The Road by Clive West--a review

I often worry about reviewing the work of colleagues and friends. After all, reviews can be a tricky business, and while I want to be honest, I hate the thought of hurting a friend's feelings.  When my fellow blogger at All Things Writing, Clive West, asked me if I'd be interested in reading and reviewing his book, The Road, I said yes with some trepidation. 

Luckily, my worries were over nothing! The Road turned out to be a fantastic read.

 

 

Here is the author's Amazon blurb:

Every crime has its victim.

The Giddings family - enjoying their rural idyll until events start to spiral out of their control turning paradise into hell.

Henry - trapped in a loveless marriage who sees a chance to climb on board the gravy train for a one-way ticket out of misery but doesn't want to know about the consequences of his actions.

Sandra - frustrated by a system where the rich get richer and the poor pay to get a ringside seat.

John - a shrewd developer who knows all the tricks and is the guy flicking the switch when the smelly stuff hits the fan.

The parasites and hangers on, too numerous to mention, who abuse their positions of trust to feather their own nests but who are outraged when those lower down the pecking order try to do the same.

 

The Road is one of those books that sucks you in from the very beginning. We know from the get go that a suicide has occurred, but are unsure who the unnamed victim is. As the story unfolded, I kept coming back to those first few pages and trying to guess which of the characters it was. To be honest, this book kept me guessing about that until close to the end.

I think that's the charm of The Road. It's a highly detailed, character driven tale where you can't help but get emotionally involved in the character's lives. I felt a little like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, always peeking in at the raw events that occurred. Mr. West definitely knows how to create characters that are strong and evoke feelings from the readers. I liked the character of Henry a great deal, even when I knew he was stooping to a low level with his development deal. His frustration with his wife and the disinterest of his kids was well written and pulls the reader right into his life. His wife, Margaret (Maggie), is a piece of work. She nags, complains, and feels that nothing is ever good enough.

I felt a little sorry for Sandra. It was obvious to me that her boyfriend, Angelo, was never going to be who she wanted him to be. I've met lots of girls like her who are blinded by love and don't really see the truth.  

And then there's John. Talk about smarmy. Underhanded, seedy, and definitely someone who knows how to work the system, John is that guy we've all met who seems to be just a little better off, just a little better dressed than everyone else. We know that he's gotten all his success by playing the odds and not caring who he steps on as he climbs the career ladder.

When these characters come together, they create a stirring story about corruption and greed.

If you've followed my past reviews, you know that I can't ever write a review without being a least a little critical. My only negative comment about The Road would be that at times I felt there was too much backstory which slowed the action down. However, it wasn't enough to stop me from reading the book!

Bravo, Clive, on an excellent tale!

Clive's Amazon link for The Road is below. Be sure to check back and read more of his musings and thoughts on writing every Thursday here at All Things Writing.

 

The Road Amazon Link

 

 

 

You Can Write A Novel -Review

With Nanowrimo fast approaching we've all been focusing on sketching out the core elements of our proposed novels, developing our plot, and generally just trying to figure out what to write. Everyone has their own system, from free-balling to notes on index cards. For those of you without a system, you may want to check out the You Can Write A Novel Kit from James V. Smith. This handy little box comes with a book detailing how to develop a book from conceptualization to ending and handy little sheets to help you develop major and minor characters, outline chapters, and develop scenes. The tear-sheets kind of remind me of Yatzee score cards but instead of keeping track of dice, you can hash out things like character background, relevance of a scene to the overall plot, and review chapters to make sure key revelations have been met.

The book itself is quite handy. The elements are logically delineated and information is presented so that it is both visually appealing and easy to understand and incorporate. I especially like the little chart that shows the Master Story Model. This model is good for those of you wanting to insure the right amount of action/peaks at the right places. The also make great guideposts that give your story some direction with room to evolve as characters start to muck around on their own (which mine always do).

The book closes with invaluable tips on revising to help you tighten up your novel and avoid dreadful mistakes. Each tip is itemized with easy to follow exercises so you can quickly read through and start utilizing them right away.

All-in-all, the kit is a great planning and revising tool for those looking to get a better handle on the cumbersome aspects of writing a novel. Once you get a feel for it, you can muddle with the forms and outlines to suit your personal tastes. It's not a sure fire way to develop a winning novel, but its the most compact, inclusive, and easy to use resource I have found as a new novelist. I hope it helps you out, too. Good luck with Nanowrimo!

What a character!

Sure, you may have a great plot idea, and you may even be a good writer, but if you have boring characters you will find your story falling flatter than my pancakes on Sunday morning. Yes, they're that bad.

Moving on..

The thing about well developed characters is that even when you run out of ideas, they'll start writing the story for you. They will create situations you never thought of, bring their own interesting dialogue, and add that all important dimension that creates a personal connection with the reader. How do you develop strong characters? Start with a character sketch. Not a physical description, but more of a personality sketch (though physical details are included). This can be a list of items, a short description, an index card of notes, but something that describes in as much detail as possible your character. When doing this ask yourself the following questions:

What is my character's greatest fear?
What is their favorite food, memory, band, color, song, activity?
Where did they grow up? What extracurricular activities did they participate in?
Who was their best friend? Why was that person their best friend?
What is their little quirk, favorite phrase, or nervous habit?

The more questions like this you can answer, the more depth your character will have. Even if you don't use all of this information in the story, it all helps develop an internal sense of who the character is and what motivates them.

The final thing to consider is what is the one thing your character would never say or do. Have it? Good. Now put them in a situation where they have to say or do that very thing. That's how your character evolves. That's what raises the stakes and makes it interesting. That's what people want in a story.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but trust me its worth it. I used to skip this step then wonder why my story would hit a brick wall half way through. Now I start with a character sketch every time and I do it for as many of the characters as I can. It's brought my stories to life, and its fun to create your own people then manipulate their lives to your liking. Ahhhh, power trip. If only it worked in other areas too.

Moving on...

So go out there and build your little brainchildren, develop interesting characters, analyze and dissect them and then put them back together. You'll see your writing become better for it. And yes, you can also enjoy the omnipotent thrill it brings.