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Mark Twain, uncensored

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:58:08 +0100

Everybody's familiar with Mark Twain, right? The quintessential American author and humorist. But the Twain we know has been "scrubbed and sanitized" according to Ron Powers, author of Mark Twain: a Life. Twain is about to be unscrubbed and unsanitized and I'm curious to see how this new, old Twain will be received. You see, the University of California Press is getting ready to publish Twain's unexpurgated autobiography. His autobiography has certainly been available for many years; it was originally released in 1924. But up until now, the version that has been published has always been, at Twain's own insistence, heavily edited.

Twain gave his publisher the following instructions in 1906. "From the first, second, third and fourth editions, all sound and sane expressions of opinion must be left out. There may be a market for that kind of wares a century from now. There is no hurry. Wait and see."

Well, it's been a century and see we will. The New York Times reports (July 9, 2011) "Whether anguishing over American military interventions abroad or delivering jabs at Wall Street tycoons, this Twain is strikingly contemporary."

The Times goes on to say, "Twain's opposition to incipient imperialism and American military intervention in Cuba and the Phillipines, for example, were well known, even in his own time. But the uncensored autobiography makes it clear that those feelings ran very deep and includes remarks, that if made today, in the context of Iraq or Afghanistan, would probably lead the right wing to question the patriotism of this most American of American writers."

Will the unexpurgated autobiography have an impact on Twain's legacy? Or is this, one hundred years later, much ado about nothing?

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Freaks

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:00:06 +0100

It has been nearly 40 years since the last time I watched the movie, Freaks and nearly that long since I last thought about the remarkable movie. Made in 1932, Freaks tells the story of a group of sideshow performers. "In the film, the physically deformed 'freaks' are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the 'normal' members of the circus who conspire to murder one of the performers to obtain his large inheritance." (from the film's Wikipedia entry).

Watching the movie last night, I was struck by a scene involving conjoined twins, Violet and Daisy. Daisy is married to one of the circus clowns. When Violet gets engaged, her fiance says to Daisy's husband something like you must come to visit us sometime. Daisy's husband agrees, responding in kind, and you must come to visit us as well.

As many of you know, in my first book, I wrote the diary of a conjoined twin, Clara Ederle. Readers have often wondered how I could get inside Clara's head and write her diary, especially how I could write so normally of her relationship with her sister Abigail. From the outside looking in, we see conjoined twins as if they were one "freak". But from the inside looking out, Clara and Abigail are two separate and distinct individuals, with separate lives and separate loves, connected by the bond of sisterhood as much as by an error of biology. And that is how I wrote them.

In the movie, the brief exchange between Violet's fiance and Daisy's husband makes total sense to me now. It's not just an odd bit written for a movie. Of course the two couples would talk about, and make plans, to visit. That is, after all, what people do.

Did I understand that, when I saw Freaks nearly 40 years ago? Did I see past the conjoining and recognize the two young women with their separate lives and their separate loves? I don't know. But I wonder, so many years later, did it help me find Clara's voice when I was writing her diary?

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A Fine Line

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:31:36 +0100

In his recent post, Blogging to Increase Your Audience, Dan wrote

"...it has always struck me how so many of the people on xanga that indicate they would like to be a professional writer of some sort, will tend to act as if they don't care if people read them. I would think that it would be the goal of the professional writer to be read. I would assume that professional writers need to sell books."

As a professional writer who needs to sell books and who blogs here on xanga, I think I'd like to pursue that issue just a little bit further. Artists have something of a love-hate relationship with popularity. I've known garage bands that swore that they wouldn't want to get signed by a major label because it would compromise their music. And I've known more than a few aspiring writers (as well as published authors) who like nothing more than to make fun of Dan Brown.

Stephen King once wrote, "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented." (Everything you need to know about writing successfully - in ten minutes, in The Writers Handbook, 1988).

And, of course, the only way that happens, the only way you get to pay the light bill, let alone the mortgage, is if you have readers. Lots of readers. And these days, the only way you get a contract (well, maybe not the only way, but certainly the easiest) is if you bring readers to the publisher.

Writers become writers because we like to write. Not because we like to promote. If we liked to promote, we'd become promoters. But we would do well to remember that "the customer is always right". If I'm writing a book in the hope that a publisher will buy it, and that readers will read it, it would be naive to ignore what it is readers want to read, what it is publishers believe they can sell. But it is folly to chase the trends, to write to the market.

A friend of mine, a fellow mystery writer, a very talented mystery writer (I won't mention his name, only because he seems to have removed the post) blogged recently about the fine line between being a professional writer and being a hack. What do you do, he asked (he wasn't really asking, so much as he was venting) when your publisher wants you to make a change in your manuscript, a change that is being recommended to increase marketability. Where do you draw the line between telling the story you want to tell and telling the story your publisher believes will sell.

And that's why I have often said, it starts by writing the best book you're capable of writing. It starts there, but it surely doesn't end there, because writing a good book is an art, but selling a good book is a business.

Is there a lesson here for bloggers? Is there a moral to the story? I will leave that for each of you to decide.

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The business of sport

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:00:52 +0100

Basketball fans are consumed with the free-agent machinations of LeBron James, but the New York Times is reporting on a much bigger free-agent controversy in the world of sport. Takeru Kobayashi will not be competing in Nathan's hot-dog-eating contest today on Coney Island. Kobayashi won the contest for six straight years (2001 - 2006) and is clearly one of the top two competitive eaters in the world today (the other being the reigning Nathan's champion, Joey Chestnut). Although Kobayashi no longer holds the world record for hot dogs, he is the current world record holder for lobster rolls, for rice balls, and for cow brains.

But, as reported yesterday in the Times, Kobayashi will not compete in the premier event in the world of competitive eating because of a contract dispute. Major League Eating (the M.L.E.) organizes and sanctions competitive eating events including the annual Fourth of July Nathans hot-dog-eating contest. They are requiring contestants to sign exclusivity contracts. In other words, if Kobayashi wants to compete at Nathans, he has to agree not to participate in any contest which is organized by one of M.L.E.'s competitors.

Xenophobes undoubtedly are pleased to know that American Joey Chestnut will not have to face Kobayashi this year. But true fans of the sport will miss the opportunity to watch these two titans squaring off against one another one more time. Once again, sport is held hostage by big business.

The Nathan's event will be telecast live on ESPN. It's not summer until someone barfs during the annual hot-dog-eating contest. Will you be watching?

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Unstuck in time

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:10:59 +0100

A woman, observing the uncharacteristically longer line outside the men's room last night, pointed out to my wife, "At their age, they have to use the bathroom every ten minutes." This morning, I imagine twenty thousand stock brokers and ad execs, bankers, doctors and lawyers, butchers, bakers and very upscale candlestick makers (and a certain mystery writer as well), all smiling the same tired smile, all struggling to get to work on time. We stayed up late last night, twenty thousand of us, "unstuck" in time (to borrow a phrase from Kurt Vonnegut) celebrating our youth for sure, but that's far too simple of an explanation.

It's about identity, how music defines us and connects us. I said once, in another post, It's about how the boy still lives, somewhere inside the man, but also about how the man always lived, somewhere inside that boy. With one ear, I may have been listening to 2010, but the other ear was firmly planted in 1970.

James Taylor and Carole King, last night, at Madison Square Garden.

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I'm a cell in a database

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:43:00 +0100

Analyzing book sales is like reading tea leaves... you can fool yourself into believing you know something, but, in truth, you've just got a pile of damp darjeeling.

Still, that's what writers do. In the absence of real data (my royalty statements run nearly a year behind actual sales), we pore over what little data we can find and pretend to know what it means. Anyone who has watched amazon rankings jump a million spots in an hour (based on perhaps as few as two or three book sales) will understand.

Case in point... the New York Times bestseller list. Pretty straightforward, right? It's a list of the books that have sold the most copies, right? Wrong. The formula by which the Times generates its list is a closely guarded secret, but the parameters are pretty well established. First, the Times pre-selects a list of books that have the potential to be best sellers (based on previous sales, or publisher hype, or author celebrity, or print run, or...). Then it aggregates weekly sales data from a small sample of book sellers. And the books that sold the most copies that week, in the pre-selected markets, from the list of pre-selected titles are that week's best sellers.

And why do I tell you all this? This past week-end, I sold a few books. Not a lot of books, not a life-changing number of books, a few books. But they were sold by a book seller who reports his data to the New York Times. No, I'm not a New York Times best seller. Far from it. But this week, somewhere in the New York Times data base, somewhere far below the best sellers, I imagine that there's a cell in the data base that says It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder - 10 books. And it makes me smile.

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Ask the Editor

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:52:18 +0100

I'd like to introduce you to my friend and colleague, Alice Duncan. That's Alice, hiding behind the funny papers.

When I asked Alice for a brief bio to use with today's post, this is what she sent me -

Award-winning author Alice Duncan lives with a herd of wild dachshunds (enriched from time to time with fosterees from New Mexico Dachshund Rescue) in Roswell, New Mexico. She's not a UFO enthusiast; she's in Roswell because her mother's family settled there fifty years before the aliens crashed. Since her two daughters live in California, where Alice was born, she’d like to return there but can’t afford it. Alice would love to hear from you at alice@aliceduncan.net. And be sure to visit her website at http//www.aliceduncan.net

But I'd like to tell you a little bit more about Alice Duncan. Alice is, quite possibly, the most prolific author that I know. She has written more than 60 published novels, including historical fiction, mystery, romance and westerns. Her latest book, Hungry Spirits, was published just last week. And she has another new book, Pecos Valley Revival, scheduled for release in January.

