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| Hearsay: |
A lot of people are responding to the Guardian’s awesome collection of novelists offering novel-writing advice, but Laura Miller at Salon has flipped that on its head and offered novel writing advice to novelists from readers.
A lot of the advice focuses on practice (work every day, keep a diary, stop while you’re still interested, etc.), and almost as much strives — gently or not — to inform aspirants that they shouldn’t expect much (or, really, any) money or fame from a literary career. It soon struck me, though, that the perspectives offered are limited. What makes Leonard’s advice so refreshing, after all, is that none of it fusses over the writer’s own process and delicate ego. His tips ruthlessly focus on the creation of better fiction.
Readers are what every novelist really wants, so isn’t it about time that a reader offered them some advice? I’ve never written a novel, and don’t expect to ever do so, but I’ve read thousands. More to the point, I’ve started 10 times the number of books that I’ve finished. Much of the time, I’m sampling brand-new novels that aren’t great — that frequently aren’t even very good — each one written by someone sincerely hoping to make his or her mark. I can tell you why I keep reading, and why I don’t, why I recommend one book to my fellow readers, but not another. I’ve also listened to a lot of other readers explain why they gave up on a book, as well as why they liked it.
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February 25th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
This once again reminds me why Laura Miller is my fave literary commentator.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Because she’s too dense to grasp that lighting and photography define film as a medium?
February 27th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Andrew, I think you’re mis-interpreting Laura Miller’s statement. Here’s the full quote from the “Salon” article (Recommendation Four from a list of five points):
4. Remember that nobody agrees on what a beautiful prose style is and most readers either can’t recognize “good writing” or don’t value it that much. Believe me, I wish this were otherwise, and I do urge all readers to polish their prose and avoid clichés. However, I’ve seen as many books ruined by too much emphasis on style as by too little. As (Elmore) Leonard himself notes at the end of his list, most of his advice can be summed up as, “if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” Or, as playwright David Hare put it in his list, “Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.” But whether you write lush or (please!) transparent prose, keep in mind that in most cases, style is largely a technical matter appreciated by specialists. You probably don’t go to movies to see the lighting and photography, and most readers don’t come to books in search of breathtaking sentences.
If Miller had stated that lighting and photography did not matter in film-making, then yes, that would be a stupid thing to say. If Miller had instead stated that nothing mattered in film but lighting and photography, she would be equally wrong. What she is saying (as you point out in your own blog entry), is that most movie-goers do not notice the affect of good lighting and photography, even if these elements change their overall impression of the film in question.
Similarly, composing a good sentence is an essential part of writing a novel or short fiction, but many readers are more interested in believable characters, distinctive dialogue, evocative descriptions and, most importantly, a strong plot. As a reader who has had to plod through more than a few beautifully-worded but otherwise story-starved novels, I would have to agree with Miller’s assertions.