Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

"When he was my age, Gregor’s favorite subject at the Gymnasium was geography. Isn’t that funny? He used to read Sven Hedin’s accounts of his voyages to the far corners of the earth. The cannibals in the South Pacific who during feasts spat out their enemies’ teeth onto the sand around them like cherry pits. The stringy parasites in Asia that twist across the whites of your eyes on their swim toward your thoughts."

That's an unsettling, gorgeous passage from Lance Olsen's novel, Anxious Pleasures. After writing eight books, Olsen decided to tackle one of literature's most famous stories--writing an entire book about Gregor Samsa's family and neighbors (Samsa, as you may or may not recall, is the Kafka character who mysteriously wakes up as a giant bug in the novella, "The Metamorphosis").

It's a crazy literary feat that few writers could pull off, but you can read these  excerpts in sleeping fish to see how he did it.  Luckily, Olsen literally wrote the book on creative writing in his textbook, Rebel Yell. Today he shares his three favorite bits of writing advice in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions.

In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

Jason Boog:
You conducted countless interviews with writers for Rebel Yell. What were the three most practical pieces of advice or writing strategies that you learned while researching your writing handbook? Who gave you each piece of advice? Continue reading...

 

a. Whatever you write, never compromise, never cheat, and if you plan to write for money or fame, do something else.  --Samuel Beckett via Raymond Federman

b. Your writing will only be as good as the best book you've read in the last six months. --Samuel R. Delany

c. Read, read, read, and always make a point of reading outside your comfort zone.  Never assume there's such a thing an accomplished writer who isn't first and foremost an accomplished reader.

Actually, I believe I said that last one.

If not, I should have.