
The Boneyard: Sharpening Your Literary Blade
By Daniel Ford and Sean Tuohy
Daniel: So lately, whether we like a book or movie, we can usually find a moment, stretch of dialogue, or character that we remember fondly. I recently re-sold you on a couple of books that you gave up on, and you always suggest a movie I should see even if it's true for that one good thing.
My question is, are we a product of consuming so much content we can identify something to critique in everything or are we doing this because we're born storytellers and like seeing how the sausage is made?
Sean: It's a mix. We are born storytellers, yes, but that is a talent that has to be skilled and shaped and the only way we can do that is by consuming content.
Think of a writer's mind like a blade. It starts out dull and unable to slice butter. The blade has to be sharpened over time to be used properly. So when we are younger learn and sharpen our mind.
As we get old the blade becomes dull from use. We have to sharpen it back up. That is why any writer worth a damn is reading and writing all the time. They are always working on the craft.
For every hour you spend writing you need to spend another hour reading.
Daniel: Wow, I love everything about what you just said.
Makes writing the headline for this chain easy.
And you're right. I never feel like I'm slacking off when I'm reading or watching something. It's research in a lot of ways. And everything, including the crap, should make you excited about your own work.
Take a show like "Rectify." I'm sure that not many people have even heard of it. It's about a man who is let off death row after spending most of his adult life there. The show follows him as he tries to put back together his existence. It's so quiet and subtle at times it feels like I'm invading these characters privacy (much like the experience you had with "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"). After watching a couple of episodes, I never feel like I'm wasting my time. I soak in how the characters interact with each other, why the director chose one angle over another, or how the plot comes together slowly like a stew.
Same goes for a novel. Even if I'm slogging through it, I learn things that I can apply to my own work. Every book and movie offers a lesson, so it's important to keep a notebook around whenever you're binging watching or reading.
Sean: 100% every form of content—book, movie, poem—offers some insight into the creative mind. From the worse film to the best novel, you are going to learn something.
I should keep a notebook handy. That would be really helpful. How many times have you thought "great idea" and then forgot it about an hour later?
I have recently started keeping a notebook at my desk at work and when I think of scene, some dialog, or a log line I write it down. Some times I forget what I wrote down and when I look thought the book I surprise myself with something.
Daniel: That happens to me too often sadly. Although the notebook feature on the iPhone has saved my bacon more than a time or two.
We've talked about this, but ideas tend to hit me right before I pass out for the night. Sometimes I'll start teasing out an idea, get something I really like, and then fall asleep. Typically I can retain it that morning in some form, but it's not as pure. There’s nothing more soul crushing than a lost idea, especially a good one.
Sean: Agreed, nothing more soul crushing then losing an idea. You strain to get it back but nothing happens. A feeling I love is when you have a long-standing idea that would never work but then some happens and it clicks. It is brilliant.
I've had long standing ideas that never worked out. Something was missing. It felt hollow and small. But then something pops into my head and the light bulb just pops.
Have you thought about leaving the notepad next to the bed? Just flip over and write down the idea. A word or phrase that you can review in the morning.
Daniel: Oh, it's there. Sometimes I don't have the energy to reach over and grab it.
Keep those ideas around. Maybe it didn't work for that particular project, but it could end up being perfect for a project down the line. Kill your darlings, but keep their corpses around!
To join the conversation, use the comments section below or tweet us @WritersBone.
The Boneyard: When Do You Give Up On A Bad Book or Movie?
From the desks of Sean Tuohy and Daniel Ford: At what point in reading a book or watching a movie do you know it's bad? At the beginning? In the middle? The end? How many books or movies have you dropped in the middle and never returned to? How bad does it need to be to walk away?
Rachel Tyner: I used to never stop reading a book or watching a movie, even if I didn't like it, because I had something against leaving it "unfinished."
Now, I'm getting older, and ain't nobody got time for that.
There are so many books and movies out there, so if I don't like something, I'm done with it. I try and give it three chances. Pick it up and read, get bored. Try again a few days later (or weeks, months, etc.). Try again one more time. Recently, this happened with Ender's Game. It seemed like I would love it "on paper" (haha, get it?), but it was seriously a terrible book.
I think you know pretty soon into a movie too. Remember "That Awkward Moment?" Terrible within the first five minutes. When something you are watching or reading is making your life less interesting (or even less fun, if that's the movie/book you are reading), what's the point?
Daniel Ford: I remember walking out of the theater during "That Awkward Moment" with you, Sean, and Steph. It was that moment one of the female characters' father dies and Zac Efron has to have a powwow with his boys to decide whether he wants to go or not because he doesn't want to be considered the girl's boyfriend. That movie still owes me money.
I tried to get into Ender's Game a bunch of times as well. Couldn't do it. Dune, same thing. I used to read much more nonfiction than I do now, and I'd bounce around from book to book if I got to a slower section or if my interests pulled me in another direction, but it's tough for me to put down a book for good.
I mentioned to Sean that I read a book recently that was awful, just awful. It had a good, strong opening, and then became 12 novels in one and none of them were good. And I hate read the rest. I complained to everyone I know. Must of the reactions were, "Well, just stop reading it." But by reading the whole thing I got a great lesson on failure (not that I needed one), and how learn how not to write dialogue.
That being said, you're right about time. It's one thing if all you're doing all day is sitting on the beach reading shitty paperbacks, but all of us have to work for a living. Why torture yourself when something isn't good? Better to go write something great than read something terrible!
Matt DiVenere: I have had the absolute worst luck with movies lately. It's basically a curse at this point. Here's the order of the last few movies I've watched that were offensively bad:
- “The Drop”
- “Hot Pursuit”
- “Focus”
- “Pitch Perfect 2”
I know that I should take the blame for some of these, but yikes. If I were the creators of “The Drop,” knowing that it's James Gandolfini's last movie, I would have burnt every single copy of that mess and sent the remains up into space rather than have that movie be in his IMDB profile.
The only reason why I watched the whole movie was to be able to fully hate them and thoroughly discuss my hate for them with anyone who asks.
Also, you know a movie is bad right away. The dialogue, the acting, and the soundtrack. Those are my three strikes.
Gary Almeter: I spent 2006 reading Theodore Dresier's An American Tragedy. It took an entire year and I hated every minute of it but just thought it was something I should have read. Never again. Now, if something doesn't grab me by page three or four I put it down and it is dead to me.
I walked out of "The Flintstones" starring John Goodman and Elizabeth Perkins.
Daniel: I have fond memories of going to see "The Flintstones" with my family. It was one of the rare times in those days that my father had a Saturday morning off. I'm convinced he still regrets taking us to the movies that day.
I'm also more selective now that my time is so divided. I won't necessarily pick up a book that I'm on the fence about if I get in another book that I know I'll probably love. The one time I was swayed by some fall lists and picked up something I originally dismissed, I got burned with a crappy read.
Lisa Carroll: I feel slightly ashamed to admit that I've tried to read The Hobbit about a dozen times since 2001 when "The Lord of the Rings" movie came out (because I will not break my rule about seeing a movie before I've read the book) and I just can't get past the damn dwarf party. Needless to say I have yet to see any of the films.
