Here She Be — The Battlements

American Gods by: Neil Gaiman is another excellent book I read while jostling through roundabouts in Spain. Mr. Gaiman is the reigning champion of mythology and plot development.

One sentence premise: the old gods and the new gods are battling for existence and tensions are rising.

The story follows the main character, Shadow, who gets caught in the midst of that one sentence premise. It’s a new take on old mythology (I imagine that’s what everyone says). And I guarantee you will learn something if not many things throughout the course of this story (like how Easter is named for the pagan goddess Oestre, and there actually was a ritual that involved looking for hidden eggs). It’s a bit long, but it really doesn’t feel that way. The story moves smoothly from beginning to end; although, there is a definite pace change from how the book builds at the beginning and takes off towards the close. The ending itself is somewhat laid back–a comfortable wrap-up.

I recommend it if you like mythology (more towards Norse, Celtic, Egyptian) in fiction. This actually would be a good read for fantasy fans too if you find your typical reading growing stale (or you just want to read a good book). Those are sort of the niche crowds this would appeal to, but overall it’s a good read for anyone (over the age of 16, or thereabouts). It is an adult book, but it isn’t outrightly gratuitous (although I suppose some people would disagree–there’s more than 1 sex scene [tigers and bears, Oh MY!]).

The reason I like the book is because it has some pretty big themes, such as the information age versus the old world, death, and a variety of new takes on love and devotion (some of them creepy). We read a good deal about these ideas, but aside from death, rarely are they more than footnotes or provided in such an interesting way (yes, love is commonplace too, but the way it comes through in this work is not). It also offers something entirely new in regards to looking at the American dream and the American spirit. Plus, Neil Gaiman doesn’t pull punches when he writes, and his narrative style is simply masterful. The man can tell a good story. It’s an $8 book. Snag it off of Amazon.

This is how Stephen King begins to describe what writing is in his book On Writing. It’s sort of funny, pointing out how me now reading his book in 2007 is in some ways him sending a message across space and time from 2000.

Short and Simple:
I liked this book a lot. I read it in a day while in Valencia, Spain (actually from one evening there and then the car trip to Lleida). So, it’s a quick read, and I think a lot can be gleaned about writing technique from the mind of Mr. King. If you don’t want to listen to him because he’s considered a popular author and not a literary author, well you may as well turn in your “I’m a writer” jacket and matching ball cap right now.

Long and Savory:
A quick breakdown of the book has a brief autobiography at the beginning, a section called toolbox that makes up the writing advisory section of the book, and then a closing bit about living. It would take forever to go over all this book covers, so I’m just going to throw down some of the stuff I liked.

1) If you mean shit, say shit. It isn’t hard to imagine that Stephen King gets a lot of complaints about his books, but blaming him for what a fictional character does is… well, dumb. Even people who look down on profanity cuss when they get a door ding in the parking lot. And some people will have outlooks that we do not agree with. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be written.

2) Read and write a lot. Not that this isn’t something that all writers don’t already know, but I thought I’d throw in his statistics and advice on the matter. He reads 70-80 novels a year and recommends writing 1000 words a day, for a start. He writes 2000 words every morning, which is easy for him because it’s his job. If you take the time to go through the autobiographical portion of the novel though, it is clear he has written under much more adverse conditions (while working multiple jobs, while being married with 2 very young kids–most situations that are equivalent if not better excuses than the average person could muster, and he doesn’t make them). You have to have dedication. He recommends four to six hours a day (which shouldn’t seem strenuous if you actually enjoy it).

3) There are 3 parts to telling a story: narration, description, dialogue. Narration moves the story from A to B; description creates the sensory world for the reader; dialogue makes the characters come to life and develops them. Mr. King describes plot as the jackhammer of writing, as in if you’re extracting a fossil, you’ll chisel most of it to pieces and extract only a very mashed up final version. He argues that plot happens, but it can’t be too readily planned for or the work will seem forced. This is a really interesting portion of the book to read through because I think it presents a different concept of the process that could really be useful to a lot of writers.

4) On symbolism and theme… They aren’t something you should write towards in the first draft but something that should be brought out in a second draft. If they’re there, develop them; if they aren’t, don’t. When you recognize recurring patterns in your writing, take them and bring them to bear.

5) When rewriting, be more of a cutter than an adder. A rewrite should take out maybe 10% of the book while reworking it into a cohesive whole. It’s tricky because you could be adding scenes to make things work, but eliminating the unnecessary stuff is essential to writing a good book. Stephen King talks about first writing with the door closed and showing no one, and then, have readers look over it, take some time off (maybe a month or more), and when writing a second draft do it with the door open and the world can see (even close friends are ok as an early audience). The first time you tell a story, you’re telling it to yourself and figuring out how everything works, but the second time you’re telling it to everyone else and also need to hide some of those extra cogs.

Anyway, there’s my quick rundown on the book. There’s so much more and so much more about what I glossed over here. My reviews for books in the future probably won’t be this long, but since this book is about writing, I thought it would be good to throw down a little bit more. The book’s $8. Pick it up on Amazon.