"Puddles Weblog edited by Thomas Hollyday

Friday, January 28th

Fiction Writing - Ronald Tobias

From time to time as I proceed along my fiction writing career, I look back on an old friend, Ronald B. Tobias and his wonderful book on the elements of fiction writing, Theme and Strategy, How to Build a Strong Narrative Structure to Help Your Fiction Stand Tall, Run Fast, Hit Hard, and Soar to Success. Although I doubt that my work has ever achieved these lofty goals, I think that his approach is handy in preparing a work to be more accomplished. He likes to set up a story with attention to patterns and looks at the effects of these strategies on the audience, the structure, the plot, the action, the character, the theme, the place, the style and how to integrate all these things. I found myself planning my work more than ever before and finding that I had to rewrite less and less. Try his book for yourself.
dhh on 01.28.05 @ 05:37 PM EST [link]

Thursday, January 27th

Fiction Writing - The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin, 2001, has got to be one of the best illustrations of the fact that no race has a monopoly on kindness and humanity and, if anything, some races seem filled with more hatred than others. Picture the simplest kind of existence, that of living off the produce of a farm, and picture a little girl coming to this place with not other home to go to. The farmers, a group of black women, take in the girl, a small white child, and show her the home she has never had. It’s the kind of book that helps you to feel the Southern ethic in its best face and shows you how evil can be conquered in the simplest of ways. I listened to it and thoroughly enjoyed the characterizations and, if I must admit, a remembrance of to the folks of my childhood.
dhh on 01.27.05 @ 03:44 PM EST [link]

Wednesday, January 26th

Fiction writing - Ken Follet's Hornet Flight

I love a story that has technology. It’s even better if the characters are of a time period which is interesting and exciting. When I read Ken Follett’s Hornet Flight, I got all the story I wanted. First of all, this is about espionage during the early part of World War Two and the spies are learning their game, so to speak. I enjoyed the simplicity of the spy game and the clever ways that the espionage efforts were carried out. But even more than that, I enjoyed the portrayal of the Hornet itself. A Hornet, according to the author, was a small personal airplane that could be folded up and stored until it was to be used for fun flights. The adventure of the characters as they try to fly this airplane makes the story for me.
dhh on 01.26.05 @ 12:55 PM EST [link]

Tuesday, January 25th

Fiction writing - For the Love of Books

From time to time I like to read about other writers. Something about learning their traits helps me to overcome my own weaknesses. Especially fun is the discovery that some great writer likes the same things as I do, or writes in the morning like I do. Not too long ago I came across For the Love of Books, 15 Celebrated Writers On the Books They Love Most, compiled by Ronald B. Schwartz, Putnam, 1999. In this wonderful book I discovered that John Irving was most impressed by Charles Dickens and Gunter Grass, Robert B. Parker wrote that he first read about Philip Marlowe when he was fourteen, and Wouk discovered and was deeply affected by Don Quixote when he was serving on a minesweeper during World War Two. Complied from questionnaires the author has given us a tome to pick up when we want inspiration and one that will help us to understand the feelings writers have in common about our craft.
tom on 01.25.05 @ 10:36 AM EST [link]

Sunday, January 23rd

Review of Tidewater Triumph, The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner

Geoffrey M. Footner gives us a professional study of the fabled Baltimore clipper schooner and or brig, which he titles Tidewater Triumph, The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner, Mystic Seaport Museum, 1998. He makes the case that these ships, which became synonymous with Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay were more likely called pilot boats for their speed than they were clippers. Another mystery cleared up in this well researched compendium of pilot boat schooners built during the early 19th century is the reason for the rake of the masts. Most of us might look at a fast ship and determine from our modern perspective of streamlining that the masts were raked for speed and airflow. Not so. The writer points out that the forward of the two masts was set towards the bow to allow room for a large hatch and when this was done, in order that the engineering of the thrust of the sail power be adequate to propel the hull and maintain steerage, the leverage of the sails, or center of effort, had to be raked. The writer also points out that many of these ships were built in other ports along the Chesapeake lines and further, that quite a number of them were used in legal shipping where speed was important. If you’re interested in learning more about this Chesapeake contribution to nautical engineering, read this book.
tom on 01.23.05 @ 05:05 PM EST [link]