Inspiration
Alas, it’s been ever so long since I’ve posted on my blog. I’ve been prioritizing the novel work and what I do most when I’m in drafting mode and need inspiration is read books by authors who I think do something that I’m working on particularly well. So here are a couple ofbooks I’ve read recently with authors who’ve demonstrated a particular piece (or pieces) of the craft extremely well.
If you haven’t read The Martian yet, run out and get it fast, before the movie comes out. Weir has mastered, mastered, the isolated protagonist (I’m not sure if this is really a thing, but now it is) with skill that I’ve only otherwise seen in Stephen King’s Misery and that’s about as high praise as it gets. What I mean by this is that Weir has taken his main character, Mark Watney, totally isolated him in a stark environment (Mars) and found a way to keep the reader completely engaged in what’s happening to him. Similarly, King took his protagonist, Paul Sheldon, and locked him in a room with nothing to occupy his mind but his jailer, Annie Wilkes. Mars is Watney’s jailer and just as cruel in its efforts to maim, hobble and kill Watney as Wilkes was the Sheldon. Being able to keep the reader so highly engaged with so few “props” takes tremendous skill. Weir is also incredibly skilled at character development– Watney isinstantly likable, using humor to deal with his circumstances. He’s also clever and resilient without being preachy or inaccessible. I’d add that this novel is really hard sci fi and might not be everyone’s taste, but sci fi lovers will find that Weir did a masterful job of making Watney’s plight credible. Also, for those of you going to self pub route, Weir’s path to success if really inspirational!! Now we can only hope that The Martian is as awesome an adaption to the big screen as Misery was!
2. Undertow by Michael Buckley
It’s absolutely vital when writing YA that you get the way young adults speak right and it’s not as easy as it seems because teenagers don’t speak to adults they way the speak to each other. Along with eavesdropping and watching a lot of the CW Network (which ranges fromguilty pleasure to torture), I read a lot of YA. Frankly, even great YA books don’t often successfully capture current speech trends (plus, they change so fast!) John Green is a master at this, but Buckley just knocked it out of the park with Undertow. Also, this novel is just so out there and campy and awesome, that I couldn’t help but love it. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but let’s just say that more comes out of the water near Coney Island than trash….Also, Buckley’s tumbler site kicks ass!
Other books I’m just dipping my nose into are “Red Rising” by Pierce Brown, “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein (my marine friend said not to let the movie fool me – although I kind of love that movie) and “Blood Song” by Anthony Ryan (epic fantasy). Also, I got the NICEST note recently from another writer on twitter about how my book, Bronx DA helped him in writing his detective novel, set in the Bronx. Nothing like inspiring and helping another writer the way so many inspire me!
So, what inspires your writing?