However, I do teach the "three strikes and you're out" rule to my kids. I tell them, "Give a book three chapters because sometimes the author takes a little longer with the exposition and if you get through three chapters and he/she hasn't captured you, put it down." I general stick with that rule myself. Except when I have to read a book for school.
The hard part about being a middle school librarian is when I have to read all 20 Nutmeg nominees and then book talk them and convince the kids that I love them all. That's where my degree in theater really pays off.
To add to the discussion, comment below, weigh in on our Facebook page, or tweet us @WritersBone.
For more posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
15 Tips From Our Favorite Authors On How To Be A Better Writer
By Daniel Ford
Summer is over. Fall isn’t just approaching, it’s here. The sunshine doesn’t hang around as long as it used to, and warm socks and boots have replaced shorts and flip-flops.
If you’re not careful, or have been listening to Robert Masiello’s autumn playlist, things could get depressing in a hurry. That’s why I compiled 15 tips from our favorite authors on how to be a better writer. These should keep your creative tank full well into the winter months.
If you have any advice of your own, feel free to comment below or tweet us @WritersBone. Keep writing!
Kirstin Valdez Quade
Kirstin Valdez Quade (Photo credit: Maggie Shipstead)
The advice that I keep in mind as I’m working comes from Alice Munro: “The only choice I make is to write about what interests me in a way that interests me, that gives me pleasure.” Staying faithful to your interests is really liberating, and allows you to takes risks in your work. Plus, if you’re interested in the story you’re telling, that energy and urgency is bound to come through, and it’s far more likely your reader will also be interested.
Joe Hill
Joe Hill
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of good advice from some brilliant writers. But I never really learned that much from all the kind, well-meant suggestions and clever tips. They didn’t stick with me. Just about everything I learned about writing a good book I learned from reading lots and lots of good books. I studied the novels I loved. I read them over and over, sometimes with a pen and highlighter, taking notes. Once, I spent a month rewriting the first five chapters of Elmore Leonard’s The Big Bounce, just to get the feel of his sentences.
Paula Hawkins
Paula Hawkins (Photo credit: Kate Neil)
Perseverance is all, and whenever you’re feeling disheartened, read On Writing by Stephen King. He knows of what he speaks, and he’s really funny, too.
Dimitry Elias Léger
Dimitry Elias Léger (Photo Credit: Jason Liu)
Write like you’re part of a continuum of novelists. Know the history and highlights of your genre and your settings inside and out. Novelists should be like painters, building and riffing on traditions that go back centuries. Also read a lot of poetry, and poetic prose, since you are what you read. And for god’s sake, have a sense of humor.
Brian Panowich
Brian Panowich (Photo credit: David Kernaghan)
Mainly, be wary of other author’s advice, especially those that make their money solely by giving it. There really are no rules. I’m not saying don’t ask questions of the writers you admire (I did) or that all “how-to” books are snake oil. Studying your profession and using the bits and pieces that make sense to you are essential, but any book, seminar, or pay-to-play contest that promises the moon can be downright predatory. Only three things are going to help you produce art for a living. Producing art, letting people see it, and doing both of those things with fearless tenacity. And none of that will cost you a dime.
Liana Maeby
Liana Maeby (Photo credit: Jeremy Hunt Schoenherr)
I wish I had something better than “sit down and write,” but I really don’t. Write, and rewrite, and don’t be too hard on yourself if something isn’t working. There’s a huge learning curve, and the only way to get through it is to keep your head down and work for longer than seems sane or reasonable. The good news is that if you have a writer’s heart, the above will seem like a fun challenge rather than a chore!
Matthew Thomas
Matthew Thomas
Work as hard as you can and forgive yourself when you’re either not working as much as you think you should or producing work that you think is worth showing anybody. It’s a hard life in the first place and as productive as it can be to censure oneself, and as useful as it sometimes can be to feel bad about things like a lack of productivity, it can also be damaging, because there may be a reason you aren’t writing much at a certain time. Maybe you’re soaking up some of life, reading more, internalizing unconsciously the rhythms of the language, or learning about human beings and understanding people as characters. I think that if one chooses the writing life, there is so much failure, difficulty, and seemingly fruitless striving in it that the kinder one can be to oneself at any point in the process, the better.
Aliza Licht
Aliza Licht
Build your network before you need it. Get your website up and running months before pub date. Secure your book’s Twitter handle and start building that audience. I recommend this even if you plan on responding from your personal handle. Having your book’s own Twitter handle is like giving it a home. All the conversations around it come launch should be amplified through that handle.
Alan Cheuse
Alan Cheuse
Find a master and learn from him or her, and read deep and widely to find those in the past who can tutor you in the present.
Jennifer Steil
Jennifer Steil
Write every day. Write when you are not inspired. Write when you only have five minutes. Write while your daughter is building a farm for bunnies around your ankles. Just write.
Carmiel Banasky
Carmiel Banasky
Be kind! That includes being kind to yourself. That berating voice—“I’m not writing enough,” “I’m not good enough,” etc., etc.—doesn’t aid the work. It doesn’t make you a better person or writer. As soon as I gave myself permission to write less or to write badly, I started writing more, and with more freedom. You have to show up at the desk to get the work done, of course, but once you are there, it won’t do you any harm, no matter how cheesy, to take a deep breath and remind yourself that you’re awesome.
Joe Schwartz
Joe Schwartz
Get an editor before you do anything casually like self-publish a book or go hunting for an agent. The more professional you can appear, literally on paper, the more seriously your work will be considered.
Tania James
Tania James (Photo credit: Melissa Stewart Photography)
I have a handful of reader friends whose advice I rely on heavily, even when it’s tough love time. I think it’s important to find those writerly mates who have your back, as you have theirs.
Hester Young
Hester Young (Photo credit: Francine Daveta Photography)
I’ve said this elsewhere, but I think it’s an important paradox to wrap your brain around: as a writer, you need both the humility to accept criticism and the dumb confidence to withstand rejection. Learn to be grateful for thoughtful criticism, not afraid of it, because that will shape your work more than any compliment. Also, people tend to romanticize publication, to see it as a sign that your work is at last “good enough.” In an age of Amazon and Goodreads and book blogs, however, publishing means you are opening yourself up to more rejection than ever before. At the end of the day, the writing has to be for you.
David Joy
David Joy (Photo credit: Alan Rhew)
Persistence. That’s it. That’s the difference between people who make it and people who don’t. I wrote for a very, very long time before I ever got to anything close to something publishable. Some of the earliest writing I had was on notebook paper and I kept it in shoeboxes, and my mother called one day to see what I wanted to do with it. There was probably a thousand pages and I told her to take all of it out into the yard and set it on fire in the burn barrel. A lot of people can’t understand that, but it was the fact that I knew the writing wasn’t any good. It was important. I had to get it out of me. But once it was out, there was no other use for it. I’m probably well into 2,000 pages now and I’m still not anything close to what I would consider good. Whereas that might seem futile to some, it’s that futility that makes it so beautiful. It’s knowing that I’ll do this the rest of my life and never get it just right that makes it worthwhile. You know, Faulkner said if the artist were ever able to get it perfect, “nothing would remain but to cut his throat, jump off the other side of that pinnacle of perfection into suicide,” and I think that’s true. There just wouldn’t be anything else to do with your life.
