What Was Your First Clue, Sherlock?

Been reading some Sherlock Holmes...Seems a bit silly, I know, but if you want a crash course on how to craft a short story, in the mystery or crime genre, you could do a lot worse than a bit of reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of the many Public Domain books available online, for free or almost free. I enjoy reading classic short stories on my iPod Touch, because I can turn it on at 2am, read for a while, then go back to sleep--all without turning on any lights. (Important if you live on a boat.)
I enjoy browsing the many varieties of Best Short Stories collections, too, because there are seemingly endless ways to package and serve up what amounts to a couple of hundred great stories, over and over again. For example: "Best American Short Stories" (pick a year), or the "Best American Short Stories of the Century." I'd take the best stories culled from one hundred years, over those picked from one lousy year, any day. Unless I had the option of "The Ultimate Collection of American Short Stories" at hand, naturally.
Then there's "Best Short Stories of the Modern Age"--when did that start? The Modern Age. Pretty cool to be reading those on your iPhone.
But the best short stories are the collections you find by accident in old-fashioned bookstores full of both new and old books (not necessarily used but old). Or wandering past the shelves in your neighborhood library. I envy anyone who has not yet read the short stories of Willa Cather, or Edith Wharton, or Henry James, or O'Henry, or Hemingway...What are you waiting for? Pick one out, pull up a chair and dive in.
Short stories are NOT a dying art--places to publish them are dying, but the short story lives on--online in places like AmericanLiterature, and in collections old and new.
Happy reading--hasta pronto!

Must-have Books for Aspiring Writers

People always ask me questions about how to become better writers, and the answer is simple: Write.
I also believe that writers should read as much as they write. I suspect any writer who can't say who their influences are--they either have not read much, or widely, or they love one writer or school of writing and are just copying their style.
Another good rule is: Good in, good out. Read good stuff...Life is too short to spend much time reading junk.
That all having been said, there are a couple of books all writers should read/use. Hopefully you can find these at your favorite bookstore but I've included Amazon links, if not.

These are some of my favorites:
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (I once wrote a whole novel (which is becoming a screenplay), using her 3 pages a day process, and I highly recommend it.

My friend (and inspiration) Judy Reeves' A Writers Book of Days which as its subtitle implies, is a friend indeed...

The Little Red Writing Book by my old friend Lonnie Berstein Hewitt will kick start you on those days when you can't face the blank screen/page.

On Writing by Steven King. I love his style and his writing.

The Elements of Style. You can't go wrong reading this and using the rules of Strunk and White.

And the book that started it all for me, in terms of reading about writing, Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones

I also love Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, but I think I've mentioned those before...

A newcomer to this distinguished group of books on writing is The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly by Charles Harrington Elster, who is not just a genius and a good writer, but also quite witty. I haven't read it yet, but I plan to soon, and I'll report back on it.

Tonight is the much-anticipated launch party/reading/event for John O'Melveny Woods swashbuckling pirate yarn, Return to Treasure Island at the wonderful local indie store Book Works in Del Mar. I'm going to get to act out some scenes--with another actor as Long John Silver--so it should be great fun!

Happy reading...and writing...
Hasta pronto!

What Is It About Dog Stories, Anyway?

My mother claims that I learned to read at age 3, so I could read a dog book--probably "Go Dog Go!" which was long a favorite of mine. I may have simply memorized, rather than read the book, but I certainly wanted to. The lure of reading was strong already, as I had two parents and two siblings who could read by then.
But dog stories--that was the real prize...I desperately wanted to be able to read those books whose pictures told me they revolved around my favorite life-forms: dogs. Not many years later, I was given a book called "Brave Tales of Real Dogs" (published in the 1940s, it was already an "old book" by the mid-1960s) and I read and re-read it so often I nearly did memorize that book.
Recently, I was sent a copy of Huck: The Remarkable True Story of How One Lost Puppy Taught (blah-blah-blah, I hate subtitles that take up a whole sentence). Anyway, it's a cute idea, but the book itself was no more than a plumped-up feature article posing as a book, and of course, bound like one. The cover photo will get you--it's a really cute puppy, after all--and the book begins well, and has a heartfelt message, but as a dog book, it was disappointing.
Marley and Me was a good example of what one looks for in a dog story (yes, it was a terrible movie, but let's move on, shall we?). It had warmth, humor, then the inevitable tears, but you were left somehow feeling better about the world. (Huck did leave you with a good feeling but it was short-lived, like the book.)
For writers, the dog story poses a unique challenge, because we have to get inside the head of a non-human creature. Whether we narrate the story from the dog's point of view (I tried this in my short story "Dodger Dog") or try to relate the tale from the master's POV and imply what the dog is thinking and feeling, as in "Marley," we still don't have the familiar props and tricks at our disposal. Sex scenes with our main character are pretty much out--as are drugs, booze, and cigarette smoking (or attempting to quit any of these). We have to show character through action--always a good idea for writers, but one we avoid like the plague, usually choosing to fall back on dialogue and inner monologue.
A few great dog stories I remember from my youth are: Beautiful Joe, which I see is back in print and even re-released (could be a movie in the works), the classics Old Yeller and Sounder and Where the Red Fern Grows (three dog stories that are really about people), The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams, Lad: A Dog, and of course, Lassie Come Home.
For those who love audio stories, check out my friend CM Mayo's fine audio story "written" by the irresistable pug Picadou: The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico City, available here from cdbaby.com
Most of the dog stories mentioned, and many many more, are available in your library or bookstore...Bring one home to share with someone younger than you, or simply for your own "guilty pleasure". Happy reading--hasta pronto!

