Rick Homan
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact

Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block

9/24/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Perhaps because I just finished writing and editing my fourth mystery novel, I am feeling the need for some perspective on the craft. I enjoyed Lawrence Block's Writing the Novel from Plot to Print so much when I read it in 2017 that I read it again last year. I thought about reading it again this year, but somewhere I saw that Block had written several books on writing.

At first I wasn't enthused about Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, because it is described as "a collection of his slightly re-edited fiction how-to column from Writer's Digest."  But I am finding in this book the same comfortable blend of instruction and memoir that I found in his first book for writers.

For instance, his chapter on "Creative Procrastination" clarifies my thoughts on when to let an idea ferment and when to get on with writing it down. He illustrates with the story of how his idea for Code of Arms was with him for a few years before he wrote it.

You don't have to take my word for the usefulness of this book. In her introduction, Sue Grafton wrote, "In the early years of the Kinsey Milhone series, I made a point of reading Telling Lies for Fun and Profit before beginning each new book."

By the way,  my fourth mystery novel, Dark Portrait, will be available next month! I'll send out the details next week.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dark Stories

    by
    ​Rick Homan

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Books On Writing
    Movies
    Movies & TV Index
    Nicole's World
    Noir
    Novels
    Novels Index
    Presidio
    Publishing
    San Francisco
    San Francisco Index
    Writing

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly