- "I come up with good ideas, but I can't develop them into complete novels." [Yes! That’s me!]
- "I'm going along fine with my novel, and then it just stops. I can't get it moving again." [Again, yeah!]
- "I know what happens from start to finish, but I can't figure out what it's really about." [Sometime, yeah.]
- "I know what's supposed to happen and what it's supposed to mean, but my story is just not working." [Still me, a bit]
- "My novel is missing something and I can't figure out what it is." [Sure.]
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Aaron Allston's Writing Guidebook: An Enlightening Look at the Plotting Process
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Welcome to Blurb Country
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Just Popping In
Although in my case, a death in the family and now, a wicked stomach flu, make Holly a dull girl.
I have stuff to talk about that we'll get to in the next few weeks: I'm just got back from my first writers conference as a published author and I'm just finishing copy edits on my second novel.
But just so we have something to discuss here and now, tell me what your favorite movie about writers is? Although I posted the video of The Shining, I'd have to say that Sunset Boulevard is my all time favorite.
Also, welcome to Kristi Belacamino and Alex Segura, both of whom are now blogging on Do Some Damage. I'm no longer the new kid on the block!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Trouble in the Heartland
There’s no official publication date yet but I think the buzz has started to really build about a new anthology of stories inspired by Bruce Springsteen songs, Trouble in the Heartland.
I’m thrilled to have a story in the collection, especially since I grew up in a big city very far from the ‘heartland.’
And yet, even though through the 70s Montreal was famous for hosting some massive prog rock concerts in the Olympic Stadium – ELP and their full orchestra and choir, Pink Floyd and the giant pig (legend has it that it was at the Olympic Stadium concert that Roger Waters first got the idea he wanted a wall between himself and the rowdy crowd – and then the rest of the world), Queen Rocks Montreal is a pretty good DVD – Bruce Springsteen is also massively popular there – as he is everywhere.
Sometimes I watch YouTube clips of Springsteen playing at soccer arenas in Europe and wonder what the crowd there really knows about Nebraska?
The Vietnam War is pretty much at the heart of America’s baby boom generation and yet there are audiences in Amsterdam and Oslo singing, “Got into a hometown jam, so they put a rifle in my hand, sent me off to a foreign land, to go and kill the yellow man.” (you’re singing along right now, aren’t you). It can’t just be the catchy beat.
So, while no other country had its young men drafted and sent to war in Vietnam, the feeling – the feelings, the strange, confusing, contradictory feelings that young men go through as they make their way from adolescent to adult – the desire to be a ‘good guy’ and a hero, to defend their country, to do their part, to not let people down – is universal.
And so is what Springsteen hit on so perfectly; “Go and kill the yellow man.”
Lately I’ve been doing some research on Vietnam War Resisters – draft dodgers as they were called at the time – and one thing that keeps coming up again and again isn’t men saying they were afraid to die, but men saying that they did not want, “to go and kill the yellow man.”
So I guess Springsteen gets to the universal heart of the matter for young men.
But what I’ve always loved about Bruce Springsteen songs are the women. And the relationships. He also gets to the heart of the matter there, too.
Springsteen songs aren’t about guys who try really hard and the women who don’t understand them. The women in Springsteen songs aren’t manipulative femme fatales selfishly getting what they want and tossing the men aside. These are people who struggle together.
Or not together. And there’s always that possibility that things will fall apart.
“Cherry says she’s gonna walk, ‘cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it, But Eddie, man, she don’t understand, that two grand’s practically in my pocket.”
Oh no, Cherry understands. Cherry’s been through this before. More than once. That radio’s gone and there won’t be two grand in this guy’s pocket. He’s an amateur and he’s going to get schooled by a pro. He’s the only one who can’t see it coming.
For my contribution to Trouble in the Heartland I picked the song, “Spare Parts,” from the Tunnel of Love album because I really like Janey. Sure, maybe after she gets pregnant (“Bobby said he’d pull out, Bobby stayed in”) Bobby gets let off a little easily, “Bobby got scared and he ran away,” and Janey has to deal with everything, but it is Janey’s story.
It was a thrill to imagine a little more to Janey’s story and I want to thank Joe Clifford and the guys at Zelmer Pulp and Gutter Books. I can’t wait to read the stories.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Quick Notes
One For My Baby by Barry Graham
Clear motives, menacing characters, the right amount of raunch, and quick violence are all pack tight into this short, sharp, lean and mean noiry tale. It was the perfect Sunday morning read for me.
Highly Recommended
What Happens in Reno by Mike Monson
I've got a lot of nits to pick with this book and I think it gets off to a shaky start but, once it gets going it mostly works. What Happens in Reno features a four way race to the bottom that will entice most noir readers.
Recommended
Federales by Chris Irvin
A strong novella and one of the better pieces of fiction I've read so far this year. The narrative is very tight and, at times, it reminded me of Man on Fire (a movie I loved). I thought that the book took a really interesting turn late in the story that I would have liked to see Irvin spend more time exploring.
Highly Recommended
And the Hills Opened Up by David Oppegaard
I've read a few weird westerns lately and this one separates itself from the pack by being a western first and foremost and then introducing the weird in a really subtle, but effective way. We get to know the town, then we get to know all of the characters, then the other is introduced. (I basically used the various cast members of Deadwood to voice the different characters in the book -- don't judge me.)
Highly Recommended.
The Door That Faced West by Alan M Clark
Tells the story of The Harpe Brothers via the perspective of the youngest of their wives in a brilliant narrative voice that fits in with Mattie Ross (True Grit) and Ree Dolly (Winter's Bone). An outstanding book that fires on all cylinders and succeeds on many levels.
Highly Recommended