Wednesday, June 29, 2005

For John...

So one of my friends is writing a novel. A quite funny novel actually, with compelling storylines and well thought out characters. Well the problem is, I read the half he has written and really, really enjoyed it. "How's that a problem?" you might ask. Well I would tell you to stop interrupting and I'll finish. The problem is that John is currently stuck on the build up to the climax. He has the climax, he has the denouement, he has the intro, he just having problems getting the characters to do what he needs them to do in a way that leaves the reader, me, from saying "Whaaa?"

So lets all give John a little encouragement! Tell him you love him! Tell him you need him! Tell him how smart and handsome he is, (he's a always a sucker for that)! Tell him you understand and that he'll get through it, he just needs to look at it a different way (like try lying under the couch and look at it from there)! Just tell him something so he'll finish it and I can find out how the story ends!

Why, you ask? Because, once he is famous, and this book is a bestseller, you can say, "I helped!"

"Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window." ~ William Faulkner

"You don't write because you want to say something' you write because you've got something to say." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

"A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book." ~ Ernest Hemingway

"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."~ Thomas Mann

"Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ASK questions. If I had answers I'd be a politician." ~ Eugene Ionesco

"I'm astounded by people who take eighteen years to write something. That's how long it took that guy to write Madame Bovary, and was that ever on the best-seller list?" ~ Sylvester Stallone

and my favorite:

"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing." ~ Kingsley Amis

I think Kingsley and I would have been friends!
Posted by timothy :: Direct Link 1 comments

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