Suzanne chats with the "Fantastic Four"
I recently asked four wonderful writers, with more than 100 books to their collective credit, to answer a few questions for us, the readers and writers at RWQ. The "Fantastic Four," as I call them, write with unique voices and in very different genres.
So, here's what Jean Brashear, Shirley Jump, Curtiss Ann Matlock, and Candace Schuler had to say:
SUZANNE: We all know that being a writer is a lifelong learning process. Have you read any nonfiction books on the subject of writing that you found especially valuable and can share with the rest of us?
JEAN: I wish I could. Somehow I think my brain must not be wired right, because reading any sort of "how-to" book just freezes me up as a writer. It would be so lovely to be able to say "I want X cups of this and Y tablespoons of that, and the result will be this work of art Z," but unfortunately, even if I *think* I know what my book is about when I start, it's always an adventure discovering--mostly after I've finished and start revising--what it's *really* about!
SHIRLEY: My three favorites are Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham and On Writing by Stephen King. The first two are craft novels, the third is more inspirational--as in inspiring you to put your butt in the chair and get the book done. You can read loads and loads of books, but you will never learn to write if you don't actually sit down and do it. So, read the books, but apply them on a daily basis by putting your fingers on the keyboard and hammering out those pages.
CURTISS ANN: I return again and again to two old books: IF YOU WANT TO WRITE, by Brenda Ueland, to help with inspiration, and WRITING NOVELS THAT SELL, by Jack Bickham. Bickham was a prolific and successful author with a long-term career from the 60s through the 90s, with several of his books made into films. He also headed the professional writing program at the OU School of Journalism. I was one of his students. His book is short and concise. The bottom line is, though, the best teacher is the craft itself. Pick a novel you really like and go through it, seeing for yourself how the author did what he did. Then write your own stuff. A writer learns to write by writing. And continues to learn by writing, every day.
CANDACE: My all-time favorite writing book is Dwight Swain's "Techniques of the Selling Writer." I go back to it time and time again, and not only for fiction writing.
SUZANNE: Do you read in the genre in which you write? If so, who have you read recently that you can recommend to us? Tell us your genre, too.
JEAN: I'm published in series romance, and within that genre, I've written both romantic suspense and straight romance. I used to read a lot of romance, but I haven't read much lately, except for my keepers, among which I count all the Running with Quills authors--it doesn't get any better than this group of amazing talents! The most recent romances I've read and enjoyed are Julia London's Extreme Bachelor (what a fun series that is!), Karyn Witmer's A Simple Gift (get your hankies ready) and Rachel Gibson's Sex, Lies and Online Dating.
Some of the non-romance fiction I've read most recently that grabbed me includes Elizabeth Berg's We Are All Welcome Here, The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue, The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King, Anne Tyler's latest, Digging to America, and The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult.
SHIRLEY: I write romantic comedy and I do read in my genre, but only between books. Right now, I'm writing 8 books this year (I wrote 6 last year) so there's not a lot of between time to read, sadly. I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jenny Cruisie, as well as Holly Jacobs and Linda Francis Lee. While I'm working on a book, I'll read a totally different genre--suspense, horror, thrillers, even non-fiction.
CURTISS ANN: I read mainstream fiction and that's what I write. What I write can also be termed contemporary domestic fiction. I write about ordinary people living life, mainly from the woman's view and all that concerns women– the really important stuff such as men getting tired and running off, and interracial marriage, and should one wear panties with pantyhose.
I recently read GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson, loved it, a total narrative, plenty of tragedy but told with the feather touch of pragmatic humor. Or else it was my own view that saw the humor, which I do in everything. All of the Ladies Detective Agency Books by Alexander MacCall Smith, love them. I enjoyed LADIES OF COVINGTON SEND THEIR LOVE by Joan Medlicott a couple of weeks ago. Delightful. Last night I finished an old Agatha Christie, TOWARDS ZERO. Whenever one needs to relax and get away from problems, early Christies are good. She was a master with dialogue and keeping things short.
CANDACE: My reading goes in spurts. Well, not my reading—I read all the time—but what I read. I’ll gobble up hot, sexy contemporaries (my genre) for a couple of months, then switch gears and read exclusively mysteries for awhile, and so on. Right now, I seem to be in vampire mode. I just finished my fourth Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Novel, “Dead as a Doornail” and am eagerly looking forward to her next one.
SUZANNE: If you could give one piece of "learning" advice to writers, whether published or unpublished, what would it be?
JEAN: I heard a fabulous quote from Bob Dylan the other day that goes something like this: "An artist should always be in a state of becoming." I think it behooves us as writers to keep stretching and trying to grow, even though the process is hardly comfortable--actually pretty miserable at times! But that's how we keep things fresh and keep our minds alive.
SHIRLEY: Just write it. My writing list (www.yahoogroups.com/justwriteit) is named exactly that because I believe the best teacher is doing. I meet far too many new writers who want to write, who talk about writing, who read about writing--and never write a word. It's a little hard to finish a book that way ;-) You have to write from "Once upon a time..." all the way to "The End" to get a true handle on what you like to write, how you write, whether you like writing, and how a book goes together.
CURTISS ANN: Don't pay more attention to trends or advice than to your own innate voice and desire. Learn to listen to your gut and follow that. We writers are thinking people, always thinking. This is not the same as intuition, which comes from the soul. I've never gone wrong with I heard and followed my gut instinct. I do my best writing when I can shut off the thinking. And after all, I'm the one I must please first.
CANDACE: I think writers learn by reading, so my advice would be simply to read. Read voraciously. Read across genres. Read genres you don’t think you’ll like. Read bestsellers. Read midlist. Read non-fiction as well as fiction. Read newspapers and magazines. Read the back of the cereal box if that’s all that’s available. Just read. You’ll find the words will be absorbed into you (sort of like osmosis) and they’ll be there when you sit down to write.
SUZANNE: Thank you for sharing your insights Jean, Shirley, Curtiss Ann, and Candace. You can find out more about the "Fantastic Four" at their web sites listed below, along with their latest/upcoming releases.
www.jeanbrashear.com
LOVE IS LOVELIER, Hotel Marchand series, Harlequin, December 2006
www.shirleyjump.com
THE BACHELOR PREFERRED PASTRY, Zebra, Feb. 2006
RESCUED BY MR. RIGHT, Silhouette Romance, Oct. 2006
THE OTHER WIFE, Harlequin NeXt, Nov. 2006
"Twelve Days" in SUGAR AND SPICE, Zebra Books, Nov. 2006
www.curtissannmatlock.com
LOST HIGHWAYS, MIRA, October 2005
CHIN UP, HONEY, MIRA, coming June 2007
www.candaceschuler.com
Check her web site for the latest news and upcoming books.
So, on this lovely mid-week day in early June, tell us what your favorite books are on the subject of writing. What are you currently reading in fiction that you'd like to recommend to the rest of us?
So, here's what Jean Brashear, Shirley Jump, Curtiss Ann Matlock, and Candace Schuler had to say:
SUZANNE: We all know that being a writer is a lifelong learning process. Have you read any nonfiction books on the subject of writing that you found especially valuable and can share with the rest of us?
JEAN: I wish I could. Somehow I think my brain must not be wired right, because reading any sort of "how-to" book just freezes me up as a writer. It would be so lovely to be able to say "I want X cups of this and Y tablespoons of that, and the result will be this work of art Z," but unfortunately, even if I *think* I know what my book is about when I start, it's always an adventure discovering--mostly after I've finished and start revising--what it's *really* about!
SHIRLEY: My three favorites are Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham and On Writing by Stephen King. The first two are craft novels, the third is more inspirational--as in inspiring you to put your butt in the chair and get the book done. You can read loads and loads of books, but you will never learn to write if you don't actually sit down and do it. So, read the books, but apply them on a daily basis by putting your fingers on the keyboard and hammering out those pages.
CURTISS ANN: I return again and again to two old books: IF YOU WANT TO WRITE, by Brenda Ueland, to help with inspiration, and WRITING NOVELS THAT SELL, by Jack Bickham. Bickham was a prolific and successful author with a long-term career from the 60s through the 90s, with several of his books made into films. He also headed the professional writing program at the OU School of Journalism. I was one of his students. His book is short and concise. The bottom line is, though, the best teacher is the craft itself. Pick a novel you really like and go through it, seeing for yourself how the author did what he did. Then write your own stuff. A writer learns to write by writing. And continues to learn by writing, every day.
CANDACE: My all-time favorite writing book is Dwight Swain's "Techniques of the Selling Writer." I go back to it time and time again, and not only for fiction writing.
SUZANNE: Do you read in the genre in which you write? If so, who have you read recently that you can recommend to us? Tell us your genre, too.
JEAN: I'm published in series romance, and within that genre, I've written both romantic suspense and straight romance. I used to read a lot of romance, but I haven't read much lately, except for my keepers, among which I count all the Running with Quills authors--it doesn't get any better than this group of amazing talents! The most recent romances I've read and enjoyed are Julia London's Extreme Bachelor (what a fun series that is!), Karyn Witmer's A Simple Gift (get your hankies ready) and Rachel Gibson's Sex, Lies and Online Dating.
