Eight Rules for Writing

From Kurt Vonnegut:

Now lend me your ears. Here is Creative Writing 101:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

RIP: Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut died today at the age of 84. He never recovered from head injuries suffered in a fall in his home in New York. He wrote the amazing Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle. His eight rules for writers are widely published. (see next post)

Vonnegut once said that of all the ways to die, he'd prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. He often joked about the difficulties of old age.

"When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut said in 2005.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright is my new music interest. I found him through the documentary Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man.

Check him out! In fact, go to slacker.com and put in his name and listen. The artists who shared his radio were Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Jeff Buckley, Sheryl Crow, and more.

Dirt Music, the Film, is Coming

West Australian novelist Tim Winton's book Dirt Music is set to be screen-adapted and the next project of director Phillip Noyce. Irish actor Colin Farrell is the latest name to be linked to the film. At the Berlin Film Festival this week, it was announced Farrell would take the role of Lu Fox, earlier offered to Heath Ledger. Dirt Music is an intense love story between outcast Lu and Georgie, the unhappy partner of a prosperous fisherman. Britain's Rachel Weisz is to play Georgie.

I've read the book twice. It's full of West Australian references, of both personalities and places. While Farrell is imaginable as Lu Fox, Weisz is not the Georgie of the novel. Still, I will be first in line to see the novel on screen. It was a great read!

New Yellow Wiggle

The Wiggles, a popular Australian band which specializes in children's entertainment, has a new member. Sam Moran will replace Greg Page, the Yellow Wiggle. Page was a founding member of the group and he has been a part of the song and dance group for the last 15 years; however, he suffers from orthostatic intolerance, a disorder which stops his heart from pumping enough blood while standing or dancing (or wiggling) and has been forced to resign from the group.

Sam Moran got his start with The Wiggles hosting the Dorothy the Dinosaur Show. Recently he married Lyn Stuckey, the American who is Dorothy the Dinosaur, in a Sydney Harborside ceremony. Pictured, Sam Moran and Lyn Stuckey

WA Artist Wins USA Prize

The Waifs' Vikki Simpson has been named Overall Grand Prize winner in the 2006 USA Songwriting Competition for her song, Bridal Train. The song tells the story of Vikki's grandmother who married a "Yankee sailor" and at the US Navy's expense broaded the Bridal Train from Perth to Sydney then on by ship to San Franciso to be reunited with her husband. The grand prize money was $US50,000.

Vikki, on left, along with her sister Donna and Josh Cunningham perform as a trio, The Waifs. They are currently on tour after a year away from the road.

"Miss Potter" Comes to the Screen

"Miss Potter", a film which relates the life story of Beatrix Potter who wrote "The Tales of Peter Rabbit" and 22 other children's books, will be released in the US in January. The movie stars Renee Zellweger as Miss Potter and Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne, the man who took her art and writing seriously and published her in 1902. Potter was an amazing watercolorist, observing the animals she owned and writing the fanciful stories based on their behaviors. Along with Peter Rabbit, she also created Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Mrs. Tiggywinkle. She was a woman in a man's world, but she broke through the barriers set for her with her talent and her tenacity.

The Graduate Sequel as a Novel

Charles Webb has written a follow-up novel to his original novel which was made into the film The Graduate. The book will revisit Ben Braddock and his now-wife Elaine ten years later, as they home school their two children in upstate New York. Also Mrs. Robinson is somehow featured in its story. At the present time, there is no plan to follow up the new book with a film. However, it's not impossible. Webb's last novel, New Cardiff, was adapted into the film Hope Springs.

Wikipedia has this article about Webb whose personal life is interesting, if a little bizarre.

The Willie Way

Willie Nelson shares his worldview in his third book of jokes, aphorisms, and heartfelt personal stories. According to Willie, "This book is my way of sharing a little of what I’ve learned in seventy-two years of making music and friends on this beautiful planet. I don’t know if the things I write here will change your life, but they sure changed mine." Possibly the funniest line from the book is Willie's view on marijuana of which Willie is an unapologetic advocate. Here's Willie's unique take on the subject: "I'll support a war on drugs, but not a war on flowers or herbs."

