My failure to blog of late has been caused mostly by my focus on reading my Christmas books and writing the next novel. But I have found a little time this afternoon to catch you up on my reading.

Since my last post, I have finished three books from my list and have started working on a fourth. The three I've completed are, in order: Abraham Verghese's Cutting For Stone; The Match, by Mark Frost; and Shatner Rules, by William Shatner (with Chris Regan).

Perhaps surprisingly, I really enjoyed all three, but for very different reasons.

Verghese's ambitious novel is by far the best work of recent "literature" I've read in a long time. Cutting for Stone traces the life and personal relationships of the narrator Marion Stone, from his dramatic arrival (with twin brother Shiva) in the delivery room of a hospital in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopa, through his eventful and heart-wrenching childhood dealing with civil strife and personal challenge, and finally to his medical career in the United States, where the various conflicting threads of his life come crashing together once again.

This is a beautifully written book which is at once fictional biography, political history, cultural study and medical drama. Marion Stone is an extremely likable character who recognises his own personal biases and limitations and comes to recognise the forces in his own life that made him who he is. His relationship with his twin brother is particularly well wrought, in all its complexity. It's too bad I didn't find the final movement, wherein Marion confronts more ghosts from his past, as convincing or effective as the rest of the novel.

One of the aspects of this book that particularly interested me was Verghese's portrayal and extended examination of the relationships between people of different races and social positions. Marion Stone is the son of an Indian mother and a white American father. His adoptive parents are both of Indian background but work and raise their family in an Ethiopian society that is mostly African but still heavily dominated by a recently ended Italian occupation. Although he doesn't foreground the racial tensions too strongly, Verghese never lets them disappear entirely either, recognising that racism and social oppression are a constant in our society.

I went from Verghese's rivetting tale that examines the challenges of racial oppression directly into The Match, a book that focuses entirely on the interactions of a group of wealthy, successful, incredibly empowered white American men, playing a game that was, up until that point, open only to rich, White men. It was an interesting transition for me as a reader.

Mark Frost's book is, in fact, intended to be a study of the conflict that arose in golfing circles between the traditionalists (who felt that golf should remain pure, the sport of gentlemen amateurs who could afford to spend hours each day honing their skills in practice and putting them to use in tournaments) and the new wave of professionals (white men from all walks of life who had managed somehow to find the time and opportunity to learn and perfect the game, despite their financial limitations, and to seek to earn a living on the golf course).

The core of the story is an almost mythical 18-hole encounter involving four golf legends: amateurs Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi playing an informal best ball competition against professional powerhouses Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan. Frost goes to great pains to portray Nelson and Hogan as heroes of the everyman, men from impoverished backgrounds who, by finding work as caddies at their local Texas course, managed to learn the game to the point of being able to challenge the well-heeled amateurs who had dominated golf for so long.

The surprise for me was how enjoyable and eminently readable Frost's book turned out to be. He does a great job both of bringing the four golfers to vivid life, presenting mini-biographies of each, and of capturing the excitement of their mythical match that day in 1956. I am, you see, a terrible but frequent golfer and an avid watcher of golf on television. I knew of Ken Venturi and Byron Nelson only through their work as on-air television golf analysts and of Ben Hogan only through legend (and a very early Peanuts cartoon). I had, to be honest, never heard of Harvie Ward.

Frost manages to protray each as sympathetic in his own way, providing ample support for the contention that all four contributed greatly to the development of golf in the U.S. Even more importantly, perhaps, he describes that match in 1956 with such passion, in such detail, that I found myself wishing I could have been there to witness it. His efforts on social commentary were not as effective for me, perhaps because I had just finished reading the Verghese novel which couldn't help but place Frost's examination of what amounted to be competition between two sets of wealthy, empowered white men into rather telling perspective.

Speaking of wealthy, privileged white men, next up on my reading list was William Shatner's comic biographical work Shatner Rules. The actor is now 80 and apparently has decided that, as he has survived to this impressive age and is still one of the busiest personalities in the world of entertainment, he is entitled to speak his mind, on any subject that should leap into it,

The book is actually a lot of fun, especially if you are able to swallow the fact that the former Captain Kirk has an enormous ego, matched only by his ability (and willingness) to poke fun at himself. Structured around a series of rules that Shatner claims to have lived by, the book is a quirky collection of anecdotes and life lessons from one of the more interesting people in Hollywood.

