Not very many people know this, but I have actually written an unpublished novel and got it submitted to a publisher. The problem wasn’t literary but audience. I was writing a hardboiled detective story of sorts for the CBA. I crossed too many lines.
Speaking of hardboiled detective stories, probably my favorite book on writing is Writing the Novel from Plot to Print by Lawrence Block, the author of the Matt Scudder stories. (Warning: quite amoral detective who sort of gets new age. My favorites are Eight Million Ways to Die, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, and Ticket to the Boneyard, though this last is almost more horror than mystery.) He writes well and from a lot of experience. And he includes lots of places where he tells you that you’re eventually going to have to write that book.
Another book I really like is Gene Wolfe’s Castle of Days. It is both short stories and essays about the writing craft. Wolfe is a great writer and it takes everything in my not to heap superlatives on his work until I convince even those of you who love him that he can’t really be that good. So I will hold back, though perhaps a big book review entry would be appropriate some time.
Finally, I just ordered a book from a fiction author I have never read! Actually, the truth is worse. I’ve read his blog. That’s how I found out it was available. So I’ll let you know how it goes.
Here it is:
