How Strong is Your Foundation? Resources for the NaNoWriMo Writer

Ernest Hemingway once quipped that "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed". In many ways, this is (metaphorically) true. At the same time, he also once opined that "...writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else I have ever done--so I do it. And it makes me happy when I do it well." Perhaps paradoxically, this is also true; writing is at once as easy as setting down and putting words on paper, and a challenge of the highest order. Most importantly, where the latter quote is concerned, it is true that to write well is an indescribable joy. 

How does one learn to write well? There are countless methods and paths, suggested by educators, successful authors, and fellow writers alike. There are shelves of books, a branch of the self help genre, dedicated to teaching methods for developing and improving literary talents. There's no shortage of technical material, style guides from various schools of thought. As with most disciplines, a writer benefits from a sort of "muscle memory", an automatic or innate understanding of the mechanics and aesthetics of the craft. For my money, the following examples are the cream of the instructional crop, and the books I'll have on hand during this year's National Novel Writing Month.

Elements of Style

William Strunk, jr and E. B. White's classic collection of basic style guidelines is as brilliant as it is brief. At only 105 pages, it's easily the shortest piece of resource material in my collection, but page-for-page it is also the most thorough and informative work available. It's invaluable, and recommended that every writer, at some point, become familiar with its teachings.

Elements of Grammar

Another brief work, though slightly longer than Elements of Style, Margaret Shertzer's Elements of Grammar is similarly indispensable. In some ways more technical than Elements of Style, Shertzer's guide is nevertheless a marvelous resource, summarizing the basics of sentence structure and defining the building blocks of the English language in a way that better enables the writer to construct more solid works.

A Dictionary. ANY Dictionary.

This should go without saying, but the number of writers who eschew the use of a dictionary might surprise you. I've always found them useful, not only for referencing correct spelling and definitions, but for the simple fact that the dictionary is a collection of words, many of which I might not have otherwise encountered. My preferred editions tend to be older, but truthfully any dictionary will suffice. I use Webster's New World Dictionary--Compact Desk Edition (1963) and Webster's Little Gem Dictionary. (1925)

A Thesaurus. 

In Stephen King's masterful On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, the legendary writer warns that "One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones", later asserting that the basic rule of vocabulary is " use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful." It's this last bit (emphasis mine) that makes a thesaurus so handy. Perhaps the first word that comes to mind isn't colorful enough, or perhaps you've used the same word so many times that it's become redundant, and therefore less apt. As with dictionaries, any thesaurus will suffice. I prefer Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1937), in the original arrangement, which was categorical as opposed to alphabetical. Another suitable collection of verbal alternatives is Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms Antonyms & Prepositions.

Additional Resources

There are a number of works that, while not essential, I've found prove informative, useful, and to a certain extent entertaining. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is indispensable as an introduction to a host of idioms and phrases which we often hear but about which we rarely learn more. Similarly, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler compiles myriad phrases and notes on usage, oftentimes employing a dry wit that defies its place on the reference shelf. Other extraneous reference materials that I'll be perusing in preparation for NaNoWriMo include: The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage by Theodore M. Bernstein, and its humorous "sequel", Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears and Out-Moded Rules of English Usage; The American Language, by H.L. Mencken; The Dictionary of Cultural LIteracy; and The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions.

Books on the Craft of Writing

In addition to the reference materials above, I find it extremely helpful to have a number of works on the actual topic of writing, beyond the nuts and bolts of language. The aforementioned On Writing is both informative in terms of the more technical aspects of style and usage, and inspirational in that it details aspects of Mr. King's life as an author, and how his life led him to that point. Other works in this vein include Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing; Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande; On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner; and a collection of topical tidbits from a variety of well-known authors, Advice to Writers: A Compendium of Quotes, Anecdotes, and Writerly Wisdom from a Dazzling Array of Literary Lights. 

Truth be told, this is is by no means exhaustive. Depending on the genre in which one will be writing, there are countless other works that might prove useful as inspiration or reference. Whether it be an autobiography of an author successful in that particular milieu, or an encyclopedia germane to the subject, one does well to build a strong foundation for their work in progress. As my WriMo novel will fall under the auspices of literary fiction, I've been touching upon favorite works in that arena; since my novel will be semi-autobiographical, I've been reading works of a similar nature (such as Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn) as well as revisiting works that struck a chord with me in terms of identity, like Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse and Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I don't intend to do much reading once National Novel Writing Month has begun—I prefer to keep my voice and story free of influence while writing—I will spend the remainder of the week reviewing these and other materials, so that when the time comes, my novel—written in earnest haste—will at least have been built upon as firm a foundation as I could afford it.

