Combating Writer's Block: Advice by Genre

There is no worse disease for a writer than writer's block. I'd also say that writer's block is terrible for readers too, uninspired prose is what we expect from policy and political people, not our entertainment. I'm a fan of Stephen King's writing advice: set a daily word goal and stay at it until you reach the goal. There is something about daily writing and forcing yourself to write that seems to make things flow.

But Tyson, I hear you say, I'm stuck with no ideas for what to write next. Luckily I was procrastinating whilst writing the other day and came up with a definitive fail safe for each major genre. Any additions are welcome in the comments.

Thriller Writers
When writer's block strikes kill someone or blow something up.

Crime Writers
When writer's block strikes describe the main character getting drunk and wallowing in self pity.

Mystery Writers
When writer's block strikes introduce a red herring.

Romance Writers
When writer's block strikes introduce new character with rock hard abs.

Literature Writers
When writer's block strikes describe a tree in intimate detail.

Fantasy Writers
When writer's block strikes have a talking dragon appear.

Sci-fi Writers
When writer's block strikes cut and paste physics article from Wikipedia into your novel.

Horror Writers
When writer's block strikes cut and paste autopsy reports into your novel.

Paranormal Writers
If you already have vampires, ghosts and werewolves in your novel, introduce ninjas and pirates as characters.

If you are really stuck after all of these ideas, then there is no novel in existence that can't/couldn't be improved by the addition of pirates and/or ninjas.

Tyson Adams' 2011 Book Awards: The Awesomes

I've read a few books this year (+140) and have decided that I needed to talk about my favourites of 2011.  I also thought it fair to award my favourite reads of the year an Awesome™.

As you will have noticed, my reviews of books are more about my impressions of the book and talking about how much I liked the book, rather than a recap of the plot, etc. My reasoning behind this is simple, I want to say "read this book" to people rather than fall into my bad habit of spoiling the ending.

My list is based upon what I have read this year, so obviously some great books (Snuff) have missed out due to lack of reading hours in the year. Also my read list does include some books that were published prior to 2011. There were some categories that were sadly under-represented and some that had some very intense competition.

Also, the fact that I finished a book shows that it was worth reading. I have my reading rules that stop me wasting valuable reading time on books I'm not enjoying. This means that any books on my read list are entertaining (well, unless I was particularly disgusted with the crappiness of the book in question).

Awesome of 2011

Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves - Matthew Reilly

10 hours of non-stop reading fun, 12 if you count meal and toilet breaks. I could not put this book down, it had me enthralled with Reilly's fast paced thrills and explosions. This books defines The Awesomes.

Also, I would like to extend my condolences to Matthew and his friends and family on the loss of his wife Natalie.

Awesome Literary Fiction

There were no nominees in this category this year. Better luck next year.

Awesome Mystery & Thriller

The Affair - Lee Child

Sacred Vault - Andy McDermott

This is one of two heavily over-represented categories in this year's Awesomes. 

Awesome Crime

Blood Work - Michael Connelly
13 Hours - Deon Meyer (technically I started it in 2011, but only finished it this year)

Awesome Fantasy

There were no nominees in this category this year. Better luck next year.

Awesome Paranormal Fantasy
There were no nominees in this category this year. Better luck next year.

Awesome Science Fiction

Peace Army - Steven L Hawk

Awesome Horror

Dead Man Series - Lee Goldberg, Will Rabkin, et al.

Face of Evil
Ring of Knives
Hell in Heaven
The Dead Woman
Blood Mesa

Awesome Romance
There were no nominees in this category this year. Better luck next year.

Awesome Humor
Right What You No - Tyson Adams' blog

I'm allowed to be self-congratulatory. Plus I didn't read any funny books this year.

Awesome Nonfiction
This is an oxymoron, so it is invalidated as a category. Having said that I did read several nonfiction books this year, mostly on climate change. I should make mention of On Writing by Steven King, which really had me agreeing with Steven's insights.

Awesome Graphic Novels & Comics

The Boys - Garth Ennis

The Killer - Matz

This is the second over-represented category on my list. 

Awesome Indie

Unleashed - Emily Kimelman

Awesome Poetry

Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Book Review: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint

A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really do enjoy a good mystery novel. They can make do without the sex and violence of normal crime or thriller stories and yet still keep you intrigued. Shamini did have a good reason for eschewing sex and violence, her mother edits it all out. Fortunately she left the humour and intrigue in.

This is my first Shamini Flint novel, and features the fat Indian Inspector from Singapore, Inspector Singh. Singh is the atypical hero, someone you would prefer not to know. Yet you find yourself wanting the inspector to triumph in his battle to find the truth. You also wish that he went somewhere a little less humid, so as to avoid sweating.

Shamini takes an interesting approach to writing a murder mystery. She picks a topic or issue she wants to explore and then writes a murder to bring the fat inspector onto the scene. In this way, her novel is as much social commentary as it is murder mystery. I was quite interested in the look into law in Asia, especially the conflicts and overlaps between the different court systems there.

If you like mysteries, then you'll enjoy Inspector Singh Investigates.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Unleashed - Emily Kimelman

I had some feedback from my sister about how all the books I read have the same covers. I am blessed with siblings, a sister and brother, who are both smart and are not afraid to speak the truth. I think it comes from being raised upon a farm. Farmers and their families tend to be a bullshit free zone because you see life all around you. We all still laugh when we hear someone talk about how they became vegetarian when they realised that animals were made out of food: naive much?

Hopefully my sister will see this book cover and see something different, mainly because while this book sat safely in my favourite categories of reading, it also was something outside the box. I mean, look at the cover: no guns, no macabre hints, no violently stylized text. Read the blurb: how can a dog walker be the hero in a mystery thriller? Which is exactly why you should read Unleashed and enjoy.

I wasn't surprised to learn that Emily, the author, was a dog walker when she was studying English at university. Dog owners will understand what I mean when they read this book. All of those little things that all dogs do, like proudly displaying the couch they have just chewed to pieces - Iz dones good, huh! - when you come home. For readers who like well written and well constructed novels, Emily's degree clearly didn't go to waste, including the ending that caught me off-guard (something that rarely happens).

This was a well paced and involving novel. I literally read it in one sitting today (well if you ignore the break to make lunch), so if it wasn't an e-book you would call it "a real page turner". Plus the book has a dog on the cover. A dog!

My dog is cute and helps me read by laying on my feet.