Authors and Books
Harry Crews –
If I ever had to team up with another writer in a bar brawl or some fight-to-the-death street fight, this would be the guy I’d pick. I mean, look at him. If I didn’t already love his writing, I’d probably be intimidated into buying his books. I first ran across his book Scar Lover a few years ago and ever since, I snatch up any of his books I can find. He’s bizarre, twisted, dark, depressing, but somehow, you can’t help but think there is some small amount of optimism trapped in his writing. I’ll tell you one thing about his writing…you know that really awful idea you’ve had, the one where you put it on paper and then thought in horror This came from my brain? Well, Crews will make you feel so much better about any twisted idea you ever entertained. Not only does he most likely one-up your awful idea, he threw it right out there for the world to see. I couldn’t pick a favorite book of his, but Feast of Snakes probably best represents his style.
Larry Brown – Go buy the book Dirty Work right now. It might be the least praised book of Brown’s, but it’s is amazing. It is written in 1st person, but it switches back and forth from two different narrators. There is never any blatant sign or indication that the point of view is switching from one to the other, but the voice of each character is so distinct, you know instantly which guy is now telling the story. The story itself is interesting enough, but how he establishes two distinct and strong voices in the same work is amazing.
Chuck Palahniuk - I’m hooked on this guy’s writing. Seriously, it’s a problem. I’ll read one of his books for the sixth or seventh time instead of an unread book that has been on my to-read list for years.
It’s difficult to imagine without having read his books, but he pulls off bleak/hopeless and humorous at the same time. At times, his work is like a car accident. It turns your stomach, makes you squirm in your seat, cringe, wince… and drawn in and unable to turn away.
He’s probably the bravest writer I’ve come across. There are a lot of examples of how he doesn’t pull punches, but the story of how he got his first novel published is my favorite.
His first published novel was the one you are most likely to be familiar with, but the first one he tried to get published was Invisible Monsters. In the process, he was shot down repeatedly. He heard time and time again that Invisible Monsters was too harsh, too violent, too gritty, and too disturbing for a publisher to take a chance on. His response was to sit down and intentionally write a much harsher, more violent, grittier, and more disturbing novel than his first. The result was Fight Club. I think you know how that panned out for him.
Kurt Vonnegut – It was a huge loss for the literary world when Vonnegut passed away recently. I know I had been waiting for him to put out that one last novel that hit harder than all his others…which hit pretty damn hard.
I don’t know where to begin about his writing, so I’ll just talk about perhaps my favorite character in all of literature, Kilgore Trout. Vonnegut described this character as “someone I used to be.” That means that at one time, Vonnegut was unappreciated, bitter, misunderstood, categorized in completely inappropriate manners in terms of his work, and known by very few as a serious and talented writer, despite the publication of several stories.
Trout appears in a handful of Vonnegut books, but most noteably in Breakfast of Champions, the most condescending book imaginable. That may be an odd way to praise a book, but just read it. You’ll see what I mean.
Thom Jones – He’s the best short story author alive. His collection Pugilist at Rest should be required reading in all literature classes and creative writing programs. He’s a pretty clear lesson in the whole “write what you know” concept.
Stephen King -I have a conflicted opinion about this guy. Some of his language drives me nuts and he has a tendency to stretch a page worth of events into three chapters at times, but the depth of his characters makes it more than worth the frustrations these two habits can cause. When I get done with one of his books, I feel like I know those characters, especially in The Green Mile and the Dark Tower series.
The Dark Tower series in and of itself is an epic accomplishment. I cannot begin to imagine tying 30 years worth of writing together and still staying true to the characters and the story. As a writer, it is the single most intimidating piece of writing I’ve ever read.
Robert Newton Peck - When I was a kid, I was a Soup junkie. Peck has this collection of books, all with Soup in the title, that are fictionalized accounts of his childhood and all the trouble he and his best friend, nicknamed “Soup” would get themselves into and out of. I had picked up reading at an early age thanks to my mom recognizing I had an interest in it and not waiting for the school system to take care of all the teaching. So by the time 1st grade rolled around and we were subjected to the See Dick Run stories, I would sneak on of Peck’s books under my reader and dive into it instead of getting bored to tears by the complex plots of Dick, Jane, and Spot. I think it was Mark Twain that said, and I’m paraphrasing, that people never get tired of the story of boy gets himself into and out of trouble. That’s what these books were all about and I certainly never tired of them.
