How to Write like a Writer and Refuse to be Done

HOW TO WRITE LIKE A WRITER by Thomas C. Foster (How to Read Literature Like a Professor and Reading the Silver Screen) has been published just in time to be helpful to students in the new school year. As the subtitle explains, this text is intended to be “a sharp and subversive guide to ignoring inhibitions, inviting inspiration, and finding your true voice.” Foster is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Flint and he builds on his teaching and his own writing experience to not only look at what to write and how to do so, but also to emphasize the importance of practice and revision. He begins with a section titled “Why Write?” and there comments on the importance of voice, relating to an audience, and writing as an exploration of self or subject or even as play. Foster suggests numerous exercises (e.g., write a letter to some past author offering praise or criticism; describe a complex painting in massive detail) to aid with practice and developing skills. He includes two chapters (“Oh, Yeah? Prove it!” and “Even the Nile has a Source”) which cover the use of testimony, quotes and evidence as well as credibility and source evaluation. HOW TO WRITE LIKE A WRITER meets students where they are, tells them explicitly: “You are the most important being in your writing world,” and is sure to be a useful guide for our fledgling writers and researchers. 

REFUSE TO BE DONE: HOW TO WRITE AND REWRITE A NOVEL IN THREE DRAFTS by Matt Bell (Appleseed) is a superb source of encouragement for would be writers of longer works. Bell structures his text in three chapters, each dealing with a draft version of the novel. He focuses on experimenting with a very rough, fluid first draft. Later, he looks at rewriting and then polishing through cutting and conciseness. Along the way, he almost continuously offers practical ideas to apply: for example, he says to “always go where your energy is the highest;” to let the material you’ve created grow itself by being a great improve partner for the technique of “Yes, and;” and to read predictably. I especially liked his initial advice to just set a goal of trying to write 500 words a day (roughly two pages) – that quickly turns into 130,000 words after five days a week for a year, providing, as he notes, plenty “of raw material, easily enough for a novel or two.” Bell boosts readers’ confidence further by describing his own writing process and skillfully referencing over a dozen interviews with other writers, including George Saunders and Amy Tan. Bell also refers to a varied array of literary works and the list of sixty titles and authors he cites would be a marvelous starting point to implement his suggestion about feeding your imagination by building conversation with other works. An award winning author himself, Bell now teaches creative writing at Arizona State University. REFUSE TO BE DONE is a valuable guide that merits repeated consultation.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER by Angie Cruz is a fairly unique reading experience. The story (set in 2009 in New York City) is told almost as a stream of consciousness from Cara Romero, a fifty-something immigrant from the Dominican Republic. She has lost her job at a factory and meets for twelve sessions with an employment counselor for Seniors so that she can collect benefits and hopefully find another position. As observers of her one-sided interviews, readers learn about her family, including sister Angela and estranged son Fernando, about her neighbors, including la Vieja Caridad (an older woman who needs her help) and her friends like Lulu. There are numerous Spanish (or Spanglish) phrases which the reader has to interpret from context, but that experience adds to the sense of isolation and marginalization which Cara must feel in an environment where she is not a native speaker. Increasingly in need of money for rent, Cora considers work as a nanny, caregiver, school security guard and more. Her responses to the bureaucratic forms are instructive about her perspective, if cringe-worthy at times. Cruz has creatively and sensitively crafted a story involving poverty and gentrification, family ties and survival.