I just finished reading "A Walk Among the Tombstones" by Lawrence Block. It's one of his Matthew Scudder books and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd tried Block once before but the book I chose went a whole chapter discussing some rare stamp which bored me to tears and I never picked up another of his books until now. But the book isn't what I'd like to talk about in this post. My mind tends to track sideways and Block brought back some memories that I thought I'd share.
Back in the eighties when I decided to try my hand at writing, I picked up a copy of Writer's Digest. That was my first introduction to Block. He wrote the fiction column and dispensed the most amazing advice to beginners like me "who wanted to give writing a whirl and make a million bucks". God, how stupid was I?
The Writer's Digest was an amazing learning tool for me and besides Block, there was Judson Jerome, Gary Provost, and J. Michael Straczynski. Every time the magazine showed up in my mailbox, these were the first four articles that I read before combing through the rest.
Jerome wrote the poetry column that wasn't just about poetry. He taught me how to think poetry to write fiction combining the beauty of both.
Provost had the non-fiction column and the best piece of advice I remember him giving was to write "evergreens", pieces that could be used anytime during the year. He said that editors hold on to evergreens. He was right. I had a magazine hold one of mine for ten years before I got a letter and a check for $50 saying they wanted to use the piece.
The thing I remember most from Block was that not everyone can write a novel when they first start writing. Start small, he said, work your way up on small successes. He said so many writers thought only novels were worth writing and didn't bother to learn the craft well enough and ended up disappointed with a rejected manuscript in their desk drawer.
Straczynski wrote the screen writing column. At the time he was also scripting "Murder, She Wrote" and working on "Babylon 5". From him I learned about plotting and dialogue and how to keep a story moving forward.
Wonderful, wonderful teachers, who weren't afraid to share their knowledge and teach others the craft of writing. My thanks to all of them.
And a quote from Gary Provost:
"It is the writer's job, not the reader's, to see that writing accomplishes whatever goal the writer has set for it."
4 comments:
Thank you for this timely post, at least from my perspective.
In the late 1990s I began a short story that grew to novel length as new elements were added, and just when I needed guidance, Writer's Digest was recommended to me. My tinkering began to format the story properly with character arcs, timing and plot advancement.
Writer's Digest is a great tool, especially for beginning writers. I learned so much over the years from how to format a submission to how to conduct myself when dealing with editors. They have a great mix of business tips mixed with the writing lessons. The Writer is another great resource and is geared more towards publihed writers. Rather like stepping up from grade school to high school.
Sandra,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how columnists featured in Writer's Digest helped your writing. I’ve already posted an excerpt of your blog article to JMS News, a discussion forum devoted to the works of J. Michael Straczynski. My summary of your posting is http://jmsnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3636. With your permission, I would like to post your entire blog article so your comments retain their context.
Welcome, Dan! And yes you have my permission. Thank you for stopping by.
Post a Comment