The 3 R’s.
8/27/2011 10:52:36 PM
Traditionally, the 3 R’s are for Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but this week they have stood for reading, writing and resting.
I ordered three books from an online bookstore at the beginning of the week and they arrived midweek. The postman decided to rap twice very loudly on the door and if that wasn’t enough to wake the dead, he rang the doorbell. At the time, I was sitting silently, absorbed in editing Truth or Dare?. I nearly passed out. With my heart still booming, I got up from the sofa, tweaking a muscle in my back as I did so, reached the door and received my package. I smiled politely and quietly thanked the postman, eager to return to the sofa, to ease my back and open the cardboard parcel. Now, bear in mind that with my left hand still in a splint (and therefore rendered more or less useless), and the other weakened with rheumatoid arthritis, opening a package is not easy, but I was desperate to get in there as I knew it contained three new books. I could smell them.
After venting my frustration at my own inadequacies, I decided my best chance of opening the parcel was to use my teeth. You know that strange feeling you can get when someone scrapes their fingernails down the blackboard or when you accidentally touch the rough surface of a nail file or sandpaper? Well, tearing cardboard with one’s teeth produces the exact same feeling, not to mention the noise it creates as the ‘riiiippp’ resonates around one’s head. I wouldn’t recommend it as a preferred method of opening such packages. It really did set my teeth on edge.
Having got over the palpitations, the muscle strain, the cardboard induced headache and the strange swirly feeling in my stomach, I finally got my not so good hand on my new books. It had been worth the teeth edging.
I purchased: Erica James – Promises Promises, Jill Mansell – To The Moon and Back, and Carole Matthews – The Only Way Is Up.
Now, I am an established fan of both Erica James and Jill Mansell, but Carole Matthews is a first.
Rarely do I have the opportunity just to kick back and read for hours on end, but the children occupied themselves, the cats went off to play in the hedges and I was left to sit quietly, rest and read. I forwent the writing. In two days, I read Promises Promises. It was a lovely read, which had me smiling throughout – a classic Erica James novel. I finished it last night and went straight on to The Only Way Is Up and reached page 117, only putting it down because it was half past stupid o’clock.
Isn’t it lovely to discover an author you haven’t read before and then find you enjoy their work?
I would describe this book as having a direct style – I need to read more of Ms Matthews’ books to form an opinion of her writing style, but I liked the immediacy of this story. By page 26, the reader is right in the thick of it. The story is fast paced and full of action.
As I have said before, in a previous blog, the advice to writers is to a)write every day (I’m sure I read the other day to write even if it is a shopping list) and b)read, read, read – particularly the sort of books you would like to write.
I have learned three very different things from both of these books: The description and action of some of the characters in Promises Promises produced such believable and in some cases, detestable characters, I could feel my hackles rising whenever they appeared. In TOWIU, I have not yet found a character to detest (that may come later), but I have found the current characters to be extremely believable and I can picture their type. I have learned that the clues to their personalities are in how they dress, how they speak and how they treat and react to other characters. Now, that may seem obvious, but to me, it wasn’t. These two books helped create a lightbulb moment.
In terms of the structure of the stories, TOWIU has shown me that I need to get to the action quicker – my openings are too ponderous, and PP has shown me how to change viewpoints without disrupting the flow of the story; POV’s are something I have struggled horrendously with.
It is a given that I will enjoy and learn from Jill Mansell’s book.
I may regard novels differently now that I have written one, but first and foremost, I enjoy the read, I enjoy getting lost in the story and I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction at finishing it.
If you enjoy romance/romantic comedies and if you are looking for excellent examples of how to write, you will not go far wrong with these three ladies.
That’s me done for now.
See you next time.