One of the quotes I have posted on my office white board is "Hard writing makes for easy reading." I'm not sure where I picked this up or who to attribute it to, but it helps to remind me that the more work I put in ironing out the kinks, the bigger a gift it is to my readers who can (hopefully) smoothly swallow it, hungry for more.
I am a big commercial reader who has struggled to branch out and find a lot of indie/small press stuff I love. I would like to be better at diversifying my reading in this way. I subscribed to Publisher's Weekly this year, and that magazine rarely features books or authors I'm well-acquainted with, so that has been a great tool for broadening my horizons. Recommend!
I also suggest picking a few indie presses and subscribing to their catalogues. I like almost everything out of Catapult, Tin House, and Unnamed Press, and Dorothy Press! So great. And of course a subscription to "One Story" magazine will expose you to so much.
I just finished The Idiot (was this a recco from you perhaps?) and found myself laughing out loud which is something I barely ever do when reading! The scene at the market with her host family when the mom wants to buy her a present and she ends up with a lopsided basket won’t leave me. So dry! So odd! So funny! Currently reading the memoir All of This and it is incredibly powerful + raw + I love it. My favorite commercial romp of late was the YA trilogy The Inheritance Games!
So glad you discovered Strout. I feel like she's such a rule-breaker (esp. if we're talking about fast-moving plots) and it makes reading her such a joy. I'm generally a backlist reader (in other words, I'm a parent), but I just picked up The Women Could Fly, Megan Giddings' latest. And I'm loving it for being like nothing I usually read. Here's to novelty and weekends. Thanks, as always, for the great literary discussions and tips, Courtney.
Ha! I laughed so hard at your rewriting your beginning. So very familiar! Even after I'm sure I've got it ( two years later) I can't be sure it won't change three times more. The longer you set it aside, the more likely you'll change it, it seems.
As for reading, I read your suggestion of I'm Thinking of Ending Things for an unreliable narrator and phew! I could only read it in the daytime it was so packed with unspoken tension. Right now I'm reading The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz because a friend couldn't put it down.
I'm not sure I could handle the movie...hmm, but now that I know what happens, MAYBE. I read it because I have a mildly unreliable narrator in my novel. But that one takes it to a new level!
Also, I did not see IAHSMFHWY was a breezy page-turner. I really loved it, but it was clear that it was not easy to write. Super smart and nuanced. For what it's worth :).
French and slim and plotless! Yes! Please call it The Frosty Aristocrat and dedicate it to your former gynecologist who now also lives in my head rent free.
One of the quotes I have posted on my office white board is "Hard writing makes for easy reading." I'm not sure where I picked this up or who to attribute it to, but it helps to remind me that the more work I put in ironing out the kinks, the bigger a gift it is to my readers who can (hopefully) smoothly swallow it, hungry for more.
I am a big commercial reader who has struggled to branch out and find a lot of indie/small press stuff I love. I would like to be better at diversifying my reading in this way. I subscribed to Publisher's Weekly this year, and that magazine rarely features books or authors I'm well-acquainted with, so that has been a great tool for broadening my horizons. Recommend!
I also suggest picking a few indie presses and subscribing to their catalogues. I like almost everything out of Catapult, Tin House, and Unnamed Press, and Dorothy Press! So great. And of course a subscription to "One Story" magazine will expose you to so much.
I just finished The Idiot (was this a recco from you perhaps?) and found myself laughing out loud which is something I barely ever do when reading! The scene at the market with her host family when the mom wants to buy her a present and she ends up with a lopsided basket won’t leave me. So dry! So odd! So funny! Currently reading the memoir All of This and it is incredibly powerful + raw + I love it. My favorite commercial romp of late was the YA trilogy The Inheritance Games!
Oh, I LOVED the Idiot! And she has a new book out.
So glad you discovered Strout. I feel like she's such a rule-breaker (esp. if we're talking about fast-moving plots) and it makes reading her such a joy. I'm generally a backlist reader (in other words, I'm a parent), but I just picked up The Women Could Fly, Megan Giddings' latest. And I'm loving it for being like nothing I usually read. Here's to novelty and weekends. Thanks, as always, for the great literary discussions and tips, Courtney.
Ha! I laughed so hard at your rewriting your beginning. So very familiar! Even after I'm sure I've got it ( two years later) I can't be sure it won't change three times more. The longer you set it aside, the more likely you'll change it, it seems.
As for reading, I read your suggestion of I'm Thinking of Ending Things for an unreliable narrator and phew! I could only read it in the daytime it was so packed with unspoken tension. Right now I'm reading The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz because a friend couldn't put it down.
You read it, that's amazing! No one EVER reads that book and I keep trying to get people too. You have to watch the movie adaptation-- it is WILD.
I'm not sure I could handle the movie...hmm, but now that I know what happens, MAYBE. I read it because I have a mildly unreliable narrator in my novel. But that one takes it to a new level!
Also, I did not see IAHSMFHWY was a breezy page-turner. I really loved it, but it was clear that it was not easy to write. Super smart and nuanced. For what it's worth :).
Thank you! I so appreciate that. I have a soft spot for that book!
I love that you said this about commercial fiction. I've never looked at it as easy!
I also just got into Elizabeth Strout (I did read Olive Kittredge way back when but she's put out so much since then), with Oh William! I love it.
Tana French is brilliant. The Searcher was incredible.
I'm struggling through Matthew Perry's memoir right now. Eh.
French and slim and plotless! Yes! Please call it The Frosty Aristocrat and dedicate it to your former gynecologist who now also lives in my head rent free.