Wednesday's Inspiring Books

Morning! Every Wednesday I want to share one book with you that has been instrumental in my journey to becoming a writer / author. I think it's fair to say that no author ever lived who wasn't standing on the shoulders of those great and giant books they read as a child / adult / the week before they wrote their own novel / etc. Writers are readers - this is a firm and unmoving truth. A Truth, even, with a capital 'troo.'

Today's book is War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo

Hey look, it's even a film now!

This was a set text way back when I was in, I think, Year 9 - a notorious year in any high school, when the kids are just getting the hang of rebellion, but don't have the disciple over themselves or their own bodies to be really good at it yet. War Horse stayed with me for a while, but it's actually when I went back and re-read it several years later that I realised how good it was. The fact I even thought to re-read it tells you a lot. I was not a bookish child, and I think it would amuse quite a lot of my old teachers to find out what I'm like now. 

So, why did I reread War Horse? Because it's flippin' good - and because Michael Morpurgo is probably one of the most prolific and influential children's writers living today.

It's strange that he doesn't get the big 'hurrahs' of mega-authors, but at the same time, it makes sense. He has written a vast number of truly good books, but always in a quiet, dignified way. While the ebb and flow of celebrity and over night success makes the media giddy with delight, Michael Morpurgo is an author who spends time in schools, time on his farm, and time writing lasting books to change lives. And winning awards, of course. And praise. 'Cause he's amazing.

I also reread War Horse because I had been to the local WH Smith and bought Kensuke's Kingdom (with this exact cover!)

I wonder if I still have my copy of this, in England?

I bought it because it was by him, that author I'd liked. First time I ever did that. Nowadays we call it brand loyalty, or consumer penetration, or a whole host of words designed to hide, and not reveal, meaning. Bah. I call it wanting to read more, because I liked his first book.

What more can a writer ask for from kids?

I even moved to Japan years later, though in fairness, that wasn't because of Michael Morpurgo, or Kensuke. Probably.

Mostly.

I think.

First Blog Award!

My thanks go out today to J.W. Alden for giving Plottypus its first award! The Liebster Award, I learn, 'has been traditionally awarded to honour those blogs which motivate and inspire us. It is also granted to those blog authors who have accumulated 200 followers or less. Its purpose is to summon new followers and increase awareness of other noteworthy blogs.'


Well, what a fantastic idea, and I'm thrilled to be thought of. You should totally go check out his blog. I will be passing the award on to a couple of my favourite bloggers in time, but for now I'm going to hold back while I put some thought into it. There are many great bloggers out there and it's really cool to see community being built like this. Thanks to everyone!


In other, non-awardy, book news, I have added a couple of scenes following feedback, and couldn't be happier with how it's all going. 


Also, check THIS link out for some real home truths about being a writer, and what rubbish 'writers' block' is. Warning - language and adult content may be involved. 

Wednesday's Inspiring Books

As a new and hopefully regular feature, every Wednesday I'll be posting about books that have been especially influential in my life, and in making me a writer. All writers read, but there are some books that stick with you, from years ago and the far reaches of childhood, and you just know that everything you write is still being changed by it - whether it's a single word, a phrase, a feel, the first realisation that people actually do this for a living...

So, let's get started on today's old - but oh so important  - book.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I only read this book because I had to. High school English Lit. required reading does not normally go down well with kids, but this book is the first one I remember reading and - almost guiltily - realising I wanted to keep reading out of school. It's all thanks mostly to the passionate and dedicated teacher I was lucky enough to have, and her ability to engage and interest the whole class - thirty uninterested teens - in the dangers and troubles and daily realities of Ralph and Simon and the rest of the boys who didn't really exist.

Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and I remember being fascinated with this, wanting to find out more, to know why, and how, and what that meant, and who chose it...

The story in this book is played off perfectly with the moral and philosophical points Golding is making at the same time - but the reason I'm starting with The Lord of the Flies in my list of important books is simple. I wanted to read it, to find out what happened. What greater praise can a young boy give an author?

And now I make my own stories, and try to live up to the standards set by the great, great writers who came before me.

Sunny Monday Writing

It's a beautiful Monday morning here in NJ, with none of the promised fog and all of the promised warmth.

I'm typing away, being good and doing the work I'm supposed to (though not right now, of course. Right now I'm rebelling...) but all the time, at the back of my head, I know I'm thinking way more about the stories than the articles I should be focusing on.

Plot lines. Word choice. Chapter breaks. Character names...

Maybe I'm just bad at multi-tasking. Maybe I'm making excuses to be lazy and have fun.

I like to think that it's because the one thing I want to do most in the world has been filling my head for days now, and you can't just turn that off.

So here's a Monday thought for you. Writers write, even when they're not holding a pen. Or typing on a keyboard. Or seem to be doing anything, really. They really do.

Now, watch this, for it is good.

Agent Revisions

I was in the city on Wednesday helping to run an event for work, when I got an e-mail forwarded to my phone.  It was an agent in London, one who had my full manuscript, wanting to organise a good time to call. It's pretty exciting when this happens - agents, being busy people, rarely phone non-clients. We agreed a time and I managed to not go crazy for an entire 24 hours. Well, not crazier than normal. I may have woken my wife up with a French accent and an interpretive jig.

The call went amazingly. She likes the book - really likes it, in fact, and said some amazingly complimentary things about my writing, all of which I managed to humbly swat away with the air of a seasoned professional by saying 'Mrghghg. What? Wow. Um. Ha. Ha. Megh?'

The book has some problems, she thinks, but the story has really struck her and the style stood out. In its current state, though, she's worried that there are too many small problems for it to sell to a publisher. And yet she's interested...

In the end, she wanted to size me up to see how open I am to revision. Could we change the format a bit? How would I feel about providing more information about the father? Did I mean to hint at a past resentment with this scene? How about here? And... could we change the name?

Some writers get offended at suggestions of change - the agent herself admitted she's often wary, and likened it to telling a friend, 'Well, yes, your kid is pretty cute... but he'd look so much better without a head, don't you think?'

I'm over the moon. She e-mailed me a couple of pages of notes and suggestions, and we've e-mailed back and forth with thoughts about style and direction. If I can make these changes, and rework the book to be better than it's ever been, she wants to go further with it. That's a real chance, right there - a shot at landing representation.

So now - I'm rewriting. Whole scenes are shifting and growing and shrinking and morphing, but the book is getting better and I feel like I can really do this.

She said such nice words at me.

And hey - I and my wife and my brother- and sister-in-law are going to England at the end of April! Tickets are now booked, and this gives me a great goal to aim for. I'll have the book back to the agent in maybe 4 weeks, and hope that the Writing Gods are appeased, and I can maybe - maybe - even meet her. Who knows?

Few people realise that the whole of London is actually built on a 30 degree tilt...