Summer Reading Book Review: "Tinkers"

I'm not sure what it is that Pulitzer Prize judges look for in selecting winners, but it doesn't often coincide with popular taste--in fiction, at least. This year's choice, "Tinkers" a gorgeously written short novel by Paul Harding, won't change that.
As for me, I usually love one winner every other year...I thoroughly enjoyed 2008's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books), couldn't get into 2007's winner, The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf), but I adored 2006's choice March by Geraldine Brooks (Viking). The books honored since 1948 are listed here, for those who care.
There's nothing wrong with Tinkers on a technical level--though some teachers might say none of the characters changed or grew noticeably; the writing is superb, but it never moved me, nor did I feel as though I ever got to know any of the characters.
I'm only a couple of chapters into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I already know I'll like it tremendously. I am beginning to get to know a couple of characters already, and the story is intriguingly convoluted. Some would say that the two books are so different that one should not compare them, but dang it, why else have a blog, if not to state one's opinion?
Most works of "literary fiction" read like assignments from an MFA writing program, and that bothers me--it especially bothers me when those books get all the awards and honors (because those sell books) but I needn't worry about the late Stieg Larsson's trilogy, as the three books are all solid bestsellers.
I do love that "Tinkers" was published by a small independent press, and that he's a debut novelist (he also has an MFA Iowa writers workshop!). Clearly, many people have loved the book, and I am certainly glad to have read it.
A note to those who wonder why I link to Amazon to buy books--if I'm so hot for independent bookstores and libraries, why promote Amazon?
Well, it's simple: I fervently hope you will buy these books from your favorite indie bookstore, or any bookstore, for that matter, but more important is that you actually buy books--from whomever!
Support booksellers and publishers alike, if you can, but without publishers the book business as we know it is dead and gone. Amazon is widely considered the enemy is much that is written about the modern book biz, but they at least pay their bills, and often on time--which is more than I can say for the chain bookstores (due to their intricate, no labyrinthine, billing and returns "process) and many of the indie shops (due to slow-to-stagnant cash flow).
Hasta pronto!

Short Summer Reading List and Some Recommendations

It takes a while for summer to feel like summer in Southern California...And this year the "June Gloom" has lasted well into July, shocking many of the tourists shivering on our beaches. But summer reading lists are always hot, so here goes:
My Short-List of Summer Reading:
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
I'm only a couple of chapters into "Tinkers", but the book is beautifully written from page one (guess that's why it won the Pulitzer Prize, huh?). The other two I'm looking forward to on the strength of "popular" acclaim.
Odd to have 3 books on my reading list and not one woman author, but this summer started for me with "The Lacuna" which I'm still touting (along with C.M. Mayo's wonderful "Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.") And of course you know I've been re-reading some Austen this summer, one of my favorite authors.
As usual I'm reading some other classics as well, and I just finished The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens, which I had never read. It was not his best story, by far, but it's full of strange, wounded, quirky characters who combine to make the whole book memorable. Some of his best "bad guys" are in his "worst" books.
There are some good new books out for young adults, too, and my friend John O'Melveny Woods' "Return to Treasure Island" is one of them. Obviously, it's a sequel to Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and a great deal of fun. The Foreword was written by LeVar Burton, who approached the book with caution, as did I, but was won over completely (well, duh, he wrote the Foreword, right?). Perfect for parents and kids to read together, this swashbuckling adventure story could lead to teenage boys actually wanting to read for fun...The author offers a free download of the original "Treasure Island" and a short prequel called the "Spanish Galleon" on his website, along with videos and puzzles, so there's family fun in the offing!
Another fine book out this summer for a mature Young Adult audience is Gary Winters' The Deer Dancer . I talked about this title before...But there are so few literary books written for this key audience, and even fewer are written about a Latino or Indian protagonist. The book recently won Best Book of the Year in a national contest and the honor is well-deserved.
I'm reading some good manuscripts this summer, too, and I'll expound on them at a later date...It's probably best for me to know when books will actually be coming out before going on and on about them.
hasta pronto!