The Final Countdown - One Week To WriMo

By this time, one week from today, I hope to find myself settling down to a celebratory lunch after a long and productive morning kicking off the 2013 National Novel Writing Month. I'm sure the day will start at the stroke of midnight, and seriously hope I don't spend those first few hours staring at a blank screen, struggling in vain to begin the month's effort. I'll have some shopping to do, after that lunch, to secure the last items on my list of necessary WriMo provisions. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

NaNoWriMo is one week away—before "Do or Die", it's "Prepare or Flounder", and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to withstand the panicked anticipation the next seven days represent. 

Unlike last year, when I waited until the last possible moment to throw my literary hat in the ring, this year I've made a point of gearing up for this year's WriMo since early September. A few weeks ago I assembled a small tactical force comprised of my favorite reference books and sources of inspiration. I've mastered the art of manipulating my sleep cycle so I can navigate the month's events and appointments without suffering the loss of my writing schedule or routines. I've planned this year's novel as best I can, notified friends and family of my impending absence from their lives, and reached out to fellow participants in order to establish a small but reliable network of encouragement and support.

Despite this skillful exuberance—is there really only one week left before we begin??

Don't get me wrong, I feel to an equal degree the wish that today were Halloween, so that it would only be a matter of a dozen hours or so before I could throw myself into my work. I'm dangerously enthusiastic about this year's novel, and on more occasions than I can count have had to suppress the urge to go rogue and start writing ahead of time. There's still that lingering apprehension, as I've said before, and so much work yet to be done in preparation of the long month ahead.

I'm fascinated by the ways in which other writers work, and I'm always on the lookout for new methods, insights, and tips in general. In the spirit of reciprocity, beginning Monday the 28th I'll be touching upon categories of preparation in a series of NaNoPrep posts meant to elucidate my own methods: how I've prepared, and how I expect the writing process to unfold. Over the course of the week I'll also do my best to share similar posts by others, via Twitter and Facebook. With Writing Buddies, local Write-Ins, and The Night of Writing Dangerously, it's clear that we're all in this together—at least when it's not just you and your novel, staring each other down in the darkest hours of the night. 

For now, there's so very much left to do, and precious little time in which to do it. One week until the WriMo starts in earnest, but the NaNoPrep has already begun...

An Interview with Falling Under Author Danielle Younge-Ullman

Your bio states that you spent 10 years performing in theatre before shifting your focus toward writing. How did that transition come about? Had you always had an interest in writing?

I was always a passionate and voracious reader and I think I’d always wanted to write, and specifically to write books. I just didn't believe I could do it—I didn't know if I could weave a coherent story, didn't think I had good enough ideas, didn't believe I’d have the self-discipline to get the thing done. In the meantime I fell in love with the theatre, and therefore buried even the knowledge of my desire to write. But all that time studying and working in the theatre was fabulous training for me as a writer. As an actor you work so hard to understand the vision of the playwright and the deepest motivations of every single breath of the character you’re playing, to get under and into their skin, and obviously these are also things you need to do as a writer. And I think being an actor gave me a good ear for dialogue and for how a story has to be shaped, how to create conflict. Ultimately, I wasn't happy as an actor; the business is crappy and even when I was working, I wasn't getting enough creative satisfaction from it. I wanted, needed, something that more directly expressed what I had to say. Around that time, someone who I’d let read some random stuff I’d written asked me if I’d ever thought of being a writer and all of a sudden I just knew that was what I was supposed to be doing…and that’s what put me on the path. 

Falling Under is a tremendously evocative novel to have read; could you describe for us the emotional experience of having written it?

With Falling Under, I decided to take the gloves off and go for it, and be very instinctual. I knew the general conflicts and issues I wanted to write about, but I didn't really know where it was going to go. I just gave myself permission to go as crazy and raw as I wanted to and see what happened. It was terrifying and exhilarating, fun and frustrating. The book goes to some very dark places and you’d think maybe this might have messed me up...given me some hard days…but those parts were the most fun because I was being the most true, the most creative, and the most courageous.

Your portrayal of the classic, tormented artist is very thorough, even without delving too deeply into the technical aspects of Mara's particular milieu. How much of your own experience as an artist in theatre informed the creation of this aspect of the story?

Bottom line, it’s the creative process. I mean, if you’re making music, creating a character for stage or film, writing a book, painting; whatever it is, the technical aspects and skills needed are different, but what happens inside—that massive, sometimes magical-feeling effort to pull out something you want to express and then put it into a form people can relate to—I think it’s very much the same thing. I will say that for me, the descriptions of Mara’s artistic process are actually closer to my experiences as a writer than as an actor. The difference there is that as an actor you’re interpreting someone else’s words and vision, not your own. 

It's said that all fiction is at least partially autobiographical; in terms of emotional and family history, how much of yourself might readers find in Mara?

