Turning Angel by Greg Iles

Today I read Turning Angel by Greg Iles.

Turning Angel is the second book in the Penn Cage series.  It is set in Natchez, Mississippi.

The first book, The Quiet Game, was a delightful read so I was looking forward to the next book in the series.

Also, my work in progress Bon Secour is set in South Alabama.  I am a Southern boy and I imagine that all of my books will be set in the South.  I want to be an authentic Southern writer.  It is important for me to read contemporary Southern authors to absorb their style.

The story is a great read.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  I'm looking forward to reading Devil's Punchbowl, the third book in the series.

The greatest praise for a book is, "I can't wait to read the sequel."

The Racketeer by John Grisham

Today I finished reading The Racketeer by John Grisham.

I really enjoy Grisham's novels.  They are delightful, easy reads.

I thought this one is one of his best recent novels.  The plotting was superb.  I didn't see the twists coming.  And that makes for a great read.

Telling Grammar by Kat Duncan

Today I read Telling Grammar by Kat Duncan.

After I finished writing my short story, They Went to Biloxi, I began to think about whether to engage the services of an editor to look over my story.  My daughter writes romance fiction and she has used Kat Duncan for editing.  She sings high praises for Kat's editing skills.

I searched the internet for Kat Duncan and found her website.  I noticed that she had written Telling Grammar and that it was available as a Kindle book.

I bought the book to read thinking it would be a good way to learn more about Ms. Duncan's writing skills.  I found them to be first rate.  I've been exposed to everything grammar-wise that she covers.  But, like some of my other life lessons this exposure didn't stick very well.  I'm guilty of many grammatical errors.

One of my problems is that I don't think it's that important for me to use a Past Present Participle properly.  I think it's more important to tell a good story.  I think if I do most readers will forgive me.  Mainly because they don't know the rules either.  But I have doubts.  So, I'm thinking about using an editor.

The book covers the rules of grammar from a storyteller's view which is unique.  It tells you when something is incorrect but acceptable in a novel.  I like that sort of not so up-tight thinking.

The magic in the book for me was when it began to cover what I'll describe as the ART of wording.

When I learned to fly, the rhapsodic, emotional feeling of soaring with the birds that many pilots rave on about totally escaped me.  To me, flying was a mechanical skill to be learned and practiced.  I never felt like a bird.  I never wanted to be a bird.

I've read a quotation by Truman Capote to the effect that he wrote for the pleasure of hearing the words as he wrote.  That emotional connection with words escapes me.

Kat Duncan's Telling Grammar has a wonderful section on sentence structure with tremendous practical examples of sentence wording to achieve emotional results.  For the first time, I think I'm beginning to understand why you might spend effort on perfectly saying something.  As opposed to simply letting it flow from your unconscious onto the paper.  For example, is it better to say "on saying something perfectly"?  :)

Powerful stuff to consider.

I recommend the book.  It's a great source for grammar rules, but it is much more.

Story by Robert McKee

Today I finished reading Story: Substance Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

I have seen advertisements for Robert McKee's seminars on screenwriting in several writing magazines.  The seminars are usually held in locations which would involve considerable expense in time and money to attend.

When I realized he had written Story, I purchased a copy and then looked at it sitting on my bookshelf for a year or so.  I started reading Story about six months ago.  I started, stopped and started again many times.  It's not that it's a hard book to read.  It is just so full of stuff I think I need to know.  It's deep.  At times, too deep for me.  I think it's the type of book that becomes a reference used many times.

I love being organized.  I'd rather organize what I'm going to do than to do it.  I've studied structure as taught by several authors.  I thought this was going to be a book about screenwriting structure.  And, while the subject is covered, that's not what the book is about.

Simply put, the book is about telling a story.  What works and why.  What doesn't work and why.  While his perspective is from the movies point of view, isn't this what all novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters want to do, to tell a good story.

p237 "To tell a story is to make a promise:  If you give me your concentration, I'll give you surprise followed by the pleasure of discovering life, its pains and joys, at levels and in directions you have never imagined."

Yeah, that's what I want to do.  I think this book has taught me many things that will help me accomplish this goal.

I rate this book as five stars.

Schrivener for Dummies by Gwen Hernandez

I've been using yWriter to write my work-in-progress Bon Secour over the past two and one-half years.  I have been very pleased with how it helps me be better organized and how it simplifies the writing process as compared to my previous attempts to write using Word.

I decided earlier this month to write a short story that told Bob Lee's backstory regarding the deaths of his aunt and uncle who were also his foster parents.  The idea being that I'm getting nowhere fast with the novel and maybe actually finishing a story would help motivate me to plant my butt and write everyday.

I've also wondered if the writing software package, Schrivener, might be a better tool.

I've read the reviews on-line comparing yWriter and Schrivener and they were mixed.  Each reviewer had something they liked about each program and similarly something they didn't like about each.

yWriter is shareware and if you don't choose to contribute to the author, it's free.  Scrivener sells for $45.  There is nothing I like better than free, but at $45 Shrivener is a steal.  Scrivener offers a 30 day free trial.  I downloaded the trial and opened the software.  Boy did I feel like a dummy.  Nothing was intuitive.  I couldn't figure out how to do anything.  I confess that I have the same sort of problem with every Mac I've tried to use.  Scrivener for Windows is based on the original Scrivener for the Mac.  And being Mac impaired may be the core to my problems. Anyway, I ordered Scrivener for Dummies by Gwen Hernandez from Amazon and today I finished reading it.

It is a good book in the Dummies series of how-to books.  I also read the Scrivener user manual and followed the Help Menu's tutorial.  Between the three sources I think I've got the basics figured out.  Especially the part about how to use it to write a novel.  The part on how it can compile a novel in an e-book format will require study when that time comes.

Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Success by K. M. Weiland

Today I finished reading Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Success by K. M. Weiland.

I follow Ms. Weiland's blog Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors.  And I have found her writing advice to be very sound.  So when she published Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Success, I bought and read a copy.

I'm a planner so the idea of planning a novel via an outline is my natural course.  I'm a big fan of Larry Brooks' how-to-write books and his Story Fix blog.  I found Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Success gave me many practical ideas on how to implement an outline.  And while she may have plowed the ground before in her blog, this presentation is fresh.

Becoming an Authorpreneur : Navigating a 21st-Century Career in Publishing by Kris Tualla

Today I finished reading Becoming an Authorpreneur : Navigating a 21st-Century Career in Publishing by Kris Tualla.

It is a short how-to book on building your brand and self-publishing your e-book.  A very interesting read with tons of good advice.  One I plan to re-read.