Yoakum on mp3

Currently playing in my ears from my mp3 player is Mr. Dwight Yoakum. Thanks, Kel!

When David Letterman said to Dwight, "You wear that hat all the time. How much hair DO you have?"

He answered, "More than you think and less than I'd like."

Terrific answer!

Ava Gardner Biography

I like biographies of movie stars if they're truthful and interesting. This one, Ava Gardner "Love is Nothing" by Lee Server, is receiving wonderful reviews in the US and the UK. The US review begins:

When a smitten great-grandson of Charles Darwin pronounced Ava Gardner "the highest specimen of the human species," he summed up the consensus about this voluptuous movie queen. With remarkable unanimity, those who met Gardner were apt to second that emotion.

Server also wrote the biography of Robert Mitchum subtitled "Baby, I Don't Care" which is considered one of the best film star biographies around.

Charles Frazier's New Book

If you liked Cold Mountain, you'll be happy to know that Charles Frazier's follow-up novel will be published on October 3. It's been 10 years since Frazier's first novel, Cold Mountain, won the National Book Award for Fiction. Here's how the publisher Random House describes thirteen moons:

"At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins — for a brief moment — a mysterious girl named Claire, and his passion and desire for her spans this novel. As Will's destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians — including a Cherokee Chief named Bear — he learns how to fight and survive in the face of both nature and men, and eventually, under the Corn Tassel Moon, Will begins the fight against Washington City to preserve the Cherokee's homeland and culture. And, he will come to know the truth behind his belief that 'only desire trumps time.' Brillianty imagined by a master of American fiction, THIRTEEN MOONS is a stunning novel about a man's passion for a woman, and how loss, longing, and love can shape a man's destiny over the many moons of a life.''

Judy Collins

Aussie and I saw Judy Collins at the Kerrville Folk Festival a few years ago. Her voice is still amazing! She sang Someday Soon, Both Sides Now, Amazing Grace and lots of other songs, accompanying herself on guitar and piano. (That's Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary accompanying Judy in the photo.) She's appearing now in Australia on the east coast. Here is a poignant excerpt from an interview she did for Australian Broadcasting, the ABC.
MARK BANNERMAN: The 1960s were kind to Judy Collins, the next two decades would show her that other side of life. First there was the battle with alcoholism. What drew you into that?

JUDY COLLINS: I was born with the Irish virus. That's easy. I came by it honestly through centuries and centuries of ancestors, I am sure. I even know some of them - who some of them were.

MARK BANNERMAN: Was it tough to give it up?

JUDY COLLINS: I had a very dark about four years where I was drinking around the clock. I thought, well, it is all over. What will I do if I can't sing. So I started to think about what will I do if I can't sing? Then I thought I don't have a choice. I think I 'm going to have to give it up and I went into treatment.

MARK BANNERMAN: Alcoholism may have been hard to deal with, but the death of her son by suicide was much tougher again. You said something that in a sense is very brave, that you said "That decision ultimately to commit suicide must be respected".

JUDY COLLINS: Oh, absolutely. If you don't have that right, then you don't have any rights. A human being.

MARK BANNERMAN: You really feel that?

JUDY COLLINS: Oh, absolutely.

MARK BANNERMAN: Despite the pain it's brought you?

JUDY COLLINS: Well, if you've had a suicide in your life, then you have no right to take your life because you know too much.

MARK BANNERMAN: A decade on, though, Judy Collins, it seems, is back, aligned with old friends she's found a new lease on life. And all of it because of live music.

JUDY COLLINS: It's a shared understanding of the meaning of art and the meaning of music in people's lives and live music in people's lives is deeply important. It's deeply healing and it's deeply spiritual.

Paul Simon's New Release

After several years of work, Paul Simon is ready to release Surprise, his first album since 2000. Simon latest effort is a collabration with U2's producer Brian Eno, the avant-garde artist best known for his musical work with Robert Fripp, Talking Heads, David Bowie and U2.

Simon insists that their working together is not as strange as it (or the resulting album) sounds.

"We're both 'sounds' people," Simon explained. "We're both about soundscapes. I thought he would bring an element that I hadn't ever encountered before, electronics, into a guitar record. Theoretically, it seemed to be a good idea. And when we actually did it, you could tell right away it was a good idea."