My favourite "lesson" from the book comes in Chapter 1. Shatner admonishes his reader to "Say Yes" in all situations and to all opportunities. To quote the Captain: "'Yes' means opportunity. 'Yes' makes the dots in your life appear. And if you're willing and open, you can connect those dots. You don't know where these dots will lead, and if you don't invest yourself fully, the dots won't connect. The lines you make with those dots always lead to interesting places. 'No' closes doors. 'Yes' kicks them wide open."

I think it's great advice. Maybe not to a teenager considering entering the world of sex, or drugs, or crime or whatever, but in most other situations. Shatner's book is really about how saying "Yes" to every opportunity has enriched his own life.

These three books were all very different but all remarkably successful in their own ways.

And now I'm on to P.D. James' Talking About Detective Fiction, a study of the genre I love so well by one of the finest, most eloquent writers I know. It's an absolute pleasure to read and I'm learning a lot, including the titles and authors of too many more books I have to add to my reading list.

Today's Photo: A dramatic tree against the skyline on the island of Grand Manan.

Tags: Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese, The Match, Mark Frost, William Shatner, Shatner Rules, P.D. James, Talking About Detective Fiction

If my memory serves, the great (and prolific) horror writer Stephen King is a staunch supporter of the just-keep-writing-and-don’t-look-back approach to writing a novel. He espoused writing the first draft in one great gush, and only when it’s complete going back to revise, rewrite and refocus.

I am a fan of Mr. King’s work but I’m afraid I can’t write that way.

Not that my approach to penning a novel is the product of conscious, rational consideration of the process. It’s nowhere close. It’s more a recognition, as I launch into writing my fourth full novel, of the tendencies and preferences I have unknowingly developed over the course of that body of work.

And my work on The Final Curtain has only served to reinforce those tendencies, confirm those preference as to how I write a novel.

Here’s what I do.

First, I spend a lot of time thinking about the plot lines I wish to explore and how they will relate to each other. As you have no doubt already realized, I am currently trying to make sure my novels have at least two central plots: one based in the courtroom and focused on a significant criminal or civil trial in which my main character serves as one of the lawyers, the other a more action-oriented plot, a mystery plot in which my main character ends up acting not only as lawyer but also as investigator for his client.

Now it’s not surprising that, as I develop the plots, I also find myself developing the new characters associated with each story line. Who are they? What do they look like? How do they act? Where do they come from? What drives them to do what they do? How do they come to know my regular characters? And how do they come to find themselves immersed in my plot?

Once I’ve got my plots (and their associated characters) fairly firmly developed in my mind, I sit down to start writing. I try to open with a challenging, interesting first line, one which intrigues the reader with many questions, which promises that there’s lots of excitement to come. For example, in The Silent Goodbye, the first line describes the way a blade slides coldly across my hero’s throat. The Final Curtain, in its current state, begins with a strong, confrontational statement from my protagonist, a statement that tells the reader that we’re in court, that my hero’s client is in trouble, and that my hero is desperate.

Then I begin writing in earnest. With the plots and characters so firmly established in my head, the writing usually goes smoothly for the first little while. I set the scene, introduce the characters and the conflicts, and try to make sure there’s a whole series of questions that the reader will want answered. That’s why he or she will keep on reading.

In between the sessions of writing, I let my mind consider what I’ve written, probe it for holes in plot or character, run it through a mental checklist to make sure I’ve included everything I had planned to include, look for ways to improve it, make it more vivid, more real, more interesting.

Each ensuing session of writing usually begins with a review and polishing of what came before, filling those holes, adding that which I missed, improving what I can. That process also makes sure everything is fresh in my mind as I start with new writing, moving the story forward. If things are going well, each session is perhaps one-third review and revision and two-thirds new writing.

For a while, the system works well.

But then, almost inevitably, I get to a point in the novel when I realize I need to change something major, or move in a different direction, or add something significant to the early part of the novel that will affect all that comes after.

Stephen King would advise me to leave it and keep writing. Come back to it when the manuscript is completed. Fix it then.

I tried that once. And almost drove myself crazy. I decided that a major early plot point had to change but, instead of going back to change it (and rewrite what followed to be consistent with the change), I decided simply to plow on and write the remainder of the novel as if I had actually made the change.

Problem was, I ended up making further changes as the writing progressed. And, again, instead of revising the earlier parts of the book, I just kept going. By the time I got to the climax of the plots, I was so confused as to what was what that I had to walk away from the manuscript for a while to figure things out. I then went back to do a complete rewrite, an outline of my final plans at my side.

It was one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever had to do.

So this time I’m going back. I have realized that a couple of significant issues have to be introduced at the start of the book and I have now returned to page one to revise the manuscript accordingly.

Is it a bit frustrating? Yes. I’d love to be making forward progress, pushing up the word count and moving further and further into my plots.

But I am reminding myself of my earlier major frustrations when I took the other approach and didn’t go back. I think… no, I know that I’d rather take a couple of days now than waste a month or more later. So I'm back at the beginning once again. I'm no King, but I'm no fool either.

Tags: Stephen King, Writing, Novel, Phillip Gold, Mystery, Courtroom drama, Publishing

An eventful week for me, both writing and reading.

First, the writing. My new year’s plan to attempt to use my lunch hour at work as a consistent window for writing has been working out very well. Since my photo blog ended with the close of 2011, I no longer have to take the camera out for a walk every lunch hour to find the day’s picture. This leaves me about 45 minutes every day to work on my novel.

I know, that doesn’t sound like a lot of time but it’s the consistency that’s important, not so much the amount of time. I find that my writing flows a lot more smoothly if I work on my project every day, if only for a couple of minutes. I start to get into a rhythm, not only with the writing itself, but also with the creative process inside my head.

When I’m working consistently, the plot and characters stay active in my imagination throughout the rest of the day. Even as I’m performing other tasks, my brain is reviewing what I’ve previously written to look for ways to improve it, considering plot developments to come and thinking about my characters and how their realities will influence the chain of events I’m planning for them.

This means that, by the time I finally sit down at the netbook at around noon every day, I end up with a very productive 45 minutes of writing. I have often planned so much in my mind that, even though I work non-stop for the entire period, with no pauses to wonder what comes next, I don’t actually get it all written in the time available.

That’s not a bad thing. I like walking away from the netbook with some things unwritten because that serves as a seed for more thinking, more planning, more creativity.

It’s January 13 and I’m already 15,000 words into The Final Curtain. I’ve introduced the major characters, killed off my main victim and launched the court-room plot. Not a bad start to the new year!

On the reading front, I finally found the back cover of Peter Robinson’s collection of short stories, Not Safe After Dark. Note, this is the expanded 2004 edition of the collection, which includes the Inspector Banks novella “Going Back”.

The book contains a series of short stories Robinson had written and published between 1990 and 2001. There is a very interesting variety to these stories, all of which offer some elements of a mystery but from different angles.

I can’t say I loved them all. In fact, and perhaps surprisingly, I found the three Inspector Banks stories to be among the weakest of the group. It’s possible Robinson, so adept at crafting full-length novels involving this protagonist, struggles to adapt him to the shorter genre.

That being said, I was particularly impressed with the stories with a historical slant, such as “Murder in Utopia”, “April In Paris”, “The Two Ladies of Rose Cottage”, and “In Flanders Fields”. Robinson has a particularly nice narrative voice that he seems to use solely for these kinds of stories, a voice that is more literary and lyrical than that used in the Banks tales.

He is also particularly good at focusing on the psychology of the situation, the philosophical and moral impacts of the decisions made by his characters. In “Murder in Utopia”, for example, the main character solves the murder but then faces the impossible choice of deciding whether the pursuit of “truth” should prevail over what is perceived to be the greater good for the entire community. The decision fractures the character and results in him making a significant, difficult decision with regard to this own life.

“Innocence” is another interesting psychological study, looking at the impact of simply being charged and tried for a heinous crime on an innocent, though socially odd man. I have to admit, Robinson’s story made me wonder at some of my own personal peculiarities and behaviour traits and how they might come to haunt me were I ever suspected of a brutal act.

I enjoyed this book because it gave me an opportunity to see a talented, successful writer experiment with other forms, genres and narrative approaches and styles. Some are successful, some are not. But I came away from this reading wishing that Robinson would spend more time on the historical, psychological stuff in the future.

Today's Photo: Spire and Wires, the tower at Gibson Memorial United Church in Fredericton's North Side is bisected by the city's ever-present electrical wires.

