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Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman On
Writing by Stephen King The Right to
Write by Julia Cameron
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Many authors have, in the back of their minds, an idea for their “important” or “one day” book, no matter what genre they usually write, or where it falls on the entertainment versus education meter.
I’m sure you know what I mean: this is the book that can’t be written yet, because you worry you’re not experienced enough, either in the craft, in world knowledge, in research ability, or any other reason that puts you off starting a book that you hope will be so much bigger than the books or stories you’re written so far.
 Philip Gerard covers this issue extensively in Writing a Book That Makes a Difference, with examples as varied as Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark (later made into the movie Schindler’s List), Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, and McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes.
Don’t be intimidated by the precedents, though. Gerard doesn’t insist
you write about something as horrific as genocide, or spend years
researching social injustice (unless you want to) – this book is
designed to help you identify your own hot issues, the themes that
you’re already addressing in your stories, perhaps without realising it.
These could be as small and personal as a relationship study, or as vast
as war.
Writing a Book That Makes a Difference also contains excellent
guidance on how to write a better crafted and structured book, no matter
how small the theme, so that even a subtle story can be memorable. Gerard
discusses how to thread the theme and the issues into the work without the
book becoming didactic, and how to vary the distance you place between the
reader and your words for greater effect.
If you like the idea of writing a book that will make people stop and
think, the initial exercises in this book will help you identify those
areas and themes that push your buttons, and develop some ideas to pursue
further. If you already have your important book idea in the back of your
mind, this book can help you get that idea out of your head and onto the
page.
I was very impressed with Writing a Book That Makes a
Difference and I felt that I read it too quickly to get this
review done. It’s definitely a book I would want to go through slowly,
with a notebook. It’s packed with information, analysis of what makes a
number of great books so effective, and indepth guidelines on craft, with
clear explanations and examples of why it works. This is a book for more
advanced writers, but beginners would do well to try to work through it
slowly too.
copyright © Elsa Neal 2007 (Please contact the
for permission to reprint this article.)
This
article also appears in BellaOnline.
Writing a Book That Makes a Difference by Philip Gerard is available from Amazon.com
Related articles:
The Plot
Thickens by Noah Lukeman
On Writing by
Stephen King
The Right to
Write by Julia Cameron
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