Thursday, August 28, 2008 Cruz Review: Dirty-handed-fun! POST A COMMENT Meg Gardiner knocks-it-out-the-park with her American-debut (and here with her sixth novel), The Dirty Secrets Club. I wrote briefly about this author last week, now After finishing the book, I'll offer ya'll my short review below: Book Genre: Like getting ya' hands-dirty with suspense, crime, and danger, leading up to nail biting climax? -- Then The Dirty Secrets clubs right up your alley. Story Blurb: Police call in Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to sort out a crime; 'the clock is ticking 'cause they have 48 hours before somebody else dies. Page-turner meter, (or the can't-put-it-down factor): On a scale of 1-10, this gets a solid nine. I could almost see a Julia Roberts (or another A-lister) doing twirls in the film version. What I really liked: I'll focus on two things, but there's lots to like here: (1) The villains here could've been flat, but the author smartly went out of her way to make it less of a one noter, which looks at the good and bad inside humanity, as opposed to plain 'ol good guy versus bad guys. (2) Getting back to the suspense level, it's very well plotted. A touch of Alfred Hitchcock mixed with the girls of ABC's short lived legal drama series Women's Murder Club. What I least liked: If I really have to pull something from between my butt cheeks to Pu-pu the fun...'or something that set me off, I got two things (but, I'm nitpicking here): (1) We don't meet our protagonist Jo, until chapter three (around page 14th). Which made my brain work harder to sort out whose story it is, for a brighter person this might be okay...for a slow learner like me I don't like so many obstacles (2) I love those quirky character driven books, but this story's so very very plot by the numbers which never slows down long enough to give me a throw away moment that doesn't tie right into the plot. I know, I know, everything nowadays is story story story, or cut it out...but, I would like to see more small moments for the sake of character in the next book, and nothing to do with moving the plot. For example, for my money the best part of the USA's Monk is less about the crime, and more about the quirkiness of Monk. The Dirty Secrets Club Labels: Critics, Cruz book reviews, The Dirty Secrets Club, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 4:54 AM Sunday, August 17, 2008 Can anyone be a Best-selling Author? POST A COMMENT Having hit page 165 of Meg Gardiners "The Dirty Secrets Club" -- (that book Stephen King hailed as "The next suspense superstar") -- 'meant it was high time I took a few minutes to Google-her-ass; If only to investigate how a person gets to be this talented. I mean, do good writers just wake up with a silver-pen in their mouth, or what? I'll offer my full review here when I'm done reading it, but if you haven't heard about it, the book has been billed as a -- "thriller with a psychological bent." If y'all are feeling a bit crazy today, go join my very-own cyber-Oprahish-like-book-club, and pick up a copy, and we'll read along together...I'll hopefully be done reading it by next week -- (but I'm always curious what others think). On Gardiners personal blog she humbly answered such a reader-submitted question: "can writing be taught?" -- I'll post a few excerpts below, but I really think that reader was fishing for -- 'a few tricks of the trade... or "Hey, can a average slob like me actually become a best selling author?" Here's some of what she said: "The essentials of good writing can be learned. You can teach people how to edit, how to structure an argument, how to use evidence to prove a point." "You can train the eye and the ear to recognize cliche. You can push students to clarify sloppy thinking. You can show them how to write with strong, vivid nouns and verbs. In teaching nonfiction, you can explain how to build an argument so that it persuades the reader. You can show students how to illustrate an article or a legal brief with a single, telling detail." "Raw talent can be cultivated. And it should be." "You can open people’s eyes to the essentials of great writing. But you can’t give people a gift. You can’t teach genius." Gardiners big writing advice for newbies is to "Create sympathetic characters and put them in jeopardy. That's advice crimewriter Leonard Tourney gave me, and it's stuck. Also, grow a thick skin. Learn how to take criticism and grow from it." But, she's quick to add that you also need to have a good story to tell as well: "If my books aren't entertaining, I'm not doing my job," Gardiner adds. Because this is the world wide web -- (where every average Joe is now a critic) -- I of course felt compelled to leave my own stream of rambles in her comments section of her blog that went like this: Henry Cruz comment - "As someone with a share of fiction workshops sticking out of my side pocket; I can say that I learned more about writing when it was my turn to offer critique of other writers in my group. Maybe it was something about being “on” — or accessing dusty brain cells and allowing a part of me to “live that moment” — listen better? jump better? and dare I say, sound halfway smarter than my usual fumbling." "I just finished a scriptwriting workshop and the big advice from the teacher was to say “steal often” — (or borrow a lot), until something original clicks inside…so, what I’m saying — (or asking)…or both, being able to access my brain in various ways I find helps…or maybe I’m just dreaming it all….whaddya think?" -- Hmm, pure caffeine brilliance?...or another crazy-man's babble that you might amuse with a stiff smile. What I really meant to say I think was actually better said by one of the masters: "I think self knowledge is one of the beautiful and marvelous creative aids that we have -- know thy self," offers creator / writer of the Twilight Zone, Mr. Rod Serling. "Because you can look at yourself in the mirror and get a whole list of all the human attributes and human frailties that are extent. Whatever is wrong with you is conceivably wrong with most of your peers." "Whatever is decent and good and fine and caring that is a part of your nature is also the meritorious aspects of your peers..." Serling goes onto add that you should test out how things sound: "Just a piece of dialogue -- would I say it? -- and if I heard it would I believe it." I'd sum up the basic rules to becoming the next best-selling author like this: 1. You do need all those technical tools to be able to throw it down correctly on a page. The basic "nuts and bolts mechanics" of writing. Your basic -- "how to structure a story." How to go about -- "revising and editing," -- are all key. 'And some of that you can grasp by reading, and studying the works of other great writers. 2. But like Gardiner suggests -- doesn't it really start with creating believable, interesting characters that connect with readers; A really compelling voice on the page -- that doesn't give away all the goodies ('sorta to keep 'em guessing and turning the page). For my money, the best book out there on the craft is Stephen Kings' On Writing. Kings book is full of advice, some of it common sense, and like Gardiner he talks about the need for a... writer's toolbox: "Common tools on the top shelf (vocabulary and grammar), elements of grammar and style on the second level, along with an understanding of the paragraph as the basic element in fiction..." "If you want to be a writer," King says, "you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." King calls reading the creative center of a writer's life. He says you gotta -- "read in small sips as well as long drinks - in waiting rooms, in line at the theater, in the checkout line at the grocery store, on the treadmill at the gym and in the john." So, before we all collectively run out to the john, let's listen as Serling drops other pearls-of-wisdom: Source: Meg Gardiner's Blog Labels: Can Writing be Taught, Meg Gardiner, Rod Serling, screenwriting, screenwriting group, stephen king, The Dirty Secrets Club, Twilight Zone, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 1:14 PM     ARCHIVES October 2005 . November 2005 . December 2005 . August 2007 . September 2007 . October 2007 . November 2007 . December 2007 . March 2008 . April 2008 . May 2008 . June 2008 . July 2008 . August 2008 . September 2008 .