Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Writing, by Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem
A dialog between a writing couple about their writing processes and careers.
Apex Book Company, 2017, 228 pages
Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem are no strangers to the writing business. Between the two of them, they have published more than 600 short stories, 20 novels, and 10 short story collections. Not to mention numerous articles, essays, poems, and plays. They’ve won the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, and Bram Stoker Award.
In this book they go over everything from the mechanics of writing, to how to find the time to write, to dealing with all the paper writers tend to collect. They discuss plot, point of view, setting, characterization, and more, all in an informal tone that invites you to become part of their conversation. Learn how to find your stories because they are Yours to Tell.
Another in the string of books I've read by writers on writing. Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem are not actually authors I've read, though they have long careers and backlists. They are a married couple who both write horror and science fiction (primarily).
This book, expanded from its original form, is written in the form of an email dialog between them. They go back and forth on their process and various aspects of writing; it's a little like listening in on two writers speaking at a convention panel. It's also like listening to a married couple who know each other well chatting in a slightly artificial format. They both write engagingly and in a lot of detail about their careers, their influences, and of course there are chapters hitting all the usual topics like Character, Plot, Setting, Genre, Subtext, Point of View, Structure, etc. There's also a lot of personal stuff that may be interesting to you if you like reading writers talk about their lives, and not so much if you are just looking for writing tips and inspiration.
Having read many of these books (Stephen King's On Writing remains one of my favorites), there isn't a lot of unexplored space in the genre of "writers writing about how they write," in my opinion. I didn't find anything particularly to disagree with, and in fact, Steve Tem's process sounds in many ways similar to mine.
Some writers I know stake pretty much everything on the revision process. They get the first draft down so rapidly that some scenes are little more than notes and other sections seem to consist of nothing but the sweat off their brain cells. I’m sure this works well for some, but it never has for me. I’m always afraid that some bits that weren’t adequately imagined now never will be and that other sections, once fully imagined, will change the course of what I’m doing so drastically everything I’ve written after that will have to be thrown out.
I liked their commentary, but I can't say I learned anything new. Towards the end of the book, they talk a little bit about marketing and PR and the writing life (apparently in their experience, many writers become hoarders) and epublishing, but admit themselves that much of their advice will already be outdated.
This is the sort of book to read if you like reading authors' notes, or if you are interested in these two authors in particular. It was worth reading but it's not likely to give an aspiring writer any novel insights or much in the way of actionable advice that isn't found repeated in many other such books.
My complete list of book reviews.
Apex Book Company, 2017, 228 pages
Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem are no strangers to the writing business. Between the two of them, they have published more than 600 short stories, 20 novels, and 10 short story collections. Not to mention numerous articles, essays, poems, and plays. They’ve won the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, and Bram Stoker Award.
In this book they go over everything from the mechanics of writing, to how to find the time to write, to dealing with all the paper writers tend to collect. They discuss plot, point of view, setting, characterization, and more, all in an informal tone that invites you to become part of their conversation. Learn how to find your stories because they are Yours to Tell.
Another in the string of books I've read by writers on writing. Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem are not actually authors I've read, though they have long careers and backlists. They are a married couple who both write horror and science fiction (primarily).
This book, expanded from its original form, is written in the form of an email dialog between them. They go back and forth on their process and various aspects of writing; it's a little like listening in on two writers speaking at a convention panel. It's also like listening to a married couple who know each other well chatting in a slightly artificial format. They both write engagingly and in a lot of detail about their careers, their influences, and of course there are chapters hitting all the usual topics like Character, Plot, Setting, Genre, Subtext, Point of View, Structure, etc. There's also a lot of personal stuff that may be interesting to you if you like reading writers talk about their lives, and not so much if you are just looking for writing tips and inspiration.
Having read many of these books (Stephen King's On Writing remains one of my favorites), there isn't a lot of unexplored space in the genre of "writers writing about how they write," in my opinion. I didn't find anything particularly to disagree with, and in fact, Steve Tem's process sounds in many ways similar to mine.
Some writers I know stake pretty much everything on the revision process. They get the first draft down so rapidly that some scenes are little more than notes and other sections seem to consist of nothing but the sweat off their brain cells. I’m sure this works well for some, but it never has for me. I’m always afraid that some bits that weren’t adequately imagined now never will be and that other sections, once fully imagined, will change the course of what I’m doing so drastically everything I’ve written after that will have to be thrown out.
I liked their commentary, but I can't say I learned anything new. Towards the end of the book, they talk a little bit about marketing and PR and the writing life (apparently in their experience, many writers become hoarders) and epublishing, but admit themselves that much of their advice will already be outdated.
This is the sort of book to read if you like reading authors' notes, or if you are interested in these two authors in particular. It was worth reading but it's not likely to give an aspiring writer any novel insights or much in the way of actionable advice that isn't found repeated in many other such books.
My complete list of book reviews.