Bad school reports maketh the writer

From the age of 14, Roald Dahl's annual school reports indicated that he couldn't even construct a grammatically correct sentence, let alone write a decent essay.

In 1942, having been invalided out of the RAF in 1942 at the aged of 26, the writer C.S. Forester sought Dahl out to write about his heroic and daring combat flying exploits. His first story, titled A Piece of Cake was published in the Saturday Evening Post, and many others followed in national magazines.

When Dahl had run out of true stories, he started making them up. He enjoyed writing his children's stories the best, and the popularity of these are probably down to his never patronising his audience; acknowledging children's ability to understand dark humour involving rudeness, naughtiness, nastiness, and a fascination for the scatological. He also dared to show just how beastly adults can be to children.

When my children were at preparatory school, they were given a reading list for the Summer holiday, which to their disgust banned all Roald Dahl books. ...Why? Not because the stories were shocking or lacking in literary merit, but because his were the only ones the pupils read, given a choice.

That says it all, and certainly something to aspire to, which is excellent news for me, as I got bad school reports, too!              

Stephen King on not wasting money on bullshit

Of his book titled On Writing, Stephen King says "This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit". He goes on to explain that most fiction writers, including himself, have no idea what makes their work good or bad. He recommends just one book as worthwhile - The Elements of Style  by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White.

Reviews for this timeless and entertaining 97-page guide to English usage, include such as "No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume" -The Boston Globe, and  "...should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all" - Greensboro (N.C) Daily News.

Amongst a plethora of handy tips imparted within the book's covers, I mention just two. Regarding figures of speech it says "When you use metaphor, do not mix it up. That is, don't start by calling something a swordfish and end up calling it an hourglass", and in avoiding fancy words, "Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able".

Both The Elements of Style and On Writing are books to buy and inwardly digest. ...And a tip from me, never lend them out, as you'll probably never see them again and resent the borrower/inadvertent thief forever!   

     

The demise of the mid-list

Publishers and agents view hybrid novels (ones that cross-genre) as too high a marketing risk if submitted to them by a new author. They prefer to stick to safe formulas that sit comfortably on labelled shelves in book shops and only break the rules with their established authors, often begrudgingly.

One of my favourite authors, Dean Koontz, refuses to churn out the same old thing time and time again. Some of his most successful novels have been of the hybrid variety, which his editor wanted shelved. He fought him, and thank goodness for that; to have had all those words buried forever, would have deprived millions of readers of an enriching experience.

This begs the question, how many "word" funerals take place a week involving unknown literature lost forever in paupers' graves?