Is modern technology a boon to all, or is it the spawn of the Devil himself? The publishing industry really can’t seem to make up its collective mind either way. Having made us all aware of the dual impact of the omnipresent recession and the inroads that e-publishing is making into traditional literary markets, ooh looky here–reported sightings of optimism at Frankfurt Book Fair this week! As well there should be.
It may not just be me that sees things this way; who knows? The discussion has only just begun, after all.
In other news, the Peruvian Puncher has been awarded a Nobel Prize. They decided to give it him for Literature in the end, which surprised the kind of people who lay bets on that sort of thing; apparently the smart money was on Kenyan author Ngugi’o wa Thiong to win that one. Cue much running around in the Guardian’s literary section, but hey. At least they didn’t backpedal.
And the rest is NaNoWriMo, because–as Alexandra Sokoloff was quick to note–October is NaNoWriMo PREP month. Jodi Cleghorn re-published a list of ways to engage in said PREP, none of which resonate with me at present, but then I’m a first-timer this year and so likely to misjudge their usefulness. Perhaps I really should spend this month making feverish lists, but if I do (and I haven’t started any yet), they’re more likely to look like Savannah J Foley’s version of outlining. Let The Words Flow stablemate Julie Eshbaugh offered an interesting concept when she suggested using dialectics to create rounded characters, but it is just an interesting concept. To me, at least. It may do things to (for?) you. I suspect I’ll get more from Lynn Viehl (Paperback Writer), a very experienced author who promises regular hand-holding from now until December 1st for all the newbs.
Not every writer is planning to spend November in a flurry of virtual paper, RSI and emotional mayhem–our Matt, for one, has too many commitments this year to make room for NaNo. Write Anything‘s Annie Evett is in the same boat, and produced a wise and thoughtful blog post detailing good reasons to sign up, and equally good reasons to not sign up. A welcome relief from the slight note of hysteria entering the writerly blogosphere, and it’s only October 8th!
Oh, and by the way, there is already a NaNoWriMo song out there.
OK, so I managed to find some stuff about slow writing–you know, the kind you do when you’re not trying to complete 50,000 words in a single month.
Michelle Davidson Argyle posted on The Literary Lab about the temptation to assume that a long-term project will always be an artistic masterpiece, mentioning along the way that first novels generally take longer and that this could be–possibly–because the author doesn’t really know what s/he is doing. Richard Hine beat Michelle’s 16-year record hands down, offering tongue-in-cheek instructions on how to write a novel in 30 years or less.
Jen Brubacher posted a conflicted note on Scribo Ergo Sum; her work-in-progress has taken on a life of its own and she no longer has either control over it or the ability to judge its worth. At least she’s within reach of the finishing line–after just 3 months. Hm, not sure that qualifies as ‘slow’, Jen.
Charles Stross has been running an interesting series entitled Books I Will Not Write, in which he outlines the plot of a novel and then explains why he’s not going to write it. This week he outlined a political-historical mix that could have been dynamite… possibly literally, as he explained. Hence his decision to write something… tamer.
There’s been some unusual advice doing the rounds this week. First, There Are No Rules linked to a piece by Benjamin Percy strongly advising writers not to hoard their best material for some future project. Next, Jody Hedlund related a tale of multiple revisions that led to her understanding of the novel as malleable as clay. Then Alexandra Sokoloff published a thoughtful post about thematic image systems, by which she means using imagery consistently related to the central theme of your work. Finally, no less than two dissenters argued that show-don’t-tell isn’t always the best approach. Charlie Jane Anders wrote a thoughtful io9.com article (with aliens!) detailing five situations where this is the case, while Domey Malasarn noted in his Literary Lab post that favouring ‘show’ above ‘tell’ forces him to write about a certain type of character, or a certain type of story.
Blame cinema.
