Review: Literary Life: A Second Memoir

Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My son Jesse said it best, when he reviewed Alex Robinson's book Our Expanding Universe. I read Literary Life and felt exactly the same way about this McMurtry memoir:
"I generally like Robinson [McMurty] but didn't see the point of this book. The characters were incredibly realistic ... to the point of being completely boring. I didn't learn anything new by reading this, it was just like hanging out with another person's less-interesting friends."
And actually, I did not even find the real-life "characters" to be anything but dull. Mere listings of his friends credits did not impress. And except for the turn of a good phrase here and there, I learned little about writing better. That said, it does not detract from his own other literary accomplishments.

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Review: The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters

The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc Mucutcheon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another compendium of simple lists. At least topical, and as stated in the intro, slightly better than a Thesaurus looking up synonyms. Again, not really a "book,' but lists of traits of characters, so it does fulfill its title, but as in all things writing, the writer must work at it. This book is best used for building fictional characters, but helpful in nonfiction also.
I find similes and metaphors better for describing characters than a list of traits, like "he looked exactly like Angel from the Rockford files," for example.
The introductory discussion by authors was fun, and the "Do nots" helpful.

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Review: Get Paid to Write!: The No-Nonsense Guide to Freelance Writing

Get Paid to Write!: The No-Nonsense Guide to Freelance Writing by Thomas A. Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

this version copyrighted from 2004, and a lot has happened in using social media to self-promote since, which is missing. But the last section How to Build Your Reputation as a Writer was sobering, as constant and varied endeavors are required. Not with this book nor any other on writing is there an easy path; just paths of hard work. This book is geared to freelancing, and again times have changed. Finding editors to contact is more difficult today.
There are references and .com sites that are helpful, but comments like "search Google" were not.
I would however recommend this as an eye-opener to and beginner's guide.

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Review: Plot

Plot by Ansen Dibell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

parts seemed vague and general, or that could be the language used. I didn't underline that much of note as i usually do in a good nonfiction book, especially on the craft of writing. Am writing a fiction on better writing myself.

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