Tags: Peter Robinson, Not Safe After Dark, Mystery, Novel, Publishing, manuscript

I think it was 1981. My sister gave me what I considered at first to be a very odd Christmas present: an LP with a skinny, bare-chested young lad on the cover. “Trust me,” she said, when I looked up at her, trying to cover my misgivings behind a mask of appropriate gratitude, “you’ll love it.”

Of course, that LP turned out to be U2’s first big album, “Boy”, and became my favourite album of the early-80s period. I listened to it so often I came to know every drum beat, every guitar riff, every tremolo in Bono’s vocals.

So I guess I should have trusted my sister when, a couple of years ago, she told me I should be tuning into a new sit-com called “Modern Family”. “It’s our new favourite,” she told me. “It’s hilarious.”

Well, I had seen part of an episode of “Modern Family” already and I had been turned off it by the presence of Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) from the revolting television hit “Married… With Children” in a lead role. No show with Al Bundy could be good.

So I resisted once again my sister’s advice and ignored “Modern Family” for two years.

It took my partner to convince me to give the show a chance. She began watching this past fall and was soon hectoring me to catch an episode with her. Since we only have one TV and she was committed to watching, I kind of had no choice.

It didn’t take me long to become a fan and “Modern Family” now competes with “Big Bang Theory” for the coveted position of My Favourite Show Now on TV.

That’s what makes it so great that my sister-in-law and her family sent us the first season of “Modern Family” on DVD for Christmas this year. These are the original episodes that we missed, due mostly to my unwillingness to trust the advice of my oh-so-wise-and-with-it sister and my distaste for anything even remotely related to “Married With Children”.

We watched the first three episodes last night. The pilot, especially, is a comedy classic. Not since “Frasier” have I encountered a sit-com that was so fully and perfectly developed from day one, with great characters established from the outset, relationships already well on their way and plot lines that were both funny and warm.

We “busted a gut” watching that first episode. The idea of putting “Shoot Luke” on the family calendar just killed me and the fast-paced disintegration of the situation was nothing short of spectacular.

I’m impressed with the casting and the acting, particularly of Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy), Julie Bowen (Clare Dunphy), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett), and yes, even Ed O’Neill (Jay Pritchett).

In fact, the fact that I like and admire Ed O’Neill so much in this role forces me to re-evaluate his work in “Married… With Children”. Oh yes, I still despise Al Bundy. But it takes a pretty great actor to make me despise one character so strongly while liking another so much.

We PVR the new episodes of “Modern Family” each week but now we realize we need to make watching the earlier episodes (missed because of my own silly preconceptions) a priority.

Today's Photo: Quebec City and the Chateau.

Tags: Modern Family, Al Bundy, Married... With Children, Ed O'Neill, Big Bang Theory, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson

I received a significant haul of books this Christmas, with a nice combination of subjects and approaches. I’ve received novels and short story collections, fiction and non-fiction, advice on life choices and help on my golf game, books related to sports, to entertainment and to writing itself. An amazing collection.

I make it a policy to read every book I receive as a gift and I’m not changing that this year, even though I’m a bit overwhelmed at this point.

First up was Bury Your Dead, a mystery by Canadian author Louise Penny. Since I received it early, before Christmas, I got a chance to read it from start to finish in the days leading up to the big celebration. And, wow, was it fantastic. I had never heard of Penny before receiving this novel but I enjoyed it so much I actually bought it for several other people as Christmas gifts this year.

And I’m planning to pick up more by her as soon as I finish reading my Christmas book list.

There are so many things to like about Bury Your Dead that I’m not sure where to begin. Most impressive, perhaps, is the fact that Penny weaves not one, nor two, nor even three plots throughout this book but a whopping four! And she keeps each one interesting and moving. Set in Quebec in the middle of a cold, snowy winter, the book is part mystery, part history, part psychological study. The pace is fantastic and the main character a fascinating study.

If I have one criticism it is that there are no really strong, interesting female characters in this book. Yes, there are a couple who make appearances but they are never really allowed to develop and take up a significant role in the novel. Penny’s major characters are all men.

I also read a football book called Blood, Sweat and Chalk by Tom Layden of Sports Illustrated. Intended to be a fascinating look at the creation of important tactical trends in American football, this book unfortunately delivers little more than a “wikipedia”-like article on each trend, filled with names and places but little actual substance. Even worse, Layden’s writing is surprisingly weak, rife with awkward passages, creaky connections and unfortunate comparisons. He desperately needs a strong editor but, since Sports Illustrated itself published the book, he didn’t get one.

