My novel & The Octopus by Frank Norris > Likes and Comments

Good morning everyone! I am an Italian author, and last year I published a Western novel with the publisher BookRoad. Today, however, I’m not here to talk just about my book, but to recommend a read that was part of my foundational research and that truly stayed with me.

I read Frank Norris’s masterpiece, The Octopus, and I highly recommend it. As a non-native English speaker, I found it very challenging at first because Norris uses the authentic language of the early pioneers to completely immerse the reader in the frontier world.

The novel deals with the oppression of small landowners by the big railroad monopolies at the end of the 19th century. It is an intense, deeply nostalgic book that paints a historical and unusual picture of the American West.

Has anyone here read it? What did you think?

Hi Laura! Welcome! I'm an author of western novels too. I haven't read the Octopus yet, but I've purchased a copy on kindle a while back and its on my TBR list. What struck my interest about Norris is that he had a quote about writing: “I never truckled. I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. I told them the truth. They liked it or they didn't like it. What had that to do with me? I told them the truth.”

I admire that. I feel the same way. I write about the truth, telling it the way it was in the old west with gritty realism, and I also use all the in-era authentic antiquated western slang, jargon, and uncouth grammar in the dialogue of the characters to give an authentic feel. I'll let you know what I think about the Octopus once I give it a read. :)

2-Bru wrote: "Hi Laura! Welcome! I'm an author of western novels too. I haven't read the Octopus yet, but I've purchased a copy on kindle a while back and its on my TBR list. What struck my interest about Norris..."

Hi, and thank you for the response! I completely agree that truth should be respected above all, even in a work of fiction. I always make deep historical research before I start writing, even though my stories are fictional.

To me, research is the most fascinating part of the process, along with developing minor characters. I find that aspect equally interesting because minor characters can become the keepers of real historical facts and anecdotes.

So very true! It's all part of world building - my first western novel was nearly 800 pages - I had to do some major edits bcuz it was just too long - and came out with a 3rd edition at around 350 pages. Of course, several ancillary characters had to fall to the editing room floor and interesting tidbits of historical anecdotes had to be scrapped in order to do that - but I'm proud that I was still able to keep the history packed in there, and the folks who've read my new edition have told me that it's very immersive and descriptive, which is what I'm most proud of. :)

Yeah, I suppose that the sadness of having to cut out certain characters is just part of the writing process. An 800 page text is truly substantial and really allows you to dig deep into the world of the frontier. How long did it take you to write and edit it?

It took me a Year and a Half to write the first 800 pg book - then after a couple of years of people saying it was too long I decided to take the editing scalpel to it. It took me 3 months to surgically cut it down to size and I just re-published it a couple months ago. :)

Wow, that must have been a massive amount of work! It took me at least three years to complete my novel, and it’s only about 250 pages. But I have to say, I went through several rounds of editing as well