Reacher

We actually put our gas fire on for an hour the other night and the heating the following evening as the house felt so cold. It still does. I'm wearing four layers in July! What is the world coming to?
It is possible I feel it more today because I had a tooth removed yesterday. The actual in-the-chair procedure which finished around four o' clock wasn't so bad, but the evening was pretty dreary. In the end I took a couple of pain killers and went to bed.
I read half of a Jack Reacher novel last night and will finish it today as I'm taking life easy. This one is called Never Go Back and I picked it up from Ponteland library because I arrived at the dentists with 20 minutes to spare and walking there took my mind off the looming appointment. I don't know why I like Reacher novels, but I do. I first read one as an exercise to see how successful thriller writers do it, and got hooked on the story. Every time I read one - 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, The Affair, I gallop through to the end and then think how little attention I paid to the writing style.

But having read a few now, I can recognise a few  of his quirks. Detail is one of them, be it a description of a seedy motel or how to break someone's arm in an aeroplane toilet. The violence gets a lot of detail! If it is too gruesome, I can flick over it, but usually I don't because the victims are all baddies and somehow that makes it acceptable. Short sentences are another stylistic habit. There are a lot of short-sentence dialogues and short chapters. Cliff-hangers of varying intensity come at the end of each chapter, American life figures too, at varying levels but often the less well-off.

Cormoran Strike meets with an Accident

Helen kindly left me her copy of  J K Rowling's  book - the one published under a pseudonym. I haven't read it yet, but I keep looking at it. Unfortunately it has already met with an accident - Tim jumped on the bed, nudged it off the bookshelf and was having a whale of a time when I caught up with him. Fortunately, though it looks bad, only the corners of the first two pages have been nibbled. The introductory pages have been given a lacy edging, but the story is intact.

The perceived wisdom for authors seeking publication is to write to a certain style, broadly outlined in my last post. With memories of JKR's writing in the Harry Potter series,  I looked at the first page and thought to myself She hasn't changed her style. I've read that page twice more before I go on. After all, the first page is the one that entices you to read the story, isn't it? It's the most important page, the one we are told we should spend the most time on, honing and sharpening. The first sentence should be a hook.

JK's first sentence is "The buzz in the street was like the humming of flies."

Not bad, although it contains a passive verb and a gerund - an -ing ending. But not brilliant either. Out of interest I got out three coloured marker pens and marked up 5 -ly endings, 12 gerunds and 12 adjectives. All on the first page. H'mmm.

Enough to make aspiring authors groan into their cups of coffee. Perhaps the English publishing market is different to the American market. Perhaps the English prefer a longer, more leisurely read and don't mind adjectives if they work well. Perhaps I should ignore it when critiquers highlight all my gerunds and -ly endings and go with my own instinct of what works for the story. I do ignore them, some of the time, but I always consider the word, the place and the tone of the piece before I do. Find highlights every gerund in the chapter and if you are so minded, you can then consider each one individually. Sometimes it is good to get an overview like this. Active is all very well in its place, usually when something exciting is happening on the page. But there are times when  introspective is good and less active writing  gives the reader a rest. I still remember how irritated I got with the Da Vinci Code with its relentless demand that I turned the page.  Somehow, I don't think JK's writing will make such a demand. It occurs to me that the name of the hero  - on the back cover - is the giveaway to the author's identity. Cormoran Strike is a name that harks straight back to the Potter stories.

First day out and editing

Today was the pup's first day out  on a lead. It is 9.15 and already he has had two twenty-minute walks around the field. On the first he was very hesitant, tail down, bouncing around trying to see in all directions at once in case something came up and bit him. Trees were going to pounce on him, and the wind was zipping over the hill. Tim doesn't like wind, even in our garden. The second trip was much more adventurous. Tail  out level, head up, going forward on the lead and already he knows where home is.

I think possibly writing is much like these first trips. The first draft is always hesitant and jerky, good in parts but poorly put together. The second draft is where the jerky patches get smoothed out and the holes filled in. Then the third and fourth draft improve the basic story and the writing should become smoother and more "in voice."

I have observed that American writers (and likely their readers)  prefer short, punchy sentences and fast moving stories. I think agents and publishers in this country prefer a something smoother, more literary in style - perhaps that's what they mean when they make comments like the writing is good  but it didn't make my heart sing, it didn't blow me away....it could be that the story itself just isn't strong enough, too. There are so many imponderables to consider in writing. I may learn more at the Writing Conference in Newcastle tomorrow. People like Nicola Morgan will be there to tell us how it should be done! I for one will be all ears.