I did come away from this book with a much stronger appreciation of the amount of work that goes into coaching football at any level in the United States but also with an increased unease over what appears to be a popular obsession with the sport among our neighbours to the south.

I am currently enjoying Not Safe After Dark, a collection of short stories by Canadian mystery writer Peter Robinson. Known for his Inspector Banks novels, Robinson brings together a series of unrelated stories he’s written over his career into this single collection, with an interesting introduction in which Robinson touches on the challenges posed to a novelist in attempting to write in the short story form.

I’m only part-way through so I will save any further comment until I’ve finished the book. Then it will be on to the rest of my Christmas stash!

Tags: Louise Penny, Peter Robinson, Tom Layden, Sports Illustrated, Bury Your Dead, Blood, Sweat and Chalk, Not Safe After Dark

With the start of a new year, I wanted to take a minute or two to reflect back on the writing I’ve done during 2011 and to consider whether or not my current sense of lingering disappointment in my own commitment to my writing is really warranted.

These last couple of months have been busy and challenging from a variety of standpoints and I’ve been feeling lately that I haven’t been devoting enough time to my writing. I certainly am feeling a measure of frustration both with myself and with my busy life as well.

But the question I asked myself was this: do I deserve the criticism I’ve been leveling at myself?

To my surprise and relief, I have found that 2011 was a much more productive and interesting year than my current mood seems willing to recognize. And, as 2012 opens in front of me, I find that things promise to be even better in the next twelve months.

One major accomplishment from the past year is my Fredericton 365 photographic blog, which drew to a close on December 31. When I decided, at the end of 2010, to launch this year-long journey, I didn’t anticipate just how much time and energy it would take. First, there was the challenge of finding and taking the photograph. Then came loading it onto my computer, editing it where necessary, then posting it to the blog. But it didn’t end there: every day for 365 days, I wrote anywhere from 100 to 500 words of text to accompany each photograph, commenting on the image and how it was taken. No easy task and one that I found increasingly wearing as the year went on.

I’m proud of the final product – 365 days of text, with close to 400 photographs to accompany it – but I’m also not afraid to admit that I’m relieved to see it come to an end. I’ve had several people contact me to express their disappointment that I am not making in an ongoing daily blog and I appreciate their interest and support. But I want to be able to devote the time and energy that I put into that blog last year into other writing projects this coming year.

So, while I might create a new photo blog that will, from time to time, offer new pictures I have taken, I have no intention of continuing to make it a daily task.

A second major accomplishment of the past year is the submission of two packages of fiction to Canadian publishers: a novel and a collection of short stories for young people. Anyone who has prepared such a package will know just how much work goes into it, starting with the actual polishing of the written work to be submitted and including such challenging additional tasks as writing a cover letter, a synopsis, a CV and a marketing plan for each package.

I’m pleased to be able to say that the novel submission has attracted at least preliminary interest from the publisher: they are currently considering the complete novel manuscript for publication and should get back to me sometime in the next month or so with their decision. To be frank, I’m trying to put the whole thing out of my mind so that the anticipation, excitement and dread don’t overwhelm me. Just the fact that the publisher saw fit to invite me to submit my manuscript after reading my submission package is already a source of welcomed confidence for me and my writing; a publishing contract would be a dream come true.

With regard to the short story package, I haven’t heard anything. I have a feeling that I sent it along too late for the publisher’s fall “slush pile” review (the novel package went to the same publisher but about a month earlier) so I might not hear anything about it until later in the spring of 2012.

Over the past year, I have also been active in writing this blog, a monthly blog for my work (which is not publically available), a sports blog as well as a blog on Harry Potter. So I’ve actually produced an awful lot of writing but… Is it possible I’ve been spreading myself a little bit thin?

With the photo blog now completed, I plan to make the completion of my next Phillip Gold courtroom drama/suspense novel my priority for 2012. I’ve already gone a long way in the planning and plotting of this book so now it comes down to the writing. I hope to spend time on it every day from here on out, the only real approach that I know of that guarantees steady, consistent and high-quality progress.

Sound ambitious? Maybe. But I devoted almost every lunch hour during my work week to finding and taking the photos last year so I shouldn’t find it too difficult to use that time, instead, for writing.

Today's Photograph: The United Church Cathedral at the entrance to Fredericton, at night.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Writing, Novel, Publishing, slush pile