by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell
There are some writers who do very well writing one thing, and one thing only. An author named Lee Child has written only thrillers about a character named Reacher. He’s done pretty well with that, and may break into big sales soon.
There are writers who concentrate on one genre, though they may create different series characters or stand alones. Michael Connelly is like that, and so was Robert B. Parker.
Then there are writers known for one type of book who get restless and take a flyer on another kind. John Grisham wrote A Painted House (literary) after a string of hugely successful legal thrillers. Dennis Lehane, known for gritty contemporary crime, came out a few years ago with a sweeping historical, The Given Day.
Some fiction writers cross over into non-fiction. Ray Bradbury was a writer whose fertile imagination and curious mind could not be contained in fictional worlds only. He wrote numerous essays and opinion pieces, many of which have been collected into volumes, like Bradbury Speaks.
Saroyan
And then there is one of my favorite writers, William Saroyan. His name is not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries (Hemingway, Steinbeck), but in the 30s and 40s he was considered a literary lion, winner of the Pulitzer Prize (which he famously turned down), and author of short stories (e.g., My Name is Aram), novels (e.g., The Human Comedy), and plays (e.g., The Time of Your Life).
When his fiction sales tailed off in the early 50s, Saroyan turned to the quirky memoir, writing several volumes of remembrance, observation, and opinion. Examples include The Bicycle Rider in Beverly Hills and Places Where I’ve Done Time.
For Saroyan, writing was life and life was writing. And, indeed, death was the only thing that stopped him. His final words were: “Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?”
A few years before his death Saroyan came out with a book unlike anything I’d ever read before. Obituaries was a large collection of short pieces, each one a riff on a name from the list of movie industry people who had died in 1976 and listed in a special edition of Variety.
What’s so nuts about the book is that it contains no paragraph breaks and no indentations. Each entry is just one solid block of text that goes on until Saroyan is finished with what he has to say.
And what he says varies with where his mind takes him. He starts with the name of the deceased, whether he knew the person or not, and off he goes. Then he’ll switch mid-stream-of-consciousness and go in a completely different direction.
This crazy book was nominated for the American Book Award and named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times. I own a first edition.
Anyway, early last year I was thinking about ways to increase my writing production, and found myself reading the obituary of Anita Ekberg, the Swedish actress. Something in me clicked, like a switch, and a sluice gate opened in my brain, and all these words starting pouring out on a page. It was different and it was fun. What was coming out was part essay, a little bit of memoir, and “parts unknown.”
So I decided to keep going, and spent a goodly portion of 2015 reflecting on obituaries. Many of them are of famous people, but I also looked at local obits from small town papers, and found myself using those, too. Every life has a story if we’re willing to listen.
When I looked up on January 1, 2016, I had a full-length collection. And here it is. If you want to get a flavor of it, just click on the PREVIEW button below. You can scroll through the preview and you’ll stay right here on TKZ.
It’s a book you don’t have to read in one sitting. In fact it’s set up for when you’re waiting in line for coffee, or at the doctor’s, even in the checkout lane at the grocery store. I do, however, advise against reading it in commuter traffic.
Have you felt the pull to write something completely different? Well, what’s stopping you? Here are three tips:
- Write wildly
Pick a subject you love, or a topic you’re mad, sad or glad about. Write like a wildfire about that subject. Shut off your inner editor completely. Even if you never publish the entries you are at the very least stretching your writer’s mind beyond self-contained borders. That will help you in all your writing.
- Edit soberly
If you do decide to publish something new, go at it objectively. Make sure you edit your words so they mean what you want them to mean, and what you want other people to see. Get feedback from beta readers. Not everything that flies off your fingers is ready for prime time. Write hot, but revise cool.
- Publish enthusiastically
Digital self-publishing is the greatest boon to writers since Gutenberg. It’s even better than old Johannes’s regime, because there you had to own a printing press, and get paper, and ink, and binding, and distribution. Only a few big companies could do that in the modern era, and thus many more books were rejected than published.
