Friday, May 31, 2013

226 ~book news

FRIDAY LINKS: ON LOVE AND JOY











*****





Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved. 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

225 ~on writing

WRITING IS A WAY OF ORGANIZING EXPERIENCE AND LIFE ITSELF





In  Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction Patricia Highsmith shows us how there is no secret of success in writing except individuality, or call it personality.


Crucial questions

“Early in the development, the writer must ask these crucial questions:

Is the hero going to emerge from this victor or vanquished?

Is the atmosphere one of comedy, tragety, or both mixed?

Or it is a kind of flat reporting of events and cruel fate for the reader to make of what he wishes?”


As for life’s little difficulties, they are myriad.

“Once when I had everything settled about a new apartment in Manhattan—advance rent paid, the lease signed, the movers ready—I was informed that I could not have it because it was a professional apartment. Writers are not professionals, because ‘their clients do not come to them.’ I thought of writing to the Department of Housing or whoever made this law, ‘You have no idea how many characters ring my doorbell and come to me every day and I absolutely need them for my existence,’ but I never wrote this, only reflected that prostitutes could probably qualify, but writers couldn’t.”


Surprising yourself and the reader

“It is a cheap and trick merely to surprise and shock the reader, especially at the expense of logic. And a lack of invention on the writer’s part cannot be covered up by sensational action and clever prose. It is also a kind of laziness to write the obvious, which does not entertain really.

The ideal is an unexpected turn of the events, reasonably consistent with the characters of the protagonists. Stretch the reader’s credulity, his sense of logic, to the utmost—it is quite elastic—but don’t break it. In this way, you will write something new, surprising and entertaining both to yourself and the reader.”


Writing is a way of organizing experience and life itself

“I think the majority of writers, living a Robinson Crusoe existence with no hope of seeing another human being as long as they lived, would still write poems, short stories and books with whatever material there was at hand. Writing is a way of organizing experience and life itself, and the need of this is still present through an audience may not be.

However, I think most painters and writers like to think of their work being seen and read by lots of people, and emotionally this sense of contact is of great importance to their morale.”

*****


Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved. 

Monday, May 27, 2013

224 ~on success

DON'T BUY SOCIETY'S DEFINITION OF SUCCESS





“At the moment, our society’s notion of success is largely composed of two parts: money and power. In fact, success, money and power have practically become synonymous.

But it’s time for a third metric, beyond money and power—one founded on well-being, wisdom, our ability to wonder, and to give back.”




Arianna Huffington, author of On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work, and Life shares her wisdom at Smith College’s 135th commencement ceremony. 

Watch this video:




*****





Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win


Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Friday, May 24, 2013

223 ~book news

FRIDAY LINKS: THE CRITICS














*****


Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win


Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.


Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

222 ~on writing

THE WIDER A NOVEL’S THEME, THE BETTER IT IS AS A WORK OF ART




The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers gives a private series of extemporaneous lectures, analyzing the four essential elements of fiction.


If you know where your inspiration really comes from, you will never run out of material.

“A rational writer can stoke his subconscious just as one puts fuel in a machine. If you keep on storing things in your mind for your future writing and keep integrating your choice of theme to your general knowledge, allowing the scope of your writing to grow as your knowledge widens, then you will always have something to say, and you will find ever better ways to say it. You will not coast downhill after one outbreak of something valuable.”


The wider a novel’s theme, the better it is as a work of art.

“If a novel presents a marvelous philosophical message but has no plot, miserable characterization, and a wooden style full of bromides, it is a bad work of art.

In today’s literature, many books do not have any abstract theme, which means that one cannot tell why they were written. An example is the kind of first novel that relates the writer’s childhood impressions and early struggle with life. If asked why the particular events are included, the author says: ‘It happened to me.’ I warn you to write such a novel. That something happened to you is of no importance to anyone, not even to you (and you are now hearing it from the archapostle of selfishness). The important thing about you is what you choose to make happen—your values and choices.”