The Catcher in the Rye – I can’t claim to be a Salinger fan. I’ve never even been able to finish his other books. The Catcher in the Rye, however, pulls me in every time I pick it up. The language of the book is so natural, it creates a real feel for who Holden Caulfield is.
However, what makes this book great, in my opinion, is that Salinger doesn’t hold the readers hand and lead them to one particular understanding of the events or the character. There is a lot of room for the reader to fill in some blanks and make some assumptions about what Holden isn’t telling in his narration.
A lot of readers have a problem with this kind of freedom, as I’ve heard some pretty heated arguments over what the book was “really” about in which people couldn’t handle the fact that someone else got something different from it they did. But that’s what makes this character and this work genius. There’s just enough room for us to involve our own beliefs and world perceptions for us to get our own version of the story.
Movies
Memento – For years, when people would ask what my favorite movie was, I would tell them that it was impossible to pick a favorite movie because it was too broad a subject and there are so many different types of movies, that you can’t compare all of them in one big group. I mean, you can’t really compare Casablanca and Supertroopers, right? That was before I saw Memento, though. I can easily pick it as my favorite movie. There are a ton of reasons why it stands out, but the one thing that makes it in a different category than any other movie to me is how completely different the movie can be each time I watch it.
Sideways - Sure, it’s got dark humor, the best flavor of humor, and great dialogue, but it’s the subplot of the main character’s struggle with his writing career that pulled me in.
I’m a sucker for three things in movies everytime…
1. Coming-of-Age stories
2. The old They’re-Winning-and-They’re-Not Supposed-to-Be plot
3. Stories that deal with the ups and downs of writing
(So if you ever want to create a movie just for me, make it a story about a writer who is writing about his childhood, chronicling a sports season in which he was part of an underdog team that ended up winning, teaching him important lessons that would lead him and his friends out of boyhood and in being young adults….kind of Stand by Me meets Mighty Ducks).
Sideways does a fantastic job capturing how awful it can be to not be able to rope in your work and get control of it, yet still gives us enough to know why it is still rewarding for this character to keep trying.
Music
The Moldau – I took this really awful music appreciation class in college. I thought it would be cake, us sitting around, listening to music and saying “hey, I appreciate that.” Turns out it was the hardest class I ever had. Our final exam, was a complete nightmare. The worst section of the exam consisted of the professor putting a record on, randomly dropping the needle for 30 seconds, and having us list the composer, the title, the style, the time (like 2/4 or 3/4), the era, and throw in words like Adagio and Allegro to describe it as well. Yeah, I did awesome on that exam.
But the one good thing to come out of the class was the set of tapes we had to purchase for the class. It was a 5 or 6 tape set of classical and opera music that we were required to listen to and label with all those descriptors I described that were part of the exam. There was one piece by a composer that i’d never heard of and have never heard of since then named Bedrich Smetana. I was working on some story at the time…i don’t remember which one..but I was stuck and decided to call it a night. I had been playing the tapes from class as i wrote and left them playing as I went to bed. As I listened to the song, it had a story-like progression to it. IT starts off with everything smooth and harmonious, but soon there is a conflict, which leads to the climax, which then returns to smooth, harmonious feel, only this time, it’s richer and fuller due to overcoming the conflict.
Listening to this, it was like having a soundtrack to my story and as the conflict in the music built, i could play out my plotline and let it just kind of unfold as the music did. It really helped me to just kind of plug into the story instead of getting stuck on frustrations.
Instrumental Music – I know that’s a vague term and covers a lot of ground, but I find that it’s easy enough to find some instrumental music to match whatever mood my writing needs at that time and helps me get into that mindset. If it’s music with lyrics, it often dictates what I think about, as the singer limits what I am inspired to think about with the verbal message sometimes.
If you are a writer, I storngly suggest using your computer to start organizing some instrumental music by mood. If you are working on say, a horror story, open up your “creepy music” file and hit shuffle. It really helps when you’re in a slump and sometimes, it can get you into that rare freeflowing zone kind of writing.
