Book Review: Zen and the Art of Writing

Book Review for Zen and the Art of Writing
By Ray Bradbury

Broken into essays on writing that spans over 19 years, this book is a gem of inspiration and passion. You can tell Bradbury loved to write. Truly. As in, leave a rip-roaring time to hurry home and put a story to paper. Zen and the Art of Writing covers subjects from feeding and keeping a muse, finding inspiration, using life in your stories, how the brain stores things for later, and of course, never giving up. The man gathered an impression rejection pile in his time. If you are looking for a little inspiration, the first few essays in this book are sure to do the trick.

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Book Review: How to Write a Damn Good Mystery

Book review: How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript
By James N. Frey

Like the title says, this is a ‘step-by-step’ guide.

I don’t actually write mysteries, but some of my stories have a mysterious thread within them. For example, The 15 Date Rule has a bit of a mystery in terms of a theft. In writing this story I had questions such as what is a true red herring? How do you create one? How do you deal with them? How do you create false leads without ticking off your reader–either by making it too obvious or by totally deceiving them? As I read through this book, I came across  answers to my questions. I learned what is common practice, what works and what might not.

This book would be excellent for a beginning mystery writer who is looking for a methodical plan to follow or simply some ideas on how and where to start. If you don’t mind putting in a little hard work (brainstorming) on the front end, with Frey’s method, you will create a focused first draft that requires few plot overhauls after completion. Even writers who prefer a ‘seat of their pants’ method will find his methods helpful. Basically, Frey helps writers focus their thoughts in a productive way. He walks through how to create a good hero/heroine, a good murderer, a setting that will add to your story, as well as a step sheet which plots out any major obstacles the hero/heroine will encounter as they work towards reaching their goal (solving the murder). He also discusses different ways the hero/heroine can work towards gathering information–a random gatherer or a methodicial, clue-by-clue gatherer. And naturally, he provides how to wrap up your mystery in an entertaining way (none of that boring, sit down and reguritate everyone’s motives stuff).

Free Book on Writing!

I love free things. Honestly, I’m a bit of a sucker for anything free. Plus, I love books. Sadly, I often find myself too cheap to stack up the ones I really want.

So what is better than a free book? Nothing in my mind. I used to just about fall down with happiness when my university profs would weed through their personal collection and leave a stack of free books outside their office door. Sigh. Books. Free books.

Anyway, Donald Maas, an agent and writer, is giving away his ebook version of The Career Novelist. A writing book! And it’s free! I’m so pumped! Follow the link above to download your own copy. I’ve also heard that his other books on writing such as Writing the Breakout Novel are great too. Those ones, you have to pay for, but really, I’d pay money for them if the free one helped me out–smart marketing!

Enjoy!