For more author advice, check out:
10 Authors You Should Be Following on Twitter
By Daniel Ford
Here are 10 more writers who deserve a follow from all aspiring wordsmiths. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.
Chigozie Obioma (@ChigozieObioma)
Author Chigozie Obioma, whose novel The Fishermen we reviewed at the end of May, is funny, poignant, and passionate on Twitter. The world needs more of all three.
Janaka Stucky (@janaka_stucky)
Poet Janaka Stucky made me think about modern poetry in a different way and had beautiful insights into writing in general during our interview. Well worth a follow in order to get a dose of inspiration on a daily basis.
Erica Wright (@eawright)
If you’re looking for poetry, humor, and really good reads, look no further than author Erica Wright's Twitter feed.
Boyd Morrison (@BoydMorrison)
Any author that comes on our podcast and writes with Clive Cussler automatically lands on a list like this. It’s the rule. Author Boyd Morrison also happens to be a lot of fun as well!
Tania James (@taniajam)
My first Twitter interaction with author Tania James involved her making an off-color joke about Writer’s Bone’s name. I followed her immediately. Also, elephants.
Rory Flynn (@MrRoryFlynn)
Not only should you be reading and following author Rory Flynn, but you should get to Boston and see him in person during our live podcast at Trident Booksellers & Cafe on June 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Anthony Breznican (@Breznican)
Yes, Anthony Breznican’s life is cooler than yours, however, you’ll never feel jealous following his Twitter handle because…well…"Star Wars."
Anne Leigh Parrish (@AnneLParrish)
Has author Anne Leigh Parrish contributed an interview, essay, and original fiction piece to Writer’s Bone? Yes. Does that make us biased? Of course it does. However, follow Anne for a ton of inspiration and insights into the writing and publishing world.
Ross Ritchell (@rossritchell)
I think author Ross Ritchell earned plenty of credit from our female readers when he credited his wife as being the reason he gave writing a try. Not all badass writers are as good to their women.
Brian Panowich (@BPanowich)
Not only is musically-inclined author Brian Panowich a de facto member of the Writer’s Bone crew, but his debut novel Bull Mountain comes out July 2 (and it’s really good)!
Also worth following: @DavidJoy_Author, @michael_f_smith, and @StephPostAuthor.
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
Twitter's Must-Read List: 5 Novels You Should Look Out For
By Daniel Ford
Getting into a reading/writing groove can be tough after a long weekend.
Needing a creative jolt, I reached out to our Twitter followers and asked the following:
What are you reading or writing tonight? Crime? Literary fiction? Romance? Let us know! #amreading #amwriting
— Writer's Bone (@WritersBone) May 26, 2015Here are some of the responses we got back from our tweeps:
@WritersBone I'm writing chapter 15 of my novel Pixiphobia. It's Fantasy. About a war between Pixies and Elves bc of Corruption.
— Shay McNeill (@iwriteb00ks) May 27, 2015.@WritersBone On tonight's menu: My Friend Dahmer by @Derfcity. #amreading graphic novels for the time being. pic.twitter.com/LABC7LjGeE
— Adam Kovac (@Boondock60mm) May 27, 2015@WritersBone Just finished THE FALL by @smamawer and I'm having a book hangover. One of the best books I've read this year...
— Steph Post (@StephPostAuthor) May 26, 2015@WritersBone I'm reading We are Water by Wally Lamb, just started it last night #amreading
— Cassandra Baron (@Baronness324) May 26, 2015@WritersBone Still working on Allegiant by Veronica Roth. Having a hard time w/ pov switch, keep putting it down.
— Tammy Gibaud writer (@thejourneyserie) May 26, 2015To recommend a book or join the conversation, simply tweet us @WritersBone and use the hashtag #theboneyard
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
The Boneyard: Fifty Shades of Lame. Should Nepotism Trump Talent?
We didn't want to watch the movie either...
The Boneyard features the best of the Writer’s Bone crew's daily email chain. Yes, we broadened the definition of “best” to make this happen.
Sean Tuohy: E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, forced the studio to hire her husband Niall Leonard, a well-respected screenwriter in his own right, to pen the next movie in the series. As a writer, how would you feel if you were given a high-profile assignment because who you were married to and not based on your talent or skill?
Dave Pezza: Well if you're a writer and you have an opportunity to get paid for your writing, no matter how shitty your writing may be, you take it. A gig is a gig is a gig is a gig.
However, I'd feel someone was totally giving me a leg up, but then again don't we all need a leg up. No one ever really "makes it" on their own. All I can hope is that if I am ever given an opportunity like this, it isn't to write something as embarrassing and as god awful as Fifty Shades of Middle Aged Regret.
Sean: I agree with you on the "no makes it on their own" point, but I would feel weird if I got a high profile gig not based on my writing at all but who I decided to put a ring on.
Did anyone here see the first “Fifty Shades of Grey?”
Dave: You'd feel weird, but you'd totally write though, right?
Sean: To be honest, I don't really know. Going with my gut, I would say no. I don't feel like I would deserve it. Yes, it’s a paying writing job but it’s not all about money. I want to be hired for my work and my skills as a writer.
Then again, my credit card payment is due in two weeks...
Daniel Ford: I couldn't even make it through the boring trailers.
Part of me really enjoys the fact that a writer has this much control over a movie. Or this much power in general. I don't begrudge any writer making money, but this wasn't the case of someone hitting it big for something they labored over for years. It was a marketing plan from the beginning, so I'm not surprised that the writer is acting more like a media mogul as opposed to a creative collaborator. I'd like her to use some of that money to buy some writing classes or, at the very least, a dictionary or grammar book.
Her husband apparently worked on the first film, and doesn't seem to have a problem getting his own piece of the cash cow. I don't think I'd mind getting a leg up, but I'd want to work on a project of my own. Then again, if my wife asked me to do anything, I'd probably do it, especially if she's making way more money than me.
Stephanie Schaefer: Well, the only reason Dakota Johnson was cast as the female lead was because of her famous parents, so nepotism all around.
And no, I did not see the movie or read any of the books. The awkward lack of chemistry the two leads had at the Golden Globes, among other things, deterred me from spending $14 for a movie ticket.
Daniel: And led to media coming up with posts such as “15 Inanimate Objects With More Chemistry Than Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.”
Anne Leigh Parrish: Oh, I don’t know. I’d probably take the job. But, as to the book itself, didn’t read it, didn’t see the movie. It’s set in Seattle (where I live) so that may be why I couldn’t quite take it seriously. Also, the movie reviews were scathing.
Daniel: I don't know, people make a big deal about selling out, but hanging on to integrity and principles when you're buying Chinese food with the spare change in your piggy bank (which I was doing religiously at one point) is stupid, right?