Some of the non-romance fiction I've read most recently that grabbed me includes Elizabeth Berg's We Are All Welcome Here, The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue, The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King, Anne Tyler's latest, Digging to America, and The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult.
SHIRLEY: I write romantic comedy and I do read in my genre, but only between books. Right now, I'm writing 8 books this year (I wrote 6 last year) so there's not a lot of between time to read, sadly. I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jenny Cruisie, as well as Holly Jacobs and Linda Francis Lee. While I'm working on a book, I'll read a totally different genre--suspense, horror, thrillers, even non-fiction.
CURTISS ANN: I read mainstream fiction and that's what I write. What I write can also be termed contemporary domestic fiction. I write about ordinary people living life, mainly from the woman's view and all that concerns women– the really important stuff such as men getting tired and running off, and interracial marriage, and should one wear panties with pantyhose.
I recently read GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson, loved it, a total narrative, plenty of tragedy but told with the feather touch of pragmatic humor. Or else it was my own view that saw the humor, which I do in everything. All of the Ladies Detective Agency Books by Alexander MacCall Smith, love them. I enjoyed LADIES OF COVINGTON SEND THEIR LOVE by Joan Medlicott a couple of weeks ago. Delightful. Last night I finished an old Agatha Christie, TOWARDS ZERO. Whenever one needs to relax and get away from problems, early Christies are good. She was a master with dialogue and keeping things short.
CANDACE: My reading goes in spurts. Well, not my reading—I read all the time—but what I read. I’ll gobble up hot, sexy contemporaries (my genre) for a couple of months, then switch gears and read exclusively mysteries for awhile, and so on. Right now, I seem to be in vampire mode. I just finished my fourth Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Novel, “Dead as a Doornail” and am eagerly looking forward to her next one.
SUZANNE: If you could give one piece of "learning" advice to writers, whether published or unpublished, what would it be?
JEAN: I heard a fabulous quote from Bob Dylan the other day that goes something like this: "An artist should always be in a state of becoming." I think it behooves us as writers to keep stretching and trying to grow, even though the process is hardly comfortable--actually pretty miserable at times! But that's how we keep things fresh and keep our minds alive.
SHIRLEY: Just write it. My writing list (www.yahoogroups.com/justwriteit) is named exactly that because I believe the best teacher is doing. I meet far too many new writers who want to write, who talk about writing, who read about writing--and never write a word. It's a little hard to finish a book that way ;-) You have to write from "Once upon a time..." all the way to "The End" to get a true handle on what you like to write, how you write, whether you like writing, and how a book goes together.
CURTISS ANN: Don't pay more attention to trends or advice than to your own innate voice and desire. Learn to listen to your gut and follow that. We writers are thinking people, always thinking. This is not the same as intuition, which comes from the soul. I've never gone wrong with I heard and followed my gut instinct. I do my best writing when I can shut off the thinking. And after all, I'm the one I must please first.
CANDACE: I think writers learn by reading, so my advice would be simply to read. Read voraciously. Read across genres. Read genres you don’t think you’ll like. Read bestsellers. Read midlist. Read non-fiction as well as fiction. Read newspapers and magazines. Read the back of the cereal box if that’s all that’s available. Just read. You’ll find the words will be absorbed into you (sort of like osmosis) and they’ll be there when you sit down to write.
SUZANNE: Thank you for sharing your insights Jean, Shirley, Curtiss Ann, and Candace. You can find out more about the "Fantastic Four" at their web sites listed below, along with their latest/upcoming releases.
www.jeanbrashear.com
LOVE IS LOVELIER, Hotel Marchand series, Harlequin, December 2006
www.shirleyjump.com
THE BACHELOR PREFERRED PASTRY, Zebra, Feb. 2006
RESCUED BY MR. RIGHT, Silhouette Romance, Oct. 2006
THE OTHER WIFE, Harlequin NeXt, Nov. 2006
"Twelve Days" in SUGAR AND SPICE, Zebra Books, Nov. 2006
www.curtissannmatlock.com
LOST HIGHWAYS, MIRA, October 2005
CHIN UP, HONEY, MIRA, coming June 2007
www.candaceschuler.com
Check her web site for the latest news and upcoming books.
So, on this lovely mid-week day in early June, tell us what your favorite books are on the subject of writing. What are you currently reading in fiction that you'd like to recommend to the rest of us?
posted at 8:02 PM
