A Little Exposition
For the past month I've been helping an author and giving him advice for no pay. He keeps saying "Let me think about it" when I mention sending him a contract to edit his novel. First he wanted me to edit his 150,000-word book, but now he's thinking I should edit his 70,000-word novel instead. I didn't mind it too much at first, but it's getting a little frustrating now, so I'm going to tell him that I really need him to make a decision. He e-mailed me today and said a tree just fell on his house and it's set him back somewhat financially. Sheesh. I don't think he's lying, though. Who would make that up?
He's a pretty incredible guy. His writing needs a TON of work, but he has original stories. His own story, however, is amazing. He comes from an Hispanic family; he dropped out of school in sixth grade. As an adult, he decided he wanted to be a novelist, but he could barely read or write. So he taught himself how to read and write by going through dictionaries and thesauruses. Also, he's gay. Being gay isn't amazing; I thought I'd mention it.
I wrote him yesterday and told him that he includes way too much exposition in his novels. He asked me what exposition is and also said people have told him that his syntax needs work. He didn't know what that meant either. So I looked both of them up to send him definitions. Just for fun (well, it's something fun in my oddball world) here they are:
exposition: the part of a play or work of fiction in which the background to the main conflict is introduced
syntax: the arrangement of words or phrases to created well-formed sentences in language
I'm desperately trying to find two books to help me with my own writing. One is called PLOTTING AND WRITING SUSPENSE FICTION (by, of course, Patricia Highsmith). The other is DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY. Yesterday I read 20 pages of it online and it's brilliant. I could order both books online, but I really don't want to wait.
Also, I really want to write a serious, dark suspense/thriller novel. I have an idea for it, somewhat based on a creepy story I saw on DATELINE last week. It involves a faked death and body snatching and a life insurance pay-out. I think I'm going to set it in West Covina or someplace cruddy on the outskirts of L.A.
Wait! No! Lancaster! It's perfect.
Yesterday I received a jury-duty summons in the mail. I've lived in L.A. for 12 years and have avoided jury duty thus far. It's time to pay the piper.
He's a pretty incredible guy. His writing needs a TON of work, but he has original stories. His own story, however, is amazing. He comes from an Hispanic family; he dropped out of school in sixth grade. As an adult, he decided he wanted to be a novelist, but he could barely read or write. So he taught himself how to read and write by going through dictionaries and thesauruses. Also, he's gay. Being gay isn't amazing; I thought I'd mention it.
I wrote him yesterday and told him that he includes way too much exposition in his novels. He asked me what exposition is and also said people have told him that his syntax needs work. He didn't know what that meant either. So I looked both of them up to send him definitions. Just for fun (well, it's something fun in my oddball world) here they are:
exposition: the part of a play or work of fiction in which the background to the main conflict is introduced
syntax: the arrangement of words or phrases to created well-formed sentences in language
I'm desperately trying to find two books to help me with my own writing. One is called PLOTTING AND WRITING SUSPENSE FICTION (by, of course, Patricia Highsmith). The other is DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY. Yesterday I read 20 pages of it online and it's brilliant. I could order both books online, but I really don't want to wait.
Also, I really want to write a serious, dark suspense/thriller novel. I have an idea for it, somewhat based on a creepy story I saw on DATELINE last week. It involves a faked death and body snatching and a life insurance pay-out. I think I'm going to set it in West Covina or someplace cruddy on the outskirts of L.A.
Wait! No! Lancaster! It's perfect.
Yesterday I received a jury-duty summons in the mail. I've lived in L.A. for 12 years and have avoided jury duty thus far. It's time to pay the piper.
posted by Chai on Life! at 12:09 PM
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