Dave made a good point to me just now, that most of us on this chain don't have the money to make some kind of noble stand for our integrity as creative types. And what does a stand like that look like nowadays? George Clooney took the money he made from “Batman & Robin” and became a "serious" actor and director. Is it possible to dip your toe in the water of commercialism just so you can do your own thing, or does that mark you for life so that people never take your work seriously (in Clooney's case, it helps to be handsome and talented)?
I think if someone said to me, "Daniel, we think your novel would sell like hotcakes if you added in 12 more sex scenes and killed off 75% of the characters during the first act," I would tell them to go pound sand. But if my work gave me the opportunity to jump to a different, more lucrative project that may or may not be helmed by my significant other, I think I'd be more inclined to go for it.
A question for Sean though, if you've got a few credits under your belt and your spouse picks you for a project, would you really think you didn't deserve it? What would have to do in your career to feel like you can write a third-rate soap opera starring two actors Joey and Rachel on Friends look like a power couple.
Sean: Yeah, if my spouse bitched and moaned that I should get the job to write the movie and she wanted me to do it because she knew she could control me I wouldn't take it. That is the feeling that I am getting from E.L James. She wants complete control of the project.
If my spouse was helping me, giving me a leg up like Dave said, I would work extra hard on it because I still would feel like I didn’t deserve, but I’d work three times harder to prove to everyone that I do.
Lisa Carroll: From the Fifty Shades of Grey peanut gallery:
1. I read all of the books. And, I didn't hate any of the books for the same reason I tore through the Twilight series; there's something exciting about having a window into the world of these girls who are the obsession of a hot guy (Team Jacob, by the way). As a plot-driven reader, I skipped over most of the sex stuff because it was just the same thing over and over and over but I did get lost in the storyline and I did enjoy the guilty pleasure of reading the series just like I used to enjoy “Days of our Lives” and “General Hospital.” Classic literature? No. But, it had exciting moments. It had a few (sometimes obvious) plot twists. It was entertaining and frivolous and sometimes that's enough.
I saw the movie with my 72-year-old aunt who also read all the books (she would make a great book character but that's for another day). The movie was okay. I didn't hate it. But the truth is that the book is always better than the movie and when the book is just okay, the movie doesn't have much of a chance. The chemistry was pretty bad (and Daniel, I laughed at the intimate objects link!) and because much of the story is internal, the presentation of it was meh. But again, entertaining and frivolous and sometimes that's enough. Oh, and it was the first movie I've seen without my 14-year-old daughter in 14 so I think there was also something about being at an adult movie that made me a little giddy and light-headed from the moment I sat down with my own popcorn. If there are any movies I've missed since October 2000, please share so I can watch them on Netflix. Thanks.
As an aside, these are two books that I carry in my middle school and I have had more than one kid ask for Fifty Shades of Grey when they really mean Between Shades of Grey. It gives me a good chuckle. Although, I did have one boy who asked for Fifty Shades and really meant Fifty Shades and he seemed rather disappointed that his middle school library didn't carry it.
2. The writing job. I have no context here. I haven't read about it or looked into the circumstances around which this hiring took place. So did he get the job because she figures he will listen to her when it comes to maintaining the integrity (if that's even a good word to use for the book) of her story/plot? Does she think he'll be easier to manipulate than another writer? Does she figure that since she's sleeping with the screen writer she'll have more say?
And if she's a good wife, she thinks he's a helluva screenwriter because that's what we wives do. We believe in our spouses. So I'd assume she's picking him because of his talent and skill and because of the ring on his finger and maybe because he's the person upon whom Christian Grey is based which is more than I want to think about...
And let's be honest, there are people who make money writing frivolous crap so I pose the question: is it always good to make money at your craft and to earn your living doing the thing you love to do? Or is there a line of integrity that you wouldn't cross? I give you the trained ballet dancer who is making a living on a pole, the singing waitress, the actor who is doing Viagra commercials. How low is too low? How many of you would just love to write for a living?
To add to the discussion, comment below, weigh in on our Facebook page, or tweet us @WritersBone.
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
April Showers: How Our Favorite Authors Water Their Creativity
Photo by Stephanie Schaefer
By Daniel Ford
We’ve been spoiled the last couple of months at Writer’s Bone with the amount of insightful advice we’ve received from our favorite authors.
I needed an extra jolt of inspiration on this rainy, cold afternoon in the Northeast, so I collected all of the tips, suggestions, and inspiration offered by the authors we’ve interviewed recently.
Feel free to add your own advice in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.
Paula Hawkins, Author of The Girl on the Train
Photo credit: Kate Neil
Perseverance is all, and whenever you’re feeling disheartened, read On Writing by Stephen King. He knows of what he speaks, and he’s really funny, too.
You can also check out our interview with the author on BJ’s Wholesale Club's website.
Anthony Breznican, Author of Brutal Youth
Don’t be afraid of sucking. There will be plenty of time for that fretting later. Get your first draft done, and don’t look back until you type “the end.” Make it as good as you can, of course, and repair and adjust as needed along the way, but don’t despair over it. Once you get a first draft finished, you have something to fix. Until then, you have nothing.
Dimitry Elias Léger, Author of God Loves Haiti
Photo Credit: Jason Liu
Write like you’re part of a continuum of novelists. Know the history and highlights of your genre and your settings inside and out. Novelists should be like painters, building and riffing on traditions that go back centuries. Also read a lot of poetry, and poetic prose, since you are what you read. And for god’s sake, have a sense of humor.
Anne Leigh Parrish, author of What is Found, What Is Lost
Keep at it until it starts coming more easily; be open to feedback but know when the feedback is useful and when it’s not; focus on exactly what you want the reader to take away from your story (or novel); learn to switch sides of the table when you’re editing–become the reader, in other words; try not to get too hung up on how the marketplace is treating you–this is more for writers with a book out in the world; and, lastly, always stay true to yourself as a writer, how you define that.
You can read Anne's short story "Smoke" in our original fiction collection.
Springs Toledo, Author of The Gods of War
Develop your craft and find your own style. Read books that are not sports-related. Read The New Yorker. If you turn a phrase or offer an insight that seems familiar, consider the risk of plagiarism and Google it before claiming it. Avoid clichés. Don’t cross the line between poignant and maudlin. Don’t expect to make a living doing it. Whether you write for an audience of two million or two, respect them and your name enough to offer your best. Respect every athlete, especially fighters, because what they do is exceedingly dangerous and difficult and chances are excellent that you couldn’t do it.
David Joy, Author of Where All Light Tends to Go
Photo credit: Alan Rhew
Persistence. That’s it. That’s the difference between people who make it and people who don’t. I wrote for a very, very long time before I ever got to anything close to something publishable. Some of the earliest writing I had was on notebook paper and I kept it in shoeboxes, and my mother called one day to see what I wanted to do with it. There was probably a thousand pages and I told her to take all of it out into the yard and set it on fire in the burn barrel. A lot of people can’t understand that, but it was the fact that I knew the writing wasn’t any good. It was important. I had to get it out of me. But once it was out, there was no other use for it. I’m probably well into 2,000 pages now and I’m still not anything close to what I would consider good. Whereas that might seem futile to some, it’s that futility that makes it so beautiful. It’s knowing that I’ll do this the rest of my life and never get it just right that makes it worthwhile. You know, Faulkner said if the artist were ever able to get it perfect, “nothing would remain but to cut his throat, jump off the other side of that pinnacle of perfection into suicide,” and I think that’s true. There just wouldn’t be anything else to do with your life.
