I spent the day in London but managed to edit a short crime story AND the final section of the novel during train journeys and pit-stops. I went shopping for books (at Hatchards, the bliss!)and came back with a Fifty Anniversary edition of Tom's Midnight Garden which I'm going to read to Milly at bedtime, plus Sol Stein's Solutions for Novelists and Stephen King's On Writing, because these are books I've been meaning to read for a while.The book I'm most excited about is Patricia Highmith's Nothing that meets the eye, a collection of 'uncollected stories' with her signature, unsettling themes. 'Delicious poison' promises the review on the back. Yum. Plus, look at that lovely cover.
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4 comments:
Solutions for Novelists is quite good, but I got more mileage out of Solutions for Writers, which I read first. There's a little bit of overlap between the two but not too bad.
I didn't find King's On Writing that useful, but I'd already read several decent alternatives by the time I got to it. A lot of people speak highly of it though.
Good luck with them both.
Cheers,
Bob
Thanks, Bob. I bought the King book from nostalgia really. I read all his early stuff when I was 15 and when I opened "On Writing" at random he was saying "I never grew to like Carrie White" and that made me want to read the rest, find out how he felt about his heroes etc. My favourite was "The Dead Zone" but I stopped reading after "Cujo" which I found deadly dull.
I've never been a King reader. Not yet, anyway.
Since you mentioned it a few days ago, I dug out my copy of Solutions for Novelists and began reading it again. It's a real treasure trove, well worth another read. My writing feel a little stale right now and I'm sure reading this again will help. It might even inspire me to write something longer than I usually do.
Enjoy the read.
Cheers,
Bob
Thanks, Bob. I think we all go through dry spells, which is when these sorts of books come in handy. Happy reading (and writing).
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