Creativity Friday: Reading to Write

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ve started work on the second draft of THE LILY MAID, my novel set in Victorian England’s Aesthetic art movement. Yet I have not written a word of the draft yet. Instead, I’m compiling lots and lots of notes in a small journal* I carry everywhere with me—even to my bedside at night in case a stray thought should arrive.

Some of these notes are inspired by feedback from my literary agent and readers. (I had four supportive friends read the first draft. Not surprisingly, their comments mirrored many of my literary agent’s, which is why it’s Important and Necessary to have more than one reader at this stage of the game.) My other notes are along the lines of stream-of-consciousness musings-to-myself. Many of them have been triggered by the reading I’ve been doing in preparation for writing this second draft.

So far, if I was to divide the labor put into revising the novel so far, it would be tilