Mind Altering

I won't mince words.

I've read a lot of books.

Tons.

I can't even begin to count the number of books I've read over the course of my life.

And when I decided, and I mean really *Decided* that I wanted to define myself as a Writer I thought that having read so many books would have helped in some way.

Which it did.

Sort of.

Reading other peoples work is only half the battle. But what I really wanted? To be let in on all the dirty little secrets of the underworld of writing. The bones of it. HOW the hell do I create an f'in VOICE?! And what the heck do I do with all this research?

I happened, quite by chance, to pick up a book...well...download for free through B&N's Free Friday program... called Hooked by Les Edgerton. I read it in 2 days. I then went to my computer and deleted, not save and started new, DELETED my current wip.

Totally changed my writing style. Totally changed my outlook on writing in general.

It's a very quick, easy read. He uses very understandable examples. Like when explaining inciting incident. He uses Thelma and Louise. Very clear. Or the whole voice thing, and not using dialog tags. My eyes were opened. I think I actually went, "Oh!" Out loud.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, no matter where they are in their writing career. It's a funny, easy, quick read. I'm telling you, it'll change how you view your writing.

What books changed your life? Writing or otherwise?

Hidden Shelves

Oops.
  
I found your book.

You know. The one I borrowed that time. I was gonna give it back. Honest. I put it on this shelf so I wouldn’t lose it, and it wouldn’t get chomped on by dogs or drooled on by kids and ducks and other noxious items. I kept forgetting to give it back because it was hidden behind this other book.

Well. THESE other bookS, I should say. Because you see, I keep my *ahem* borrowed books on the same bookshelf/case as I do the books that I’ve not gotten around to reading yet.

You know the ones. The books that you see in the store all bright and shiny and everyone is RAVING about. You bring it home, all bright eyed and bushy tailed and set it on your nightstand (or what have you)...but then LO, you are already in the middle of another tome! So this one gets shoved to the bottom of the pile. Again...and again...and again.

OR Worse. You’ve gotten your college syllabus. And it has about 83 ‘classics’ on the list. You’ve already read 7 of them in High School. That’s close enough. You buy the rest of them at a used book store for about 1/23 the price they were going for at the Campus Store. Then proceed to read the first, middle 4, and last chapters of them whilst working 39+ hours a week at your “Part Time” work study job. You then write papers on them, getting A+’s on all said papers...  Not that this would ever really happen... *cough*

Someday I really will read The Three Musketeers. Honest.

And Maybe I’ll be able to get to anything by Weis and Hickman. Which will hopefully erase the bad taste left in my brain from reading Eat, Pray, Love. (Some things cannot be unread...*Shudder*...I wish I could remember who I borrowed that from. I’d send them a can of tuna...)

What books have you not gotten around to reading ‘yet’? Or better yet...what have become part of your permanently borrowed?

Epicly Epic

Epics. Oh the Epics I have!

Historical Fiction Epics! Fantasy Epics! Sci-fi Epics! Classic Epics! I’ll read them all. Just let me get sucked into a huge, sprawling monster of a story for weeks on end. A whole WORLD that consumes me. Books that keep me up until all hours of the night reading because the world and the characters in it are so real. You get so invested, there isn’t really a good ‘pause point’.

I don’t even know how to choose my favorites for this category. Mainly because this is the majority of what covers my shelves.

Definitely The Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn. I remember, very clearly, the feeling of awe the first time I read the first three in this massive 6 parter. I’m not sure if this was the first book I ever read with a name directory in the back, or if it was the first time I’d ever USED the name directory in the back...either way. Holy Mother. The cast of characters in these books. But the surprising thing is that there is no real defining GOOD vs EVIL. Probably the first fantasy series I’d ever read like that. Incredible.

Diana Gabaldon’s Highlander series is another one that I keep turning back to. I’m not sure how a writer can put out consistently interesting books, with the amount of research involved at over 600 pgs each. But she does. Yes there are weak bits. Flawed plot points. But the massive scope and the character development, the dialogue. That’s one thing she can write. I can always tell who is talking in her books. She is amazing at voice. And the settings just suck you in.

Then there are the self-contained epics. Margaret George is amazing at these. Or really the classics, Les Mis, The Count of Monte Cristo, Gone with the Wind. Margaret George’s Memoirs of Cleopatra is an absolutely incredible book. Somehow she makes you feel as though you are living her life. She makes you feel as though all these little tiny details, that you realize later could only have been made up, are real. Time stands still when you read this book.

I could go on and on and on in this category...but I think you get the point!  

What epics do you read? Self-Contained? Long-spanning 10 volume monsters?

Oddly, I’ve never found any horror epics. Probably because everyone gets bumped in the first book...

Tweaking the Writer

Digging deeper into my shelves. Have you ever noticed that a person’s bookshelves are kind of like an archeological dig into their lives? Most people will keep one or two (or twelve) childhood keepsakes around. But then...as they get older...people will hang onto more and more random books. These are the interesting ones. These are the ones that distinguish the evil geniuses from the fluffy bunnies.

Even before I started referring to myself as a “writer” I would gravitate toward books with complex characters. Books with characters that didn’t have stuff just handed to them on silver platters all the time. I like books where the ending isn’t always sparkly and unicorns (even if there are unicorns in it..). If it’s the right ending. I like it when the characters have to work for what they have. And I especially enjoy characters that are flawed and challenged. Characters that have a past.

It was because of these types of characters that I stopped being a 'passive' reader and started taking notice of the intricacies of the story itself. Specifically character development. 

One of the first books that I read like this, and will always have a place on my bookshelf, is "Ender’s Game" by Orson Scott Card. I cannot imagine the holy hell it must have been trying to get this book published. It’s not YA. Oh no. Not by a long shot. But the MC is a kid. But he’s a wise kid. And the subject matter isn’t kids stuff. Though they deal with it in a very child-like way at times. Ender isn’t perfect. He isn’t some know it all King Arthur type. But...things go his way, after a fashion. But the mind games played to get there?

The first time I read this book I truly started to see what a flawed character could be. One with issues that could still be trusted to save the day. Though, save the day for whom?

So. What books are on your shelf that tweaked your brain as a writer? What made you sit up and take notice for the first time?

Reworking Genres

I was reading a contest description the other day (that of course I can’t find now) that started, “Are you writing The Next Great American Novel?” And my left eye started to twitch. I mean honestly.

But it did get me thinking. What exactly are we writing? What is the end result? I’m not talking genre...because I think those change over time, and I think that in our own bookshelves we categorize much more differently then we ever would find things in a book store. 

But...How do you want your writing to be remembered? Because when you get right down to it...that is the point.

So I spent some time looking at my bookshelves. Which are organized by the intricate workings of my brain, so of course they make perfect sense. Harry Potter is right next to Diana Gabaldon who is right above Dickinson who is right next to Rawn. All my Fantasy is organized by how well they fit on the shelf (obviously). Classics...same. Space is at a premium. But there is one shelf that is always within easy access, and always has the same books on it...no matter how many times I move.

I call it my Comfort Food Shelf.

I doubt that this was the intent of the authors of these books. Especially given that one of them is actually labeled as THE Great American Novel. But these are the books that I return to whenever I need a mental and emotional refresher.

First up is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I think I could recite this book by heart. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me have faith in the human race again every time I read it.

Next is, oddly enough, An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. I think this is more of a childhood love than anything else. But I find the feminist bent in it hysterical every time I read it. She was a crafty woman that Alcott.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Can you get any more fluffy than this? Flappers and Speakeasies. Love it.

Last in this shelf is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Epic story on an epic scale with epic characters. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve read it. I’ve package-taped the cover back on. Someday I’ll find a hardcover edition. Maybe.

So. I’ll be digging deeper into my bookshelves this week, see what else is on there. In the meantime, what are your Comfort Food Reads?