Simon was a fan of Eno's eclectic work, and they met at a London dinner party. They decided to "throw it together, see what the mix of sounds were, see what we produced," Simon recalled.
The results are evident from the opening track, "How Can You Live in the Northeast?," where Simon's songwriting meets Eno's wall of sounds to almost hypnotic effect. "Outrageous" is the hilarious tale of a middle-aged man doing 900 sit-ups a day while "painting my hair the color of mud."

And there's the autobiographical "Sure Don't Feel Like Love," with its lyric about a man who remembers how "once in August 1993 I was wrong/And I could be wrong again."

"That's pretty much me," Simon confessed with a soft chuckle. "You think of it. It's hilariously arrogant."

Terri Hendrix

Terri Hendrix is a San Antonio-born, San Marcos-based singer, songwriter who appears in venues and at festivals throughout Texas and the US. Her music is a mix of folk, roots-pop, country and scat-jazz. Aussie and I subscribe to her monthly email newsletter Goat Notes which arrived late this month, but with this explanation: My newly adopted dog, Buddy — long story — snatched a pair of my underwear from my laundry basket, bolted out the doggie door, and before I could catch him, swallowed them whole. Needless to say, when I was supposed to be writing my GoatNotes, I was on the phone with Pet Emergency services attempting to understand the damages that consuming a pair of Hanes Her Way could inflict on a mutt's digestive system. The next day, I dropped Buddy off at the vet, and a few hours
later got word that everything was going to be OK, as he'd just regurgitated my undies in front of the entire veterinary staff. A few days later, when I picked Buddy up from the vet (I'd been on the road), I was greeted by a chorus of giggles. That's when I learned that, during his ordeal, my mutt's cage had proudly displayed a sign that read, "Please monitor Buddy for a large pair of Terri Hendrix's underwear." Friends, I know this sounds like "the dog ate my
homework" and that's why my assignment's not in. Butt (pun intended), it's definitely a true story.

Here is Terri's website.

Salute to Best Book

On World Book Day 2006 a survey of librarians named Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird the one book every adult should read before they die. Since this is my all-time favorite book, I had to let you know that librarians across the world agree with me! In brief this is the story of a poor black man of the Depression Era South who is accused of raping a white girl and the consequences for everyone in the small town who become involved. In depth it is the compassionate story of rural southern America, its people, its poverty, and its pride.

Religion or Cult?

Read this interesting article "Inside Scientology" written by Janet Reitman for Rolling Stone magazine. Then ask: Is it a religion or is it a cult? The answer will be clear.

Here's Why I Love Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry ( along with Diana Ossana) adapted Annie Proulx's story for the film Brokeback Mountain. Here's what he has to say about the theme of that adaption: "It doesn't present any kind of agenda, any politics at all, one way or the other at all. It just says life is not for sissies. You need strength; love is not easy. It's not easy if you find (it); it's not easy if you don't find it. It's not easy if you find it and it doesn't work out. It merely says the strong survive, but not everybody is strong." Wow, that's wisdom and proof of a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. He understands and it shows in his writing.

Larry McMurtry

Much-lauded Brokeback Mountain was filmed from a screenplay written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. McMurtry is one of America's best known authors. His novels are the basis of some excellent films. McMurtry's writing credits:
Horseman Pass By - novel on which Hud was based
The Last Picture Show - novel and screenplay
Terms of Endearment - novel with screenplay by James L. Brooks
Lonesome Dove - novel with screenplay by Bill Wittliff

Outlander Series

The Outlander Series, which is called the CrossStitch Series in the UK market, begins with the story of Clair Randall, an English post-WWII army nurse who is trying to rekindle her war-interrupted marriage when she is pulled through standing stones and finds herself in the middle of a violent skirmish in the Scottish Highlands in 1743. She is rescued by the Scots from the clutches of her husband's ancestor, but only to be held in the castle on the suspicion of spying. That's the first 50 pages of this series which has six books, all 500 pages or more. Luckily, for you the series is complete, so you can start with Outlander (or CrossStitch) and read right through to the end of the story with A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Here's a good link written by a woman whose best friend insisted that she read the books over her objections.