You might think that writing 60 novels would keep Alice busy, but she still finds the time to work as a book editor. I can tell you from personal experience that she's one helluva talented editor. Alice has done the editing on each of my last two books. And now, Alice has agreed to answer our questions.

Here's how this is going to work. If you have a question about editing or writing, or about Alice's books (or dachshunds or UFOs) leave the question as a comment to this post. Over the next few days, I'll be collecting your questions and forwarding them to Alice. I can't promise you that Alice will pick your question, but sometime in the next week or so, Alice will write a guest post addressing the questions.

So if you're struggling to edit your manuscript, or you're struggling to edit someone else's manuscript, or you're curious about what an editor really does, or you'd like to know more about Alice's books (or dachshunds or UFOs) here's your chance to ask.

Let's make Alice feel welcome. Perhaps we can convince her to peek out from behind that newspaper.

EDIT: Alice claims not to be a blogger, but I think we've drawn her out. So you may not have to wait very long to get an answer to your question. And here she is, out from behind the newspaper.

To read the comments or to add a comment of your own, please use this link.

Coming Soon, to a Blog Near You

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 10:43:13 +0100

In response to my recent post, Tips for Aspiring Authors, AmeSoeur left me the following comment -

"I wonder if you take requests on blogs about writing professionally, haha. I'm currently stuck on the editing process, and you seem to know what you're talking about, so I was wondering if you could give some advice in that regard?"

I can do better than that. So watch this space.

And amesouer is certainly not the only writer on xanga struggling to edit a manuscript. You know who you are. So watch this space.

On Monday, I plan to announce a new feature on my blog, maybe it'll be a one-time thing, maybe it'll turn into a semi-regular feature. We shall see.

If you have questions about editing, get them ready.

And watch this space.

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National Crime Fiction Week

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:43:40 +0100

Yesterday, I suggested that if you live in California, Nevada, or Utah, in Wyoming, Nebraska or Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, you should get yourself to Route 80, and point your car east, in time for Deadly Ink. Of course, not everyone who reads my blog lives near Interstate 80. Some of you live near an airport. So, if you prefer air travel to long-distance car trips, you should know that it's National Crime Fiction Week in the United Kingdom, "a nationwide celebration of crime writing" with events happening all week, in locations across the UK.

For example, if you can get to the Carnegie Library in Ayr by 2:00 today, you can join "local history librarian Tom Barclay on a walking tour of town centre sites associated with the rebels, smugglers, body-snatchers, common criminals and thief-takers who have all played dramatic parts in the town's colourful past."

Or, if you need a little more travel time, at 7:00 tonight you can join author Neil White, for a "crime and curry evening" at the Massala Room, Foulridge, Lancs.

There are events scheduled every day this week. So dig out that passport and head straight for the airport.

Or you could curl up wherever you are with Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle and enjoy a bit of UK crime fiction.

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Interstate 80

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:35:26 +0100

Interstate 80

starts in San Francisco and runs east through California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania before coming to an end in Ridgefield Park NJ, at the intersection of Interstate 95, as it approaches the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge and NYC, nearly 3000 miles of transcontinental highway, America on wheels.

In my twenties, I could hitchhike the full length of Interstate 80 in 4 days, although, to be honest, I preferred the southern route, Interstate 40, warmer weather being a not unimportant consideration for the transcontinental hitchhiker.

My worst encounter with bad weather on Interstate 80 occurred one winter, in my thirties, a decade removed from hitchhiking. I was snowed in at Boystown in Nebraska (yes, that Boystown, the Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney Boystown) when snow shut Interstate 80 the entire length of the state of Nebraska. But I had a bag of leftover hushpuppies from Long John Silvers, a bottle of red wine, and a Bic pen (which was quite handy in the absence of a corkscrew). I spent several days eating hushpuppies, sipping wine and watching high school wrestling on a TV whose reception was so poor, there was nearly as much snow on the TV as there was outside my window.

The good thing about Interstate 80 is that when you get on the highway, it's a straight run to almost anywhere. For example, Parsippany. And there's no snow in the forecast at the end of June. So, wherever you might live (wherever, that is, in California, Nevada, or Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, or Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania or New Jersey) you can join me at Deadly Ink from June 26 - 28.

Deadly Ink is a most convivial conference of mystery writers and readers. The opening session at the conference is dessert. That's right, dessert. On Friday evening, the conference opens with an informal opportunity to meet the authors over a table of deadly desserts. Saturday and Sunday are devoted to presentations and panel discussions, interviews and book signings. I'll be speaking on three panels. On Saturday, I'll be discussing mysteries that are set in New Jersey. On Sunday, I'll be discussing writing as the opposite sex, and also about developing characters.

I hope you'll join me at Deadly Ink. All you have to do is find Interstate 80 and point your car east.

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