As writers, we write what we’re passionate about and what we’re preoccupied with…so I think with any book, an immense amount of who the author is, on an essential level, goes into character and story. But it’s fiction. 

Mara’s life story is completely different from my own, but I do come from a divorced family, and have strong feelings about what happens to kids when families break up. There’s also a lot of research that shows kids of divorced families (all different types of divorces) deal with anxiety and depression and a host of other issues. This information helped when I created Mara, and obviously there’s commonality here and there with my own experience, emotionally speaking. She also has my sense of humor!

The name Mara means "bitter" according to some sources. Were you aware of this when choosing a name for your character?

Honestly, I just liked the name and I had the vague thought it had something to do with the sea! I wouldn't have purposely chosen a name that meant “bitter” because I don’t really see Mara as bitter. 

Your book was released first in print, back in 2008, and reached the Kindle in September of last year. What was that process like? Do you have plans to make the title available in any other digital formats?

It’s been really exciting and fun having Falling Under out as an ebook. With the economic crisis in 2008, it was a tough year to be launching a debut novel—especially a dark-ish book that is so hard to define and describe. Re-launching Falling Under in ebook format has given it a second life a chance to reach a new readership—the very passionate and growing ereading community. The response has been amazing, and I’m really grateful. There was quite a bit of work involved in getting the book formatted and orchestrating the design of the new cover, but I’m thrilled with the result. 

Falling Under is currently only available on Kindle through the Kindle Select program, but it was available through the other ebook stores (B&N, Kobo, Sony, Smashwords, Diesel, the iBookstore, etc) and will be again soon. 

Your website says that you're hard at work on your next project. Could you tell us a little bit about it, like whether it's a play or another novel? 

I’m working on a new book and I've got two others sitting on the shelf that I’d like to pick back up and revise. The one I’m working on is about a teenage girl who gets sent on a wilderness trip against her will. She’s a fairly sheltered, “normal” middle class girl and expecting a camp-like experience, but the trip turns out to be much more hard-core than she expected and she finds herself surrounded by a really rough group of people with serious emotional and psychological problems. The whole thing is so much worse and so much more intense than she expected, and the book is about how she gets through it. 

Wow. You just forced me to summarize it, which I haven’t done in awhile! This book may turn out to be best for the YA market, but I’m not positive about that. Even though it’s about a teen, I’m not trying to deliberately cater to a certain age of reader—I’m just writing the story the way I need to write it. 

How would you compare working on a second novel to the experience of drafting the first? Can fans expect news on your next book any time soon?

This will actually be the 5th novel I've written. There was one before Falling Under, which I thought was great when I wrote it, but now realize should remain in the drawer. And there have been two written since Falling Under, both of which have been put aside at the moment and are awaiting revisions. As to how it is working on successive novels…I wish I could say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. I think you get better at the brass tacks writing stuff, and you refine your voice and style, but it doesn't get any easier to do. I will say that with this book I have an outline and I know much more specifically where it’s going, so that helps. 

As to when fans might see a new novel…I hope to finish the one I’m working on this summer, but then it will need revisions. I will keep you posted!


I'd like to thank author and playwright Danielle Younge-Ullman for having taken the time to participate in this interview, which previously appeared elsewhere in November of 2012

Throwback Thursday - Falling Under

At first glance, Falling Under—the debut novel of Canadian stage actress and playwright Danielle Younge-Ullman—appears to be a rather simple tale, recounting the interpersonal struggles of a troubled young woman attempting to recover from a challenging past. However, just beneath the veneer of the title’s basic description lies a multifaceted story every bit as nuanced as human nature itself. 

At its core, the novel does hold firmly to the path laid out by its premise. As the story begins, Mara Foster is a child on Christmas morning. Far from joyous, the occasion leaves the five year old shrinking as her parents bicker heatedly over the affordability of her presents. It’s soon established that her life is fraught with the fiercely invective quarreling between her hapless, alcoholic father and unabashedly venomous mother. The toll such fighting, and her father’s eventual departure, take on the young girl is unavoidably heartbreaking. The innocent self-recriminations all too familiar under these circumstances assail the girl, setting the stage for both the troubled life of the protagonist, redolent with self-loathing and insecurity, and the novel through which that life is viewed. 

The majority of the book is told through minimalist first-person narrative, reminiscent in some ways of Palahniuk’s style. The author’s vocabulary is rich in emotional import, delivered in fragmented thoughts and conversational observations. The first chapter, however, like all other passages which chronicle Mara’s history, is told instead in the mode of second-person narrative. While the difference may seem unusual, the affect proves to be most profound. By so relating the events which shaped and conditioned Mara’s character as she exists in the novel’s present, the author crafts a bridge of empathy between Mara and the reader. Mara’s life, past and present, is rife with tragic circumstances and questionable choices; and yet, regardless of what one may think of these events, the empathy imbued by the second-person portions of the story enables judgment and understanding to remain separated. Readers may not agree with Mara’s decisions, but they’re much more likely to at least understand how such decisions were made.