Tania James, Author of The Tusk That Did the Damage
I have a handful of reader friends whose advice I rely on heavily, even when it’s tough love time. I think it’s important to find those writerly mates who have your back, as you have theirs.
Chuck Grossart, Author of The Gemini Effect
Simple. Write/edit. Write/edit some more. Then, write/edit again. And, keep in mind that you’re writing can always be better. It’s definitely a learning process, and it never ends.
I think a lot of first-time writers believe what they’ve written is really, really good when in reality, it just might be really, really bad. With The Gemini Effect, I learned a ton while I went through the developmental and copy edit process with my editor at Amazon’s 47North, Jason Kirk. I have a post on my blog that describes in detail how Jason and I worked together to take my self-published novel The Mengele Effect—which had just won a nation-wide contest, but still needed some hefty tweaking—and transform it into what it was striving to become; The Gemini Effect.
Two other ways I improved my writing skills were to join a local writers’ group (The Nebraska Writers Workshop), and to try my hand at writing flash fiction.
Joining a writers group was really eye-opening; I was exposed to a number of different genes and skill levels, and found it very rewarding. The most important thing about joining a writers group is to be thick-skinned—be able to accept criticism, and use it to improve your skills. I’ll touch on that again a little later.
Writing flash fiction paid quite a few dividends. While perusing the titles at Smashwords.com, I ran across a short, flash fiction horror story. I read it, enjoyed it, and did a little research. Flash fiction—stories with word counts anywhere between 300 and 1,000 words—seemed like a perfect way for me to put pen (fingers) to paper (keyboard) and give birth to some of the ideas bouncing around inside my misshapen noggin. They wanted out, so I obliged. My initial venture into flash fiction was titled Ripple. I wrote it on a Saturday afternoon, and published it on Smashwords the next day. For me, the magic of crafting short stories began a few hours later, when Ripple received its first review. Two little words. One was "definitely," the other, "disturbing." With that, I knew I'd hit the exact mark I was aiming for. I highly recommend new writers try writing some flash fiction, as it teaches tight structure, tight plots, and helps a writer learn how to cut all the unnecessary chaff to keep it within a certain word count.
Also, like I stated earlier, learn to have a thick skin. Be willing to accept constructive criticism, and shrug-off the vitriolic criticism that every writer eventually receives. Is this an easy thing to do? No. Not. At. All. Like everything else, it’s a learning process. To paraphrase Isaac Asimov, there are two types of writers: Those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review. The first time you receive a bad review, it may feel as if you’ve just shown your newborn baby to a stranger—that baby is the most beautiful, precious thing you’ve ever seen—and the stranger says, “Wow, that is one ugly baby! How dare you bring such a horrid creature into my world!” Then, after the stranger vomits a few times (on your shoes), a crowd gathers, they chase you back to your castle with torches and pitchforks, and everything goes up in flames, especially your confidence as a writer.
One thing to remember is that a review is a message from a reader to other readers—it’s not directed at you. Some authors I know never look at reviews, good or bad. But, if you do, don’t take it personally. Even though someone just called your precious baby ugly, don’t ever let it kill your desire to write, and don’t ever respond. Let me say that again: No matter how badly you want to, don’t respond. Once your story is out in the big bad reviewer world, it has to stand on its own two feet. It’ll get praised, and it’ll get bullied, and you have to stand back and let it happen.
If you do get a nasty one, and it’s bugging you, keep this quote from Teddy Roosevelt nearby (it helps):
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Quan Barry, Author of She Weeps Each Time You’re Born
Read, read, read, and read broadly. I was just talking about this with the poet Derek Mong. Basically we were agreeing that sometimes young writers just read first books in their genres. This can get to be stultifying. Yes, it's good to know what first books look like and how they're constructed, but if that's all you read, your work may end up sounding like everyone else's and one day it may also read as dated.
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
8 Thoughts All Writers Have During the Day
"Oh, I should have..."
By Sean Tuohy
If you’re a writer, odds are you’ve had a few of these thoughts run through your head at one time or another.
“I Need To Remember That for My Book!”
Every day, you’ll talk to someone who will give you a great line of dialogue that resonates with you and starts turning the gears in your head immediately.
“Where’s My Pad and Pen? Where Is It? Ah, I Forgot It!”
No big deal, I’ll carve it into the flesh of my arm.
“How Did This Happen?”
We’ve all been there. You need to research something quickly and head to the Internet. Unless you’re really focused, this can get out of hand quickly. You start at Point A and end at Point What the Hell Am I Doing. “How did this happen?” leads to other things like, “I need to find out what kind of cars they drive in Peru, and I now know everything about the 1986 World Cup.”
“I Need His Looks for the Bad Guy.”
Ever been in public and spot a person who has the look or personality that you want one of your characters to have? And then study this person like Jane Goodall watching gorillas? You peer at them from around corners, make notes about how they open doors, and become an all-around creep. Oh, and people notice all of this.
“I Really Like Her Face, But Hate Everything Else About Her. I’m Just Gonna Write About Her Face.”
You know who else thinks these things while looking at other humans? Serial killers.
“I Hate You.”
All writers have to face the blank page. You’ve spent weeks and months planning, outlining, and researching for this moment and now you have nothing. So you hate the blank page the same way Captain Kirk hates Klingons. “I hate you! I hate you! Stop laughing at me!”
“Oh, I Should Have…”
Sadness hits writers really hard. Sadness is then followed by self-doubt, which normally leads to, “I should have gone to law school.”
“This is the Best Thing I’ve Ever Written!”
But you always bounce right back and start working on your story again.
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
Writing Supplies: 10 Cool Gifts for Writers
By Daniel Ford
Writers really aren’t that hard to shop for. Books, pens, coffee, copious amounts of alcohol are all acceptable presents.
But there are only so many bottles of Wild Turkey and copies of The Elements of Style you can buy, right?
Here are a few cool gift ideas for the writer in your life (and I was just kidding, there’s no limit to the amount of alcohol you can give a writer):
Let Go of My…Remington?
For god’s sake, make sure the writer you give this to has had enough caffeine to notice that this waffle iron isn’t a real typewriter. Nothing kills a writing session like third-degree burns.
Have Writer Will Travel Stylishly
Is it me or is this something that Henry Jones from The Newspapermen would carry around (and Shirley would make fun of)?
From Whom the T-Shirt Tolls (Found by Dave Pezza)
There are plenty of worthy t-shirts on Out of Print, but none more beautiful than this one.
100 Typewriters
What’s better than an actual typewriter (or a waffle iron typewriter)? A poster with 100 typewriters!
