I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE MINIONS-“Banana” (2014).

I really enjoyed both Despicable Me movies, and the minions crack me up.  So how did I not know that bananas are a big deal for them?  At Universal Studios, bananas are a huge part of the Minion gear that they sell, but I had no idea why.  When we watched Despicable Me recently, I saw them fighting over a banana, but it seemed like a minor thing.

Well, anyhow, the minions have done a cover of “Barbara Ann” as… well, you get the point.

And man, is it irritating, especially in the two hour version I present you with below.

I honestly can’t wait for the next movie though.

[READ: November 9, 2014] Write This Book

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while.  I didn’t want to read it until I finished the Secret series.  And since I did, I decided to read this right away.  (You don’t need to read the Secret series to enjoy this book–especially for the h ow-to elements which are outstanding whether you know his work or not)

I wasn’t really sure how this would work–there was an excerpt at the back of the You Have to Stop This paperback.  He sets up the story for us and has us finish it, was it just going to be blank pages?  No, it is not.

Indeed, it is a very clever book because it accomplishes two things very well.

1) It creates a simple yet compelling mystery (with Bosch’s typical flair for twisting things around on their heads) and

2) It teaches young writers a ton about how to write.  In fact, I hope Clark reads this soon, because I think it will really help him with his storytelling.

The actual story that Bosch creates (which you the reader are supposed to finish) is about a missing author, I.B. Anonymous.  He has moved in across the street from our protagonists A___ and Z____ a brother and sister who are creeped out by their reclusive author/neighbor.  Then one night they hear a scream and a thump and when they investigate their neighbor’s house, there is no sign of him.

Bosch then asks us to continue the story.  And he does it in some clever ways–he gives us a list of genres that we can write the book in (and even starts us out with some sample pages of each): a hard-boiled detective story, a fantasy or a horror story.  And I loved that he sets up each genre perfectly with the story he has crafted.  He even works out some special words and phrases and tropes that the genees usually use (and gives us cliches to avoid).

He then provides a new character/suspect and even gives us a villain and a twist before the end.  It’s all skeletal but strangely compelling–until the end when he admits it’s not a good ending and that we can do better.  So reading it just for the story is fun.

But if you read it to learn about being a writer it’s even better.

He sprinkles all kinds of funny writerly things into the pages.  We get stared at by a blank page.  There’s an occasional “Procrastination Page” (very funny), there’s cartoons of Bosch and his editor bunny, Quiche (and the huge fight they have midway through the book).  He teaches us about an epigraph and the very insignificant differences between a preface and foreword and a prologue.  he talks about how to prepare for your story and about things to inspire you.

He offers great suggestions for character development, for ways that authors have gotten rid of parents so that their young protagonists can have freedom in the story, and some useful suggestions about dialogue.

And more importantly he tells the author not to worry about stupid things like is it a “boy” or a “girl” book–it’s book, books are gender neutral.

I enjoyed his plot map and his pitfalls about the murky middle–that time in a book when you get bogged down and it’s hard to continue.  I also really enjoyed the advice he gave about bad guys–that you should write the bad guy’s best qualities first–why would anyone want to follow him?  What makes him compelling?

And of course he talks about how hard it is to write a good ending:

Oh so you didn’t like that ending either?  Well, that must mean this is a good book, then.  As a brilliant and distinguished author (OK, it was me) once said, “Only bad books have good endings.  If a book is any good, you won’t want it to end.”

The end of the book includes a list of some books that dispense with parents.  As well as a list of some great opening sentences.

You don’t have to have read the Secret Series to enjoy this book (it adds some enjoyment since the story he is creating mildly spoofs his own series, but it is hardly necessary).  And most importantly it will give any writer of any age some great advice about just getting in there and writing things.  It certainly inspired me to want to write a clever story.