THE STORY SO FAR: PART 206

TO WRITE IS TO LEARN—WHICH IS ONE OF ITS PLEASURES

MIND YOU, I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT ABOUT PUNCTUATION

I learned most of my punctuation nearly 60 years ago—a sobering thought—and didn’t enjoy the process. Still, I must have been taught fairly well because my essays ceased being returned looking as if they had been savaged by a maniac with a red pencil, though my spelling still left a lot to be desired. Frankly, it still does; but, fortunately the gods invented spell-checkers so my inadequacies in that area are largely hidden.

Recently—somewhat to my amazement—I have become interested in punctuation, and actually enjoy it because Jane Strauss teaches it in such a cool way. Yes, that is her below—and I cannot recommend her too highly. Somehow she makes sense out of her arcane area, and she writes with a light touch.

Still, I had never heard of the term ‘Oxford Comma’ until her mailing arrived today. I am now enlightened.

Are grammar and punctuation important for a writer to master? Many young writers seem to think their raw writing talent will compensate for any deficiencies in that area.

The masters—like James Joyce—can break the rules and get away with it; but as far as the rest of us are concerned, let me give you a simple answer: Yes.

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 198

THE BOOK BUSINESS IS BEING TURNED UPSIDE DOWN AT A TRULY ASTONISHING SPEED

IN NOVEMBER 2012, 28 PERCENT OF ALL BOOK PURCHASES IN THE U.S. WERE IN E-BOOK FORMAT—A DRAMATIC RISE FROM SIX PERCENT IN NOVEMBER 2010

When I was first published back in 1991—which doesn’t seem that long ago, as far as I am concerned, but is pre-history to many people—the book chains ruled the earth, and Barnes & Noble dominated the book chains.

Just over two decades later, the second largest book chain, Borders, is gone, and Barnes and Noble is looking sickly. What is more is that e-books—scarcely heard about until Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007—have seized a truly significant market share.

Let me quote from mediabistro which is, in turn, quoting from Bowkers:

According to a new report from Bowker Market Research, U.S. chain bookstores lost 13 percent of their share of book purchases in 2012.

Overall, chain booksellers saw their share decrease from 32 percent to 19 percent of volume. At the same time, Bowker recorded some dramatic gains in U.S. eReatailers and digital book growth. Check it out:

In the U.S., e-retailers accounted for 44 percent of book purchases by volume in 2012, up from 25 percent in 2010. In the U.K. the rise has been somewhat less dramatic but still significant, up from 25 percent in January-November 2010, to 38 percent in the same period in 2012 … In November 2012, 28 percent of all book purchases in the U.S. were in e-book format — a dramatic rise from six percent in November 2010.

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 166.

HOW LONG SHOULD A BOOK BE?

Most people have forgotten the Korean War. Nonetheless, it fascinated me even though I was only six when it started in 1950. It finished—more or less—in  1953, though a full peace treaty has never been signed. Given that North Korea is now a nuclear power, that is somewhat disturbing.

While scouring the school library, I ran across an article in the National Geographic about it, which, amongst other things, showed how the Koreans could carry heavy weights on their backs by using a frame.

Why don’t we do that, I wondered?

And, of course, now we do—but it was an early lesson that the West was not the repository of all wisdom (which, essentially, was the kind of thing I was originally taught). I was an early skeptic because attitudes, and what I could see and read, did not seem to match.

There is a nice story about the Korean War I have long remembered. There were press briefings every day, and a constant theme was that a particular position in the U.N. lines—it would vary—had been attacked by “hordes of Chinese.” This phrase became part of the daily ritual until finally one of the journalists stood up and asked: “How many Chinese to a horde?”

The effect of this question was to create absolute confusion because, needless to say, there was no credible answer. It remains one of my favorite lines.

One used to be able to be more precise when talking about a book. A novella used to be about 30,000 words long. A novel started at about 60,000 words—and a classic big thriller (the kind of book I love and write) came in at 120,000 words plus and could easily be 160,000. Assuming a talented author, this substantial heft guaranteed, in my eyes, a really good read.

Apparently, all of that is changing. A recent article by Michael Lewin in Book Publishing today states that:

“Today, however, the closing of the American mind has given way to the collapse of the American attention span thanks to texting, Facebook and Twitter. Neither authors nor readers seek size from their books.”

“If you are writing a business book to brand yourself as an expert in your field, keep it under 50,000 words… You fiction writers should take heed as well; 90,000 is the new optimum maximum length, down from 50,000 words just a few years ago.”

I guess that means I’ll only have to do half the work in future. Assuming I believe that—which I don’t—how do I feel about the supposed demise of the really good read read?

Profoundly sad, if you really want to know. I guess reading WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy—which I loved—when I was 13 had a lasting impact on me.

Tolstoy is illustrated above.

 

 

 

WE ALSO SERVE WHO REWRITE

Image by San Diego Shooter via Flickr

"A battle is fought to be won!"

