Lawrence Block is a talented writer and editor with (by my count, 215 books to his credit -- full disclosure: I've read only 96 of them, which is enough for me to be assured that the description "talented writer" is not hyperbole) Six of those books (seven, if you squint) are books about writing. For fourteen years he wrote a regular column about fiction writing in Writer's Digest; most of those columns were collected in four books -- Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, Spider, Spider, Spin Me Web, The Liar's bible, and The Liar's Companion. (Block has, at various times, also been a regular columnist for Whitman Numismatic Journal (coins), Linn's Stamp News (stamps), and Swank (erotic, as "John Warren Wells".) His 1979 book on writing, Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print, was updated and expanded in 2016 as Writing the Novel from Plot to Print to Pixel. He wrote and delivered a successful seminar course called Write for Your Life that was presented throughout the country for a number of years. As an adjunct to his seminar business, Block put most of the seminar's teaching into this book. It proved popular long after he left his seminar behind, which propelled him to make it available to the general public.
Does the seminar and/or the book teach one how to write? No way, Jose.
What it does is show the aspiring (or even the accomplished) writer how to access the qualities needed to write. Block firmly believes that one can easily recognize writing talent, but it impossible to recognize if any individual has no writing talent. Just as professional athletes can benefit from a sports psychologist, Block feels the writer can benefit from a similar approach. He writes that he could have called the seminar "The Inner Game of Writing" or "Developing the Writer Within," but Write for Your Life seemed to be a good fit. Although the book is designed for the writer and the would-be writer, it seems to me to have a lot in common with Ben Shahn's influential book The Shape of Content, which although purportedly aimed at the artist, it remains a valid guide for any in a creative field. There is a lot to be gained for anyone in Block's book.
Block gives solid exercises for unblocking a creative logjam. And he gives good advice on how to approach and conquer those conscious and unconscious negative thought that interfere with one's writing.
There is a lot of stuff from various feel-good self-help theories floating out there. And there's a heavy concentration of the importance of meditation and affirmations. If you read the book for the purpose it is intended, I suggest you try to ignore the sometimes New Age-y aspects and concentrate on what the book is actually saying. (Block repeats a theory espoused by some psychologists that each of is is engrained with negative thoughts we may have picked up at the time we were born, which takes us into a country a bit too far for my taste. But it is easy enough to ignore that cockamamy (my word) theory and concentrate on the nuts and bolts of the book. Block also at times uses phrases that just don't resonate with me, such as "Personal Law" for a negative, irrational belief that may stay with one for years, or even over a lifetime; I simply ignore his phrasing and substitute something of my own.)
But -- and this is important -- the excises he gives are valid and be be extremely helpful. If you do them properly, at the end of the day you will have a better understanding of yourself as a person and, perhaps, be better prepared as a writer.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but a fascinating look behind the scenes at the mind of one of the best authors of our time, and at our own individual potential.
I have read one of these and found it helpful. I have read many more of his novels and he's an extremely talented writer.
ReplyDeleteLawrence Block grew up in Buffalo so we have a connection. Like Patti, I've read many of Block's books. I have a couple of Block's books on writing (including this one) waiting on my shelf. Nice choice!
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