Pulp Fiction Writers
You don't realize how good pulp fiction writers are until you try your hand at writing. It's not until then that you realize how difficult it is just to plot an engaging story -- let alone create characters that your readers are going to react to, throw in theme, setting, mood... Holy crap, it ain't easy.
When I was at university studying English, I didn't even know who was on the best seller's list. Who cared? They had nothing important to say to the human soul; they were totally forgettable; they were pulp fiction writers. We were reading Auden and Steinbeck and Pound and Shakespeare and Austen -- writers that mattered.
Well, 20 years later, I'm not so sure that Grisham and Crichton and King and Archer don't matter and/or won't have contributed something to culture when literary history judges them.
Back to my original reflection. It's not until you try writing a novel or even a short story that you realize how impressive someone like Steve Martini -- who plots really good stories and has this great voice for characters -- is.
I'm currently reading his book The List in which he gets to not only spin his craft, but he also gets to wax philosophical about the craft of writing -- his main character is a writer and she's constantly talking about the craft. Here are some great excerpts:
"Anyone can write... The question is, can you rewrite?... It's like music, only you're not listening for melodies. It's more the cadence of speech and the pattern of prose. Credible writing requires an ear. If you're tone deaf, forget it" (pg 263).
Abby: "Why is it so important for you to write?"
Jack: "I enjoy it."
Maybe that was the problem, thought Abby. Every good writer she had ever known hated it. What was the line? There's nothing at all to writing. Just sit down and open a vein. She guessed the reason it was so effortless for Jack was that he lacked self-criticism. If you're tone deaf, every click of the keyboard, each scratch of the pen, sounds like Mozart" (pg 265).
When I was at university studying English, I didn't even know who was on the best seller's list. Who cared? They had nothing important to say to the human soul; they were totally forgettable; they were pulp fiction writers. We were reading Auden and Steinbeck and Pound and Shakespeare and Austen -- writers that mattered.
Well, 20 years later, I'm not so sure that Grisham and Crichton and King and Archer don't matter and/or won't have contributed something to culture when literary history judges them.
Back to my original reflection. It's not until you try writing a novel or even a short story that you realize how impressive someone like Steve Martini -- who plots really good stories and has this great voice for characters -- is.
I'm currently reading his book The List in which he gets to not only spin his craft, but he also gets to wax philosophical about the craft of writing -- his main character is a writer and she's constantly talking about the craft. Here are some great excerpts:
"Anyone can write... The question is, can you rewrite?... It's like music, only you're not listening for melodies. It's more the cadence of speech and the pattern of prose. Credible writing requires an ear. If you're tone deaf, forget it" (pg 263).
Abby: "Why is it so important for you to write?"
Jack: "I enjoy it."
Maybe that was the problem, thought Abby. Every good writer she had ever known hated it. What was the line? There's nothing at all to writing. Just sit down and open a vein. She guessed the reason it was so effortless for Jack was that he lacked self-criticism. If you're tone deaf, every click of the keyboard, each scratch of the pen, sounds like Mozart" (pg 265).
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