Never hang a gun on the wall in the first act if you don’t intend to have it go off in the third.

“Never resolve a smaller issue after the climax. In a story with multiple threads, the problems of the lesser characters, if not involved in the climax, have to be solved before the climax.

An annoying aspect of badly constructed novels is that the author poses minor problems and then leaves them hanging in the air, as if he has forgotten all about them. (Of course, in really bad novels, even the major issues are not resolved.)”


Concretize your abstractions

“A writer has to project his abstractions in specific concretes. That he knows something inwardly is not enough; he has to make the reader know it; and the reader can grasp it only from the outside, by some physical means. Concretize to yourself: If a man and a woman are in love, how do they act? What do they say? What do they seek? Why do they seek it? That is the concrete reality, for which ‘love’ is merely a wide abstraction.”





*****

Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved. 

Monday, May 20, 2013

221 ~on books

THE LAST BOOKSHOP







The Last Bookshop imagines a world in which only one bookstore survives. Watch this short film by Richard Dadd and Dan Fryer. 





*****




Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win


Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Friday, May 17, 2013

220 ~book news

FRIDAY LINKS: IT’S IN OUR NATURE TO NEED STORIES








  •  Gatsby, and other luxury consumers. NYTimes



*****





Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win



Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.


Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved. 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

219 ~on writing

THE LITTLE RED WRITING BOOK


“To write well, express yourself like the common people,
but think like a wise man”
—Aristotle.



The Little Red Writing Book is about what you have to do to hear just the right words at just the right time to speak them in just the right rhythm.


A sentence is just like a walk

“What the morning tells me is that a sentence is just like a walk—like this one in particular. A good sentence is a gravel path through a forest. It’s a track, not a road; it’s a trail, not a footpath. You want it to feel finished, but not mass-produced. You don’t want it to be anonymous. You want it to have a bit of personality, preferably its own, which will resemble yours. You want it to have topography, to rise and fall. And you want it to take a sensible, and reasonably straight, path to wherever it’s meant to be going.”


Like Bach’s music

“Ellie grew up with Polish and English. On the second morning of a business writing workshop she raised her hand and said this: ‘I came to this course thinking I would learn how to use words like “facilitate” and “maximisation.” What I have learned is to have the courage to avoid words like that.’

At the break she said to me, ‘Bach is what you’re talking about here, not?’ All that simple and beautiful intelligence, she meant.

Ellie may be, for all I know, the only student I’ve ever had who got hold of my meaning so clearly.

Bach’s music, for me, is brilliant but not showy; spare but not slight. Its simplicity is deceptive but not false, for the music is complex but never opaque. It is mathematics and art in equal measure. Bach is a perfect metaphor, thanks Ellie, for writing well.”


Keep your eye on your verbs

“Collect verbs. Husband them. Breed them. Fledge them lovingly. Keep the best and make them ready and, when the time comes, set them to work. You’re going to need at least one per sentence, so start your collection today. Don’t let the thesaurus suggest them. Go out and find your own. Then they’ll sound like yours.

Listen for verbs on the radio and in the conversations on the bus. Steal them, adopt them—they’re yours.”


Clarity is next to godliness

“’Be clear,’ commands EB White.

Clarity has two dimensions:

1.   What is it that I mean? That is sometimes the hardest part. Too much writing I see is either an unsuccessful search for what it is one meant to say, or it is an attempt to avoid saying it at all.
2.    How can I say it clearly?





*****


Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win


Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved. 

Monday, May 13, 2013

218 ~on motivation

THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT WHAT MOTIVATE US








Watch this video on motivation from Dan Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us 






“We are purpose maximisers, not only profit maximisers”







*****




Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Friday, May 10, 2013

217 ~book news

FRIDAY LINKS: GAMES OF THE TITANS










*****


Goodreads Book Giveaway

I say Who What and Where by Merce Cardus

I say Who What and Where

by Merce Cardus

Giveaway ends June 05, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

Click to order I say Who, What, and Where! 
an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION 
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

                                                                  

Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.