Irrespective of these narrative shifts, the story as a whole does a fair job of speaking directly to the heart of the reader. Anyone who has known the anxieties of a burgeoning relationship, or suffered the agonies of love’s sudden absence, will easily find a piece of themselves in Mara’s story. Despite a level of social anxiety that borders on agoraphobia, Mara’s is not a world lacking in people. There are the tenuous relationships she maintains with her parents; her friendship with a rather boisterous and independent lesbian named Bernadette; sometimes-lover Erik, with whom she has a relationship few would characterize as anything but desperate; and Hugo, a new romantic prospect whose appearance in her life, and insistence to remain there, shakes her already fragile existence to its core. A host of former lovers flood her memory, particular that of Lucus, whose loss has come to define Mara in every way. 

Even elements of Mara’s character which are perhaps not familiar to the average reader somehow manage to cross the author’s bridge of understanding. Mara’s lifestyle is that of the artistic shut-in, producing relatively bland paintings for Sal, yet another former lover turned agent and patron. One need not know intimately the subject to experience vicariously what it is for Mara to practice her art. In fact, though the author spares readers any excessive reference to the more technical aspects of painting, her description of the emotional and existential abstractions of the artist’s life convey far more than she might have done by describing practical details.

This aspect of the story—that Mara is made so identifiable—grates at times, much as witnessing a struggling friend may similarly frustrate. For example, as the story progresses there are numerous instances in which Mara is confronted by individuals angered by apparent misunderstandings. With their faces red and voices raised, Mara is paralyzed, so akin to the trauma of her childhood are these experiences. Where a simple explanation or word in her own defense might thwart further discomfort, Mara instead remains frozen, silent, leaving the angry other to their assumptions. Like a moviegoer warning onscreen characters in futility, so too may readers find themselves urging Mara to rouse from her panic-stricken silence, her periods of depression-induced malaise. The overall affect is nothing short of striking. As they come across these and other such examples, many readers will find themselves quite drawn in by the undeniable human quality inherent to the story.

Falling Under is not a novel without faults, though they are indeed few, foremost of which is the disproportionate attention paid to Mara’s livelihood in comparison to those of others. Most characters, if not similarly employed in the arts, find their lives receive little more than lip service. The most glaring example is that of Erik, described very early on as a computer hacker, involved enough in such activities to warrant an apartment littered with technological paraphernalia. After a few references to this effect, no further mention is made of his illicit behavior. In light of the thorough exploration of his relationship with Mara, however, it is perhaps forgivable, as the depth of emotion involved is clearly more deserving of the reader’s attention. 

While the novel explores themes such as struggle and redemption, Falling Under is ultimately a story about consequences. Whether these are caused by elements beyond Mara’s control, such as the fallout of her parents’ failed relationship, or the results of her own poor choices, the message most prominently displayed is that life is a matter of managing and navigating the consequences that punctuate our lives. As the story draws to its close readers may well find themselves feeling as if they have experienced a number of the consequences with which Mara herself has had to contend. Whether this feeling derives from having lived through similar hardships and triumphs, or from the vicarious experience of having read Danielle Younge-Ullman’s brilliantly insightful work, this much is clear: anyone with a taste for edgy, heart-rending fiction will find more than simple entertainment here.

Click here to read the Post Script to this review

This review previously appeared elsewhere in November 2012

Post Script - The Time Traveler's Wife

Though I've enjoyed expounding upon the virtues of the page-to-screen adaptation thus far, it had bothered me that I hadn't yet covered The Time Traveler's Wife. Of all the titles I've covered or intend to cover, this was possibly the most important. To be honest, I feel I failed somewhat, as I do feel the movie, despite its redeeming qualities, falls so short of the source material; though I did touch upon the title's diminished screen presence, I don't think I necessarily drove the point sufficiently home. 

The truth is, I could have written ten times as much about this story, and still only scratched the surface. It really is my favorite book, and that's no small feat. It's not often I'm capable of selecting one particular item as superior to others of its kind. And for years, decades even, my favorite book was Frank Herbert's Dune, another complex novel that, despite enjoyable cinematic and television manifestations, had failed to adequately transition to the screen. 

I don't think I'll ever exhaust my desire to discuss The Time Traveler's Wife and the myriad ways in which it touches me. I similarly disbelieve that I'll ever find myself tired of rewatching the movie, nor is it likely that I'll cease the nascent tradition of re-reading the novel every September, just as the weather cools and it begins to feel as if the season of change has finally returned. It was a joy to share my appreciation for the novel and its adaptation. It's just a shame I could only do so once.

My original review of The Time Traveler's Wife