Tag Archives: Writers

The Dead Writers Round-Up: 17th-20th May

Posted on by
2
  • Dorothy Richardson was born on 5/17/1873. “If there was a trick, there must be a trickster.”
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne died on 5/19/1864. “The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one’s family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash.” Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 135: Writing Dramatic Nonfiction

Posted on by
4
  • Title: Writing Dramatic Nonfiction
  • Author: William Noble
  • Year Published: 2000 (Paul S. Eriksson, Publisher)
  • Year Purchased: Probably circa 2000 or 2001
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: It’s nice-and occasionally necessary-to be reminded of the fundamentals. Most of us know that only by understanding the rules are we capable of breaking free of them. After awhile, it is easy to forget the basics; when the basics have been forgotten, it is all too easy to drown in your own hollow virtuosity. Beautiful but empty. It is smart to have instructional books like Writing Dramatic Nonfiction as part of your professional arsenal. Even if  rarely consulted, their very existence on your shelf is helpful. Whenever I look at the reference section in my studio, I am reminded that writing is not all style and instinct; it is a trade, a profession, a chore. It requires labor, skill, stamina. It is hard, technical work. This particular book is middle-of-the-pack. It doesn’t contain revolutionary advice; it will not change your life. You likely won’t find yourself turning to it again and again, until the pages are wrinkled and dirty, but it is solid and workmanlike; it serves the purpose of making you think, logically and clearly, about constructing your nonfiction using the pacing, demands and artistry of fiction. Noble deconstructs some of the most powerful passages from the nonfiction writings of Hemingway, Dillard and Capote, among others. That is what makes it worth the cover price.
  • Motivation: Oh, I’ve no idea. I honestly don’t remember how this book came into my life (which is extremely rare). Whether by accident or design, it doesn’t really matter. I’m a professional writer so it only makes sense that I own books about writing.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 30: “But the point is this: nonfiction or fiction, we can begin our conflict on the first page, and it will work just fine.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7

A Year in Books/Day 133: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen

Posted on by
Reply
  • Title: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen
  • Compiled by: Dominique Enright
  • Year Published: 2002/This Edition: 2005 (Barnes & Noble Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2005
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: I own nearly two dozen Jane Austen-related books, so it comes as something of a surprise that this is the first one being featured in my P366. I’m not sure how I managed to overlook them for so long but, fear not! They will get their full, fair due in future. I think that this nifty compilation volume is a natural starting point: the great writer is presented at her wittiest and liveliest, with excerpts taken from both her novels and personal correspondence with her sister Cassandra. It’s a truthful approach, as we are not spared the waspishness or vanity of the private woman or, far worse, forced to endure the sugar-coated spinster trope prevalent in so many biographies. Set beside snippets from her fiction, we are given a double-barrel blast of the “real” Jane (so far as such a thing can be accomplished): a powerful, candid wielder of arrow-sharp words and wit, a master of language perfectly controlled and aimed.
  • Motivation: Acerbic, perceptive and highly literate, Jane Austen is one of my favourite muses and guiding lights. Shocking, I’m sure.
  • Times Read: A few
  • Random Excerpt/Page 110: “I do not like the Miss Blackstones; indeed, I was always determined not to like them, so there is the less merit in it.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10
    Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait b...

    Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by her sister Cassandra, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

Voices from the Grave #19: Ernest Hemingway

Posted on by
3

This week’s Voices from the Grave is a bit different: Hemingway isn’t reading anything. In fact, we don’t hear his voice at all. It’s :53 of stock footage of the American writer, with a voice-over by a nameless narrator. It is interesting in its own time-capsule-esque way.

The sportsman we have seen standing by the giant fish, the fallen lion.

A Year in Books/Day 131: After the Fall

Posted on by
Reply
  • Title: After the Fall A Play in Two Acts/Final Stage Version
  • Author: Arthur Miller
  • Year Published: 1964/This edition: 1987 (Penguin Books)
  • Year Purchased: 1990/1991
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: No matter how hard I want it to be otherwise, After the Fall has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Although he’s not my favourite American playwright, I love Arthur Miller. I do. My love even survived not only reading Death of a Salesman (which I adore) in my high school AP English class, but watching multiple film and television adaptations over the course of a few days. That’s asking too much, yet my love and respect remained intact. After the Fall, based on his relationship with second wife Marilyn Monroe, goes a step too far for my taste. The whole enterprise, although undoubtedly cathartic for Miller, is tainted by the too-fresh dirt of his ex-wife’s grave. All writers write, to one extent or another, about people they know and experiences they have. (I’m no different.) I’d like to think that most of us are sensible or compassionate enough to do it from behind at least a slightly opaque veil, without dozens of raw and neon-bright references to friends and family. Especially when they were-and remain-one of the most famous people in the world. If you were to reduce the play to just Maggie’s lines, it would almost read like an autobiographical monologue by Monroe. Unless you do that to yourself, it’s a bit icky. Now here’s where I must pause and tell a tale on myself: if After the Fall was top-notch Miller, I’d probably be more forgiving. I know I’m a hypocrite but great writing gets me every time. This isn’t great writing; it’s a curiosity piece, an exercise in egoism, condescension and hand-washing. It’s not a good look for one of America’s best playwrights.
  • Motivation: I’ve loved plays for nearly as far back as I can remember; not just in performance, but in text. I would read aloud all of the parts, like some sort of egocentric table reading. I guess I was theatrically inclined even then, loving the interplay between words and action that is missing from straight fiction. I wrote my first play in the 5th grade. Even though the short story is my (near exclusive) fiction medium, I write with play craft in mind.
  • Times Read: 3 or 4
  • Random Excerpt/Page 84: “That decency is murderous! Speak truth, not decency. I curse the whole high administration of fake innocence! I declare it, I am not innocent-nor good!”
  • Happiness Scale: 6 for subject matter and over all execution/10 for the few passages where Miller’s writing soars
    Arthur Miller, American playwright

    Arthur Miller, American playwright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

[Alternative Muse of the Month] Katherine Mansfield Fun Facts!

Posted on by
2

In honour of our first Alternative Muse of the Month, we are preparing to go into Official Katherine Mansfield Mode. Until then, here are some random facts about the short story writer.

  • Kathleen (Katherine) Mansfield Beauchamp was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 14 October 1888.
  • Her cousin was writer Elizabeth von Arnim (Mary Annette Beauchamp), best known for her novels The Enchanted April and Mr. Skeffington.
  • Her second husband was English writer John Middleton Murry.
  • Her best writing was done during her final, tuberculosis-plagued years.
  • She was an excellent cellist.
  • She was highly influenced by Anton Chekhov.
  • Her brother Leslie was killed in World War I.
  • She spent her last months desperately seeking a cure for the tuberculosis that eventually killed her on 9 January 1923. She died at Georges Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France.
  • She remains one of the most important-and best-short story writers of the 20th century.

 

Related articles

Daily Diversion #6: Hunter S. Thompson Wants You….to Drink

Posted on by
3

We recently checked out the hot new taco/tequila/whiskey place in an “up-and-coming” part of town that we frequent. (Note: In this case, “up-and-coming” means semi-gentrified with a side order of flying bullets.) A stack of these cards was sitting on the bar.

Hunter S. Thompson Recipe Card

“The Dirty Bird”

The food was good, the tequila was excellent. Seeing Hunter S. Thompson looking up at me from behind dark glasses was a bit of unexpected fun. Now, on to the other side:

Red Headed Stranger Recipe Card

Red Headed Stranger Recipe Card

Hmmm, ginger and bitters are two of my favourite things. I’ll probably go back just to try this. Oh, and let’s face it: I’m a sucker for dead writers. If they put a Virginia Woolf Gin Fizz on the menu, I’ll never leave.

The Dead Writers Round-Up: 12th-15th May

Posted on by
Reply
  • Amy Lowell died on 5/12/1925. “Take everything easy and quit dreaming and brooding and you will be well guarded from a thousand evils.”
  • Daphne du Maurier was born on 5/13/1907. “Time will mellow it, make it a moment for laughter. But now it was not funny, now I did not laugh. It was not the future, it was the present. It was too vivid, too real.” (from Rebecca)
  • Jean Rhys died on 5/14/1979. “Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.”
  • L. Frank Baum was born on 5/15/1856. “Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.”
  • Emily Dickinson died on 5/15/1886. “Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.”
  • Katherine Anne Porter was born on 5/15/1890. Her The Collected Stories won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

[All images are in the public domain and are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

 

[11 May 2012] This Week’s Lessons in Reading and Writing

Posted on by
2
  • My Nook e-Book reader is my friend.
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula is even better than I remembered.
  • Waking up a little earlier than normal is great for my writing brain.
  • Buying a fat stack of books is a natural high.
  • Success is at least 50% discipline, organization and perseverance. Self-promotion doesn’t hurt any, either.
  • I don’t hear pounding on my front door when I am in the writing zone. Which still does not give someone the right to walk in uninvited, even if this is an apartment. Ahem.
  • I’m not as attractive as I think I am when I am writing. I’m usually quite disheveled, apparently. Perhaps even wild-eyed. Whatever. This is what creation looks like, people. We don’t all look as preppy as Sylvia Plath whilst in thrall to the muse.
  • Taking a holiday-including from writing, however brief-is soul-illuminatingly wonderful.