Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik

You want to write a Blog, an article… oh anything in public in fact, well in the USA you have to deal with the style police. In Britain, they are known as the green ink grannies and are gently ignored; we don’t do earnest. Well we almost did with A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, by Henry Watson Fowler which suggested about the split infinitive that the

…English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish.

Thankfully this was by the 80’s revised away from prescriptive American style policing so we are free to keep to the high standards of writing where expression is more important then style. Hmm, may have to come back to this.

But write in America and you judged by the book of truth, the book of righteous writing, the book of correctness which all Americans know as The Elements of Style. Its roots go back to 1918 where William Strunk, Jr. wrote a 43-page booklet for the good students of Cornell University. And like all sensible guide for students was mainly ignored. But then in 1957, E.B.White, one of the top 20th century literary essayists (and yes author of Charlotte’s Webb) wrote a piece praising the now largely forgotten William Strunk defence of lucid English. This led to the first edition that originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, "a few matters of form," and a list of commonly misused words and expressions. By the 80’s and the 3rd edition, this had bloated up to Fifty-four pointers, along with a list of common mistakes concerning individual words: Eleven rules of punctuation and grammar; eleven principles of writing; eleven matters of form; and twenty-one reminders for a better style.

What Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik (yes we get the pun but in Britain, you have now managed to create an embarrassed silence where we pretend not to have heard you) does is to challenge the prescription of dead white upper class Americans without arguing for do you own thing writing-see told you I would come back to it. To liven your writing, you need to know the rules, but then know when to break them. Be lucid but be fun and avoid at all times clichés except if they warm the cockles of your readers’ heart.

One of the tips I have taken up is to subscribe to various words of the day to build up my wordbank. Two of my rave faves are vindictivolence, the desire of revenging oneself, and pinkwashing. This is using support for b*east cancer research to market products, particularly products that cause cancer. All in all it comes up with 30 tips to sparkle up your writing that range from inventing words, changing the grammatical function of a word , having strong openings and closings, use semi-colons and dashes to break up sentence but above keeping in mind that the writing needs to make the content interesting.

Let’s leave the final words to Arthur Plotnik:

Perceived correctness can be comforting to the reader, like a tidy house. But what distinguishes a piece of writing is the ambiance- the environmental mood- the language we create…tend to be judged on…aptness, inventiveness, colour, sound, rhythm…Spunk and Bite is our shorthand for such qualities.

Alternative Scriptwriting by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush

I like reading books on screenwriting as they teach you how to install the skeleton of story...have three acts, a clear premise based on conflict for the main character, someone or thing to fight against and you are away once you have chosen the genre. So in a western it’s the lone flawed hero against the cattle baron struggling to find his place between the call of the wild and the lure of the town as he fights his way to the big showdown before riding off in the sunset. Or in a horror film, it’s the lone victim and her family/friends trapped in the house on the hill fighting against evil sub-human monster who kills indiscriminately until finally defeat as the dawn of a new day breaks.

What Alternative Scriptwriting by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush does is to show the rules so you can break them. They give a detailed breakdown of 14 genres and how they use the individual building blocks before discussing such things as how to:

• mix and match genres and what works and what doesn’t;
• change structures so 4 Act or two Act stories;
• reframe the roles of passive/ active characters; and
• use tone or narrative voice.

Its not done in a dry way as the discussion is linked to case studies or comparisons of different Directors and international styles but it does help if you have seen the films or have them on DVD! The important thing is that they argue that screenwriting is part of the tradition of storytelling/writing and so need to draw on the full range. Its not a book to read if you want a how to layout a film script but it is one if you want to explore the narrative force of a book.

An interesting alternative take on genres and the film narrative is The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler. He explores how the mythic Hero’s journey shapes plots and characterisation and so genres are merely different aspects of the journey. Again the rule is know the rules to break them.

So read both and enjoy the Saturday movie more but also check why the book works or doesn’t

Writing tools by Roy Peter Clark

Removed to the Blog Dusty-box

How to avoid making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy) by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron says we are creative but we so often say not. The Artist's Way, her first book, kicked this excuse in to touch with its guide to defeating inner demons and rewarding creative angels. In a nutshell, write a morning journal on anything for three pages to ambush your inner critic and go out alone weekly to any artistic event to refresh your imagination. It works…honest! An Art Exhibition got me thinking about writing in these ways.

• A picture with images falling out and in…so why not a story of characters and events that fall in and out of the main plot

• Victorian prints mixed with photographic images and unnaturalistic stencils combine to create eerie and disturbing images… so create a story by taking a random handful of images cut from magazines as a starting point

• Pictures of ordinary objects made macabre… have images in the story at odds with the readers expectation, make the corpse of a women erotic, the murder comedic

Don’t get it? Then read How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy) which attacks those inner demons with witty cartoons. Recognize any of these…

Read all the forwarded emails from your friends instead of writing your novel

Choose someone feels their dreams and goals are more important then yours

Understand no circumstances make any art just for fun

Play and creativity follows is what she wants you to accept. Writing or painting class are still needed to learn the tricks of the trade but your imagination is already waiting to burst out.

What others say about the book.If you have blogged about the book please free to load your link below

The 38 most common fiction writing mistakes by Jack M. Bickham

Some useful tips for the novice writer but curiously poorly written and over aggressive or negative. I agree that you and you alone are responsible for writing and the rest are excuses. But this is handled in a much richer and creative way by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. In terms of tips, I found Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg or Solutions for Writers by Sol Stein much more useful and insightful.

It is useful as a quick editing check-list and for the advice of taking the opinions of friends and fellow amateurs with a pinch of salt. Julia Cameron would challenge his point of accepting the professional view without question. She points out that many an editor etc is a failed writer and is therefore less then neutral. Her more considered,and wiser opinion, is to be open to advice from any quarter but for you to decide if its speaks to your condition (to use a Quaker phrase). The cut this, or rewrite that may not be pleasant but in reflection does it make your prose better?

Roger von Oech in a Whack on the Side of the Head has ideas that look at the process that can work out what your condition is. First you have to be an EXPLORER looking for raw material: facts, concepts,experiences, knowledge,feelings. These often need to be off the beaten track of normal, conventional and use all your senses. Hence the need for a journal, doing one unexpected thing a week etc. Then be the ARTIST. Ask what if questions, arrange new patterns, break the rules. This is where this Book is negative by its insistence that only certain things are right such as single point of view, or a logical narrative. But you can turn this round, experiment by breaking the rules. All these books do:253 by Geoff Ryman has 253 point of views over a 7 1/2 minute tube journey,The Time Traveller's Wife fragments time and character, The sot-weed factor by John Barth has a plot based on wilder and wilder coincidences. The third stage is to be a JUDGE, reflect critically, weigh other's views but you take the final judgement. Finally, you have to be a WARRIOR and have the discipline and courage to make it happen. This is where this and the other books agree, if you want to write, then write and stop making excuses. Remember J.K.Rowling she was struggling and could only write and keep warm by going to coffee houses.

So would I recommend this book? Well read some of the others mentioned first but it does have a short sharp slap effect that can be useful getting you to stop whining and start writing.