FILL: Ten Essential Classics?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 1 Dec 2009

The e-mail newsletter from Penguin books includes a short bit about their recommendation for the 10 essential Classics. Being curious, I went to check out what they thought were essential Classics. Here's their list:

1. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
3. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
4. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
7. The Odyssey by Homer
8. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
10. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/features/tenessentialclassics/index.html

Actually, I seem to have numbered them backwards -- the last shall be first and the first shall be last, a countdown instead of a count up?

It's an interesting list. Exploring hell, living by yourself, dysfunctional family relations, fantasy, whale hunting, the play's the thing..., search for a golden fleece, a romance or two, and a couple of drifters in the Great Depression. More or less?

What do you think about Classics? Do you read them? Do you remember being forced to read them in school? If you had to pick out a list of five or 10 top books that you recommend people read -- in particular, the writers gathered here on the list -- what would they be?

Or perhaps you'd prefer to make a list of five books in your genre? The Classics of science fiction -- that's harder than I really want to work right now. Dune by Frank Herbert? Maybe the Lensmen series by E.E. Smith? Heinlein? Ender's Game by Card? Drat, that's four, and there are so many good ones still to choose from.

Oh, well. Classics? What do we learn from the classics for our own writing?

TECH: A Novel Group

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 2 Dec 2009

Writers Digest, February 2008, pages 40, 44, and 45, article by Marie Lamba with the title, "Plotting a Novel Group." Lamba discusses a writing group aimed at novelists. Some of the points include:

1. The characters. Group size limited to six or seven members, to allow participants plenty of time to read and comment. Restricted to serious novelists. In their case, they did not restrict the type of novel to a particular genre. They use submissions, and trial memberships to check out possible new members. Also, members are given written rules about attendance, critiquing, and contributions.

2. Structure. Because novelists need to make longer submissions, which require more time to read and discuss, this group meets once a month for 2 1/2 hours, to cover two writers. One hour for one manuscript, half-hour open discussion, and one hour for the other manuscript. Submissions are 50 to 100 pages long, handed out at the previous meeting. The schedule is set four to five months ahead.

3. Good dialogue. To keep the critiques focused, they use a critique guideline. It includes points such as:

-- Subplots: do we care? Do they intertwine with and enhance the main plot?
-- Is there an image system in the piece? Does it develop?
-- Is there foreshadowing? Does it hold the reader captive until the denouement?
-- Is there continuity throughout the chapters? Does it feel all of a piece?
-- Climax: where is it? What's the arc of the story?
-- Was the reader promised something? Was it delivered?

When a novel has gone through much of the critiquing process, they do allow submission of an entire manuscript for review. When they do this, the entire next meeting is dedicated to that novel

4. Points of view. The key here is that the group supports all the members.

Like most things in life, you can try to do it all by yourself. But writing a novel is a little bit easier with some friends. So think about forming a novel group.