Department of Excellent Writing Advice

As part of learning how to blog – and these days I sometimes wonder whether I’m not more student than writer (or whether the terms should not be interchangeable), I’m currently subscribing to a number of blogs who specialize in giving blogging advice and advice on writing in general.

I’m not just interested in the specifics of such advice, but how they present themselves in general. Inevitably, there are similarities, but all the good blogs have distinctive personalities.

Today, Walt Shiel, author of VIEW FROM THE PUBLISHING TRENCHES http://www.waltshiel.com  offered a nugget that resonated:

“Begin your writing, fiction or article, where the action begins. This action can be internal (e.g. An important insight or personal decision) or external (e.g. a calamity or key even). Begin too early and you lose your reader. Begin too late and you lose your story.”

Now that is good writing.

Department of Book Doctors

Editors used to do all that that is necessary when it comes to critiquing and developing a book. Unfortunately, with the ever increasing of the corporate ownership of publishers followed by the inevitable pressure to cut costs, the editors of traditional publishing houses rarely have the time to do what may be necessary. 

That is a pity for all sorts of reasons starting with the fact that even the most talented writer cannot bring perspective to his or her own work.

Enter ‘Book Doctors’ who do much the same thing as editors used to but who are prepared to do even more than a commercial editor to save book. Here I refer you to Jason Black at PLOT TO PUNCTUATION  www.plottopunctuation.com  I have neither met Jason, not done business with him; but his site is impressive.

I have done some book doctoring myself, and once spent six exhausting months on a project trying to rescue and restructure a truly excellent book about THE BATTLE OF 73 EASTING. The topic was the famous tank battle that took place in the first Gulf War in 1991. The patient survived and you may read the result as WARRIOR’S RAGE by Douglas Macgregor.  

I should probably have claimed co-author status, but he was the one who had been under fire and had seen his men die so it was, quite rightly, HIS story; and a fascinating one at that. 

We also serve who re-write.

I have to say it is a pretty good book.

FOR MY NEXT TRICK, I INTEND TO INVADE RUSSIA

Cover of The Devil's Footprint

THIS QUAINT TAIL WAS BASED AROUND
THE NOTION OF A TERRORIST THREAT TO
THE U.S. EMANATING FROM
A LAWLESS PART OF MEXICO...
FICTION, OF COURSE!

Department of Blogs, Blogging & Bloggers
Here is the plan – and like all plans subject to change. As matters stand, it’s a work in progress but my overall intent is to:

Keep Victor O’Reilly – Letters From An Author as my personal blog mainly devoted to my fiction writing, my life, and the business of writing in general. There will be separate pages for my different fiction books so, as matters stand, these pages will be headed:

• New! THE BLOOD OF GENERATIONS 

• New! SATAN’S SMILE 

• GAMES OF THE HANGMAN 

• RULES OF THE HUNT 

• THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINT 

How will I know when I’ve got my blog writing approach right? Almost certainly as a result of your telling me – plus the ‘inner voice’ that we writers are supposed to possess. But right now all of that is academic because I know perfectly well what you want – from thousands of emails - and that is to get the books I have already written published as soon as possible.

Set up separate sites for my non-fiction works because they each cover distinctly different areas. They are:

Economic & Political Stuff: TITANIC NATION: How To Avoid Icebergs: The Case For Fundamental Change In The American Way Of Life

Military Stuff & Memoir: GETTING TO KNOW THE WARFIGHTERS: The Fascinating True Story Of Victor O’Reilly’s Research Into The U.S. Army For His Book ‘The Devil’s Footprint.’

Personal Memoirs: MY COTTAGE IN IRELAND: A True Story Of Dropping Out To Write, To Find Love, And To Live A Very Different Way Of Life

My intention is to update my main blog, Victor O’Reilly – Letters From An Author, roughly five days a week, except when interrupted by traveling, particularly intensive writing and so on, and to update the other sites only when particularly relevant content comes in. With the next Presidential Election now only two years away, that may be quite often where Titanic Nation is concerned.

So far, Victor O’Reilly – Letters From An Author and Titanic Nation are up and running. The main delays have more to do with my lack of technical competence than anything else. The time has come to get some compatible technical help.

By the way, all the above books are finished – subject to any fresh ideas that may hit me – so any delays in launching them have to do with matters other than writing. However, I’m confident that once the publishing process starts, which will be the ebook phase, it will happen at some speed.

Next Book Department
I’m planning to write novel inspired by my own recent experiences which will seem at first to be a classic short novel, free of action and primarily concerned with the human condition, which will morph into a thriller; and which will end with a scene of absolute violence and a twist. It’s proving to be something of a challenge because I’m not relying on action to hold your interest but am more dependent on character and story; that said, I expect the action in the book to blow your socks off. After that, I intend to write the fifth Fitzduane in the series. Not sure about a sequel to TITANIC NATION. I would like to do one but am far from sure there will be the time before November 2012. But, I could be tempted.