Grammar Tea Party (Found by Kerri Liss)
Have writer friends who struggle with “your” and “you’re?” Invite them over for tea and cough every time they take a sip of their drink.
Tea for Two Writers (Found by Stephanie Schaefer)
You’re going to need to put something in those tea cups, right?
The Seven Editors
For the samurai editor in all of us.
Frenemies Beware
Writers must have a lot of annoying friends because there are some pretty snarky gifts out there for the literary inclined. That’s the great thing about words, you can use them without opening your mouth!
Bathroom Material
Sadly, I would be thrilled if this was the only way my novel could be published. There’s part of me that wants someone to develop a Choose Your Own Adventure roll.
Words Night Out
And my Christmas shopping for Stephanie Schaefer is done!
For posts from The Boneyard, check out our full archive.
Sunday Brunch: How a Sixties Soul-Eyed Kid Developed His Love of Music and the Week’s Top Posts
This post is brought to you by the 1960s.
By Daniel Ford
Starters
From The Zombies and The Rascals to Neil Young and Jethro Tull, my father developed a passion for the music of the late 1960s and early 1970s that the former soul band saxophonist instilled in his three sons.
I recently dropped the needle on our favorite albums and peppered him with questions about the origins of his love of music, the first album he ever bought, and all the bands he saw live at Providence College from 1969 to 1973.
First Round of Mimosas
Author Judy Chicurel talks to Writer’s Bone about her short story collection, If I Knew You Were Going to Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go, her writing process, and her future literary plans.
Author Judy Chicurel On How Everything Should Start With Your Writing
Jazz Interlude
There’s really not a bad version of this Duke Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy,” however, there might not any better than this one featuring Louis Armstrong. His trumpet swings your face off. I strongly suggest getting a copy of the album, “The Great Summit: Complete Sessions,” in order to enjoy Sundays the way God intended.
Book Lovers Double-Stuffed Omelet
Our November book recommendations include Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas, and Jill Lepore’s The Secret History of Wonder Woman. Read the rest of our list and let us know what your favorites from the past month!
And…
Five good crime novel with devilish men and fatal dames that fill the page with greed and murder!
Second Round of Mimosas
Sean Tuohy may not know a lot about fashion, but he knows a thing or two about t-shirts! He recently sat down with fashion designer Melanie Andujar to talk about her t-shirt designs for Revision Apparel.
T-Shirt Chic: 9 Questions With Fashion Designer Melanie Andujar
Digestif
Dave Pezza and I went to see Bob Dylan live at the Providence Performing Arts Center last week. We finally recovered enough to write a Bob, Bourbon, and Books about our experience.
Podcasts for Dessert
Dan Jurgens, comic book artist and writer, talks to Writer’s Bone about how he got his start, creating Doomsday and killing Superman, and his thoughts on today’s superhero movie craze.
In Memoriam
For nearly 50 years director Mike Nichols brought inspired filmmaking to the screen. Here are some of our favorite films:
Remembering Director Mike Nichols
Next Week’s Menu
A conversation with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Tom Schulman.
Sunday Brunch: New Times Writer Derek Heid and the Week’s Top Posts
Photo by Daniel Ford
Writer’s Bone’s Sunday Brunch features fresh commentary or interviews, jazz recommendations, and a roundup of the week’s top posts. We encourage you to enjoy this post on a weekly basis with a mouthful of omelet and home fries, as well as an unhealthy amount of the aforementioned mimosas, Bloody Marys, or bellinis. Also, send us your brunch pictures and we'll feature them in upcoming posts! You can email them to admin@writersbone.com or tweet us at @WritersBone.
Starters
Sean Tuohy talks to Derek Heid, a writer for New Times, about a sunny place for shady people: Florida.
First Round of Mimosas
Author and podcaster Justin Macumber talks to Writer's Bone about his writing style, the podcast, and what the future holds for him.
Loving the Truth: 8 Questions With Author and Podcaster Justin Macumber
Musical Interlude
Sing it, Etta.
The Newspapermen Eggs Benedict
The Newspapermen feel the mental and physical toll of chasing down a story no one wants them to uncover.
A New York City Side of Bacon
Writer’s Bone’s New York City guru Lindsey Wojcik writes about how her experience reading Sari Botton’s Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York made her realize she wasn’t moving out of the metropolis any time soon.
Photo essayist Cristina Cianci shares seven photos she took while getting to know her new Manhattan home better.
Digestif
Down a shot of Wild Turkey 81, dance manically with all the spirits in the night, and enjoy the latest installment of Bruce, Bourbon, and Books.
Podcasts for Dessert
Stand-up comedian, writer, and producer Sara Schaefer stops by Writer’s Bone to talk about the Mall of America, the art of making someone laugh, the lessons she learned from Louis CK, and the unpredictable nature of stand-up comedy.
Sunday Brunch: A Conversation With High School Friends Sean Tuohy & Marcus and the Week’s Top Posts
Picture by Stephanie Schaefer
Writer’s Bone’s Sunday Brunch features fresh commentary or interviews, jazz recommendations, and a roundup of the week’s top posts. We encourage you to enjoy this post on a weekly basis with a mouthful of omelet and home fries, as well as an unhealthy amount of the aforementioned mimosas, Bloody Marys, or bellinis. Also, send us your brunch pictures and we'll feature them in upcoming posts! You can email them to admin@writersbone.com or tweet us at @WritersBone.
Starters
Sean Tuohy talks to his friend Marcus about adult puberty, stupid movie ideas, and the origin of Sean’s love affair with noir.
First Round of Mimosas
Author Kat Spears talks to Daniel Ford about her hit novel Sway, her writing process, and the inspiration behind her characters.
Jazz Interlude
You’ll feel anything but blue after listening to these two jazz greats.
Book Lovers Eggs Benedict
It’s been a busy month of reading for the Writer’s Bone crew. Check out our top picks for October. What should be on our list for November?
Second Round of Mimosas
Sure, you could spend Sunday brooding about how your short story is going nowhere (it’s not just us, right?) or you could enjoy one of these movies featuring writers struggling with their craft. You’re right, that’s a grim choice. But these films are still great. What are some of your favorite writer movies?
Podcasts for Dessert
Legendary stand up comedian Robert Kelly talks about fatherhood, hanging out with Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, and Jim Norton at New York City’s Comedy Cellar, his podcast “You Know What Dude?” and how he remains a Boston kid at heart.
Next Week's Menu
Stephanie Schaefer’s favorite episodes of “Friends,” an essay by Lindsey Wojcik about loving and hating New York City, and the next installment of The Newspapermen.
Keep writing (and Sunday drinking)!
The Boneyard: Why Being A Good Reader Will Make You A Good Writer
The Boneyard features the best of the Writer’s Bone crew's daily email chain. Yes, we broadened the definition of “best” to make this happen.
What the lobby will look like at Writer's Bone's future office.
Daniel Ford: Here's the problem I've had recently. I can't read one thing at a time. I blame beign in grad school and having to read a bunch of stuff all the time. I'll get hooked on something and then flutter back to something else. I finally finished a bunch of stuff I had been reading for most of 2013, but now the pattern has started again. I mentioned I was reading to Sean at one point I was reading Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (which I just finished!), but really, I’m also reading:
- Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin
- The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
- Inferno, Max Hastings
- Up in the Old Hotel, Joseph Mitchell
- On Writing, Stephen King
Plus, I have a stack of books that I've been trying not to crack yet, including:
- Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson), Robert Caro
- Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Scott Anderson
- Coolidge, Amity Shlaes
- The Guns at Last Light, The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (The Liberation Trilogy), Rick Atkinson
Okay, fine, I also have a ton of books on my Kindle that are in various states of being read. How often do you read and what is your reading process like?
Sean Tuohy: Mother lover, I read every day. I have to read something or I feel like a junkie who hasn't gotten his fix for the day. I read on the bus going to work in the morning, on the bus going home, and then I try to fit in between half an hour to an hour of reading time before passing out. But I can’t read one book at a time. At the moment, I am reading three books and I have more on the list.
Rachel Tyner: I am always in the middle of multiple books. Right now it is Cuckoo's Calling, The Boss of You (about owning your own business), and a “Charmed” comic book Sean got me (don't tell anyone). I also began and abandoned some books too, which I do intend to go back to, including A Clash of Kings, The Birth of Venus, The Hunt for Red October, Primary Colors, among others.
Wow, this is making me depressed.
My problem with reading is that it is not an activity that you can multitask. I am in the car for three hours a day, and if I want to survive I can't exactly read while in traffic. I usually get home and want to clean, and so I can put on Netflix (or the latest Writer's Bone podcast!) and be productive.
It is such a leisurely, wonderful activity, reading, but I find that I only really sit down to read when I have nothing else I feel like I need to do or comes above it on my priorities. I definitely will make it a goal going forward to read more every day. In 2014, it is my goal to finish all of the books on the list above. No excuses!
Daniel: Okay, fine, I’ll admit it. I’m also reading The Unnamed, a book by Joshua Farris about a guy who can’t stop walking, Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary, Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, and Craig Johnson’sThe Cold Dish.
I’m sucked in to pretty much every one. I have a serious problem.
But you know what? The more I read, the more I want to write. And the more I write, the more I feel like a writer. The more I feel like a writer, the less scotch I have to consume.
How does reading affect your writing? And what is it about Elmore Leonard that makes his prose so irresistible to the point you abandon all other reads and devour each morsel of hardboiled goodness (sorry, I’m sucked into Rum Punch at the moment)?
Dave Pezza: I am a large proponent of studying literature. I don't mean that in the contemporary liberal arts sense of study. Like anything else, you and learn your craft, and then you apply what you have learned. Writing, I feel, is the same way. You read as much as you can and absorb as much as you can. For me, writing and reading have always gone hand in hand. When I am reading a lot and reading more difficult authors or books is most definitely comes out in my writing. Dialogue, diction, syntax, they all naturally draw from your influences. That is how Ernest Hemingway changed American prose. Everyone began to read Hemingway, he became an institution, and more writers naturally absorbed the style.
As far as Leonard is concerned, he is one of the few authors who managed to successfully walk the tightrope between literature and entertainment. He is easy to read, mostly. His themes are rather pulpy. At face value, Leonard should be a dime novel author, but his simplicity isn't derived from lack of skill or thematic development. Leonard writes the American spirit well, the individual well. His characters, for the most part, are simple people, and I mean that in no offensive way. They're motivations and emotions are easily grasped or empathized with or judged. That's why he is easy to devour, he gives you the best of both words. A little crime, a few shootouts, but you still walk away with more than when you started page one.
Daniel: Sean and I talk about libraries in the video that we posted earlier this morning. Our staff consists of some of the younger members of the Millennial generation (you bastards), so do any of you have any memories of going to the library? What are your best and worst experiences related to the library?
Also, Here’s something I just read in Rum Punch that ties into our conversation:
“He said, ‘You name it. We’re living in the arms capital of America, South Florida. You can buy an assault rifle here in less time than it takes to get a library card.’”
Stephanie Schaefer: I loved going to the library. I remember when it was your birthday as a kid you got to "donate" a book to my school library (aka your parents paid for it and you got to put your name in it). Since I have a summer birthday, I donated a book before the end of school. All I remember is that it had ducks wearing rain boots on the cover.
And my town library used to host teddy bear picnics...badass.
Matt DiVenere: Ohhhh, the library. Let's see. In elementary school, my mom signed me up for the reading club that they had. I was able to borrow two books a week for the entire summer, and every time I read a book, I got a prize. I also got a star sticker next to my name on the bulletin board (of course this was the real reason why I was reading, to brag about how many stars I had.). I'm pretty sure I just gave away some of those prizes to my uncle for my cousins to enjoy.
My worst experience would be going to my high school "library" where we spent two hours learning the Dewey decimal system in order to get our books. Clearly, everyone in class already knew it, but it was mandatory to go to this workshop. In high school, the library was either a place to catch up on some sleep between periods or a quick route from one side of the building to the other without having to go all the way around and past all of the teachers. It's two hours that I will never get back in all of my life.
Sadly, I wouldn't go back to a library again until I had to cover an event that happened at a town library in Vermont. It was a local historian group discussing plans for an upcoming parade. That's the last time I've ever been in a library.
Dave: Libraries are paramount of successful democratic culture. The state pays for and operates a free facility dedicated to learning and self-empowerment. Amazing, even in 2014. I had a very close relationship with the Cranston Public Library in Cranston, R.I. as a youngster. I would frequent it on a regular basis, borrowing books and VHS movies, and was even part of a young reader's group there. This early relationship is most likely the reason for my fascination with the mysterious Dewey decimal system and the physical joy I feel when I step into a library or a book store; the sheer amount of knowledge contained in those locations awe me.
Amount a year ago I was coaching volleyball at my old high school and realized I have never been inside the Warwick Public Library, a place I had driven by countless times over the years. At the time I was also interested in writing a pseudo-fictional account of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment's involvement in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and I was scouring Rhode Island libraries for sources. I hadn't used my card in so long that I needed to renew. Admittedly, I don't use the library often. I tend to buy my books now. I like my bookcases in my home with my books, and I like to annotate when I read. It is most likely that we will lose libraries soon, which is a marker of the failure of democracy. I wish there was a way to signify their importance in the digital age, but I can't for the life of me think of a reason why. Could you imagine the Boston library empty of all that knowledge, like a cobra without its venom?
Also, without libraries, my hot, redheaded librarian fantasy also fades away into the realm of impossible. I'll be a very sad man/boy the day that happens. Hopefully it never will.
Sean: That Leonard statement is very true.
Look, when I say South Florida has comic-like crimes I'm not kidding. It’s kind of like the land of misfit toys down there…if all the toys were doing lines of cocaine and buying M4 rifles.
It takes about two to four weeks to get your concealed weapons permit in Florida and that's mostly waiting time. You have to do a four-hour gun safety course, sign some paperwork, and then get finger printed and photographed. You mail this off—along with a $117 check—and in return you get an ID back with your picture and the right to carry a gun.
"Concealed" is a broad word in Florida. I could take my pistol, put it in a zip lock fanny pack, go to a restaurant, and then put the gun holding pack on the table while eating. I have seen that happen before! The man came in with his family, set the pack on the table, and downed chicken wings while watching the FSU game. He freely admitted to having the gun in the pack. This was all within the law.
I decided to get my permit when I was 21. I had a friend who gave me the card for a man named "Chuck" and said his course was only $50, which was $25 less than most places. Yes, my gun safety class was done on the cheap. I showed up at a private gun range and was welcomed in to a nicely outfitted trailer by a man in his fifties with grey hair and a big smile. He stuck out his hand, which I took in to mine and discovered he did not have a thumb. No thumb! Just a stump of what was left on his hand. Mind you in his other hand was a freshly opened can of beer. Chuck it turns out was a Vietnam vet who had been an ex this and ex that. He was an all-around nice guy and a guy who knew his guns.
I know what you are thinking. He got his thumb taken off in ‘Nam, right? Yeah, that didn't happen. Turns out it gotten taken off at the gun range years after ‘Nam. I don't know the details of what happened. Now, I am sitting down at a table with a thumb-less gun safety teacher who is drinking his third beer in less than an hour and the other student who was a woman in her fifties, too much make up, talked about her cats a lot, wore a t-shirt from the musical “Cats,” and was getting a gun permit because her ex beat her up and she wanted to shoot him.
I am going to skip over the part where the teacher pulled out a .45 from a briefcase randomly, the part where the woman showed pictures of her black and blue body post-beating, and the part where the teacher and the woman start hitting on one another. Now, remember when I said the course was four hours? This class was 89 minutes long. He skipped over everything, told some stories, and then gave me some paper saying, "This guy can carry gun safely." I left that trailer very...worried.
Well, after this whole permit-getting adventure, I decided to do the next big step in South Florida gun world and go to a gun show! A gun show looks like a comic book show. People dress up in weird outfits, the tables are filled with useless junk, and the one black guy at the show seems out of place. While waiting in line—yes, there was a long line to enter the gun show—the couple in front of me struck me as odd. Not because they were a good looking couple that was really well dressed, but because the man had a Carbine rifle slung over his back and the woman had a lovely Glock clipped to her belt.
Once I got inside, I spent a couple of hours strolling around looking at every kind of weapon; hand guns, shot guns, assault rifles, World War II weapons, swards, knifes, and ninja stars. I was with a friend who was slightly older than me and he told me I could buy a hand gun. I told him I couldn’t because I did not have a permit yet. He shrugged and said, "I have my permit. I can buy the gun right now and then we go to the parking lot and I sign the paper work over to you and you give me the money."
I asked if that was against the law. He smiled and replied, "Nope."
Yeah, that whole statement had some issues. Let's start with this: No background checks. In Florida, at this time at least, you could go to a gun show and buy a gun without the seller doing a background check as long as you had your permit. That seems like a huge flaw in the system. Second, if I was a felon who needed a gun badly I could pay some fool with a permit to buy the gun for me! Another huge flaw in the system. I decided not to buy a gun that day. Mostly because at one point a man in his seventies yanked a Glock .40 pistol from between his legs and asked if I wanted to buy it.
Florida is insane. I lived there for 10 years. Is it as bad as the 1980's during the cocaine wars? No, it's much better now, but that doesn't mean that crazy left.
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Daniel and Sean's Favorite Westerns
Following their interview with author Craig Johnson, Daniel and Sean discussed their favorite westerns.
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The Boneyard: Why Writing Beginnings Should Make You Feel Great
The Boneyard features the best of Daniel and Sean’s daily email chain twice a week. Yes, we broadened the definition of “best” to make this happen.
Daniel: We talked about endings not too long ago. I just posted a blog about why I prefer writing beginnings to anything else. In your opinion, what makes a great beginning? Are you of the Elmore Leonard school that avoids talking about scenery or weather or do you prefer setting the scene to your world in a complete way? What devices do you use to suck the reader into your world?
Sean: I love a great opening. I love creating hooks that get the reader pulled into the world that I am creating. Now, there is a fine line you have to walk when creating a good opening. You want to give the reader a little taste of the world, but you don't want to overdo it and have them pull out too soon. You need to allow the reader to peer in to your world for a moment, soak it in, and then give them it full blast.
Hollywood screenwriter Kurt Whimmer is one of the best at writing an opening line. For one of his screenplays, “Exit Zero,” he starts by crashing a U.S. Space Shuttle and then cutting back. Great opening. It pulls the readers into the world and it makes them ask, “What is happening?” The second readers ask that, they are hooked and want to discover what else is going on.
The opening to “Reservoir Dogs” does a great job of that. You have a bunch of tough guys sitting around talking about music and tipping. You know that these men are up to something. You know something is going to happen because a group of guys like this just doesn't sit around and talk all the time. Something is going to happen.
I love writing an opening line that is short, sweet, and deadly. It has to be something that gets the reader's blood pumping and their minds interested.
"They came to kill Tommy after breakfast"
Boom! Why are they coming to kill Tommy? Why wait till after breakfast? Who's killing him? Now the reader has these questions going through their minds and they need to be answered.
What is your mindset on the opening?
Daniel: First of all, you now have to write the rest of that story. You can't just leave me with "They came to kill Tommy after breakfast." My mindset is a lot like yours. I want to draw people into the world I created immediately, but in a way that makes them want to stay and not be able to figure it out in 25 words.
My problem is that sometimes I get stuck on crafting a perfect opening line. In my blog post, I wrote you should take your time making your beginning great, but I think sometimes I spend waaaaaay too much time on it. I get paralyzed to the point where I can't remember how I wanted the rest of the story to turn out. I'll lose details in my mind that may have benefited the story overall.
That being said, nothing gets my creative juices flowing like writing an opening line. There's no amount of alcohol, drug, sex, or caffeine that can reproduce the high I get from really nailing a good opener. When it just flows out of you, there's no better feeling as a writer. Writing can be hard at times, so whenever you can get your creativity to a boil is a great thing. Beginnings do that for me.
Sean: I'll figure out what happens with Tommy but I will say this...you won't see it coming!
You're not alone on getting stuck on making a perfect opening line. It can really ruin the rest of the writing process. Most of the time the opening line comes when you are not even writing. It comes when your mind is busy with something else. How happy are you when you get the opening line? Do you keep writing or do you stop and high-five yourself.
You are right; there so few winning moments in writing but when you get one it's the most amazing feeling in the world.
Daniel: It's one of those moments when you sit back in your chair, sip on your coffee or scotch, and thank your personal invisible deity for making you a writer. And you know immediately when it's great. It's probably the only moment of clarity during my whole process.
There will be lines of dialogue that I think are cool later on, and moments where my plot and character development seamlessly come together. But nothing compares to truly nailing that opener. Every time I get a feeling like, okay, I can do this. This is what I was born to do.
And then of course, you write three more pages of crap and that feeling goes away and you have to make another 10 pots of coffee. But as long as you have a solid start, it makes all that work worth it.
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