Not anymore. While some decry the “tsunami of content” in digital, for writers who write, who love to write, who—dare I say—live to write, there is a free marketplace. If you’ve got something to say, say it. Work it, polish it and then put it out there. Let the readers decide what to do with it.
So what about you? Do you have a secret pet project you’d like to write someday? What’s holding you back?
First time I’ve heard anyone mention Saroyan in many moons. I loved his stuff when I was younger, particularly the short stories. As I recall (using a very old memory chip) there seemed to be a large number of exceptionally fine writers around in the forties and fifties – Cheever, Updike, Hunter, etc. While some of their stuff is obviously dated, the writing was absolutely first rate. I don’t seem to see as much of that quality anymore. I’m currently reading through this year’s Edgar nominees. A good deal of the writing is frankly appalling. Or maybe I’ve just reached the curmudgeon stage.
Yes, Saroyan needs rediscovering. I recommend the collection My Name is Aram to anyone who wants to start.
And for you, Stephen, let me recommend another collection, The Portable Curmudgeon by Jon Winokur. You’ll find you are in good company.
What a cool idea. Your new release sounds wonderfully creative. Love the cover, too! I’ve been playing with flash fiction, and I really like the medium. I still write crime because that’s what I’m passionate about, but I’m having a blast. It’s also a great way to use an idea that isn’t worthy of an entire novel.
Love it that you’re having a blast, Sue. That’ll show in all your writing. Readers can pick up when an author is having a good time. Flash forward!
So many golden nuggets in this piece! Which got me thinking that I recently started a file titled “Essay” for all of my musings and ramblings like extinction, photography, eggs, and on being weird to mention a few. I don’t know where this file will lead but that doesn’t really matter as much as getting the thoughts out of my head and on the paper.
In your writing, you sum the process up nicely. “As history moves along I know I only have so much time on this orb, and I’m a writer, so I want to do as much of it as I can before I leave.”
Then this “William Zinsser whose essays and little books are smooth as honey and hilarious.” A standard to aspire to indeed.
Bert A. Cramer obit. One word: sad. Reminds me of a short-lived job I had in 2014, editing obituaries for an online news source in western Kentucky. Many simply stated the facts like Bert. I remember feeling so overwhelmed with loneliness for these people that I didn’t know and would never get to know. Like any editing job though, there was no time to take a pee let alone research any survivors for more information. Styling the font helped for the first few, but the list of elderly people with no survivors is long and so I had to compartmentalize the task and just work with speed and the occasional prayer.
My pet project? A crime thriller. I am a food and memoir writer, but I love the sensation I get when I unlock that part of my brain that makes me feel like I’m free falling.
Maureen, your comment here tells me you have a lot to say that is worth reading. Esp. your paragraph on your obit writing job. And your description of “free falling” into a thriller is one we can all relate to. So fall! And, as Ray Bradbury used to say, “grow wings on the way down.”
Thanks for the kind words James. Yes, that job! Also, fyi, I bought “Some People Are Dead” and “Obituaries.” Thanks for the inspiration.
I have have been writing about paranormal things–actually, overcoming paranormal things.
I would like to write a WWII epic that, in some ways, will be something like, but certainly not the same as, Herman Wouk’s Winds of War and War and Remembrance. I have been writing character sketches, drawing out the acts and plot lines on paper, and doing research on such things as Norden Bomb Sights and where the Tokyo Club was in Los Angeles.
All I can say is, whew. I’ve worked less digging garden rows.
Sounds like a great project, Jim. I just finished Wouk’s writing memoir, Sailor and Fiddler (written when he was 100!) and he talks about his WWII books as the “big project” he was always heading for … and then he finally went for it. Took seven years, I think it was, before the first volume was finished. So get on the stick!
I will. And now I’ve GOT to get hold of Sailor and Fiddler.
God bless.
Jim,
Trying something different has been on my mind lately, even as I have taken the deep dive into writing a five book series over the next two years. Working with a developmental editor has made a huge difference in my writing; at the same time, trying something very different has been tugging at me as a way to stretch my wings and level up my writing craft (to borrow a roleplaying term 😉
So, today’s column was perfectly timed, as they so often are! I especially like ‘write wildly.’
Snapped up your book, and look forward to reading it!
Thanks, Dale. Your five book project sounds great, and it’s good to hear about your positive experience with a developmental ed. I love having my projects planned and in process…but the “completely different” stuff is fun, too. I think we just need to play sometimes!
Jim, wonderful topic for the first day of spring.
I loved the preview of your new book and just bought it. I look forward to reading your musings. Call it chutzpah or hubris, I’m certain it will be very interesting, and enlightening.
I think the subject of death is interesting as a motivation for writing. We all desire immortality, if not in a physical sense, at least to be remembered. I call it leaving a legacy. Even if no one else reads my work, at least future generations of my descendants will be able to go back and discover what grandpa was really all about. And if we can teach them something in a subtle way, hey, that’s a bonus. And even if the books sell at $0.01 or $0.02, they will still be out there.
On the subject of doing something different: I’ve found writing short stories very fulfilling and worthwhile. In two years, I have six stories in three anthologies – and they’re all now on Amazon. The fact that the anthologies were all for charity, makes it even more satisfying. Somehow, putting up an author page on Amazon yesterday made me feel like I had arrived. I’d love to see writers join together for a common cause and start publishing more collections of short stories.
Thanks for another great post!
Steve, you reminded me of another Woody Allen quote: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.”
Anyway, there is a lot to that legacy business. My dad was very literate and poetic (for a lawyer!) and I treasure all the items he left behind in written form. My mom was always a writer at heart, and I have things like the radio scripts she wrote in college, and newspaper columns she did for a local “shopper” paper in our town. All wonderful things to have!
Good blog, Jim, and congratulations on a fascinating new book. Two years ago, I was becoming restless writing cozy mysteries.I love my readers and I make a very good living, but I wanted to return to the dark side. I’d started writing hardboiled mysteries and wanted to write about a death investigator. Last January I took the MedicoLegal Death Investigators Training Course at St. Louis University, and then wrote the Angela Richman, Death Investigator series. My agent sold the two-book DI series and BRAIN STORM, the first book in the series, will debut at ThrillerFest in July. This is a risky move for me, but I love that book.
And that’s the key, Elaine. You love it, and that will show. Good luck with the launch!
What’s holding me back? In a word, terror!
Ha! Well, I know a Lynn Vincent who is a pro and will fight through terror…and prevail.
Seems to me you’ve been doing something differents for a while~ granted they’ve been in LA (mostly), but in different time periods~ the Kit Shannon series, Glimpses of Paradise, the Ty Buchanans ~ I guess you could call this a different something different.
🙂
I should probably set a thriller among the penguins in Antarctica, and do some location work.
Oh~ and I always loved Python’s “Something completely different” ~ You never really knew what it would be other then different.
With the Killzoneblog we are able to jump into our projects through this bottomless well of inspiration, growing our wings, learning literary aerodynamics, and from falling, growing into flying.
Ah, kind words, Lance. Thanks for being part of our community!
I remember my parents having a copy of The Human Comedy on their bookshelf, probably a Book of the Month Club selection. I read it numerous times. Thanks for the reminder.
Great book, and great movie, too.
I have, for the most part, have written about vampires and fantasy. Last year I wanted to try my hand at writing a murder mystery. I’ve always wanted to do this. I finally got up the courage. I’m nearly finished and hope this will be out this year. I do have a small publisher (out of Denmark), and he enthusiastically encourages my efforts.
Great post, James!
Way to go Lorelei. It’s always nice to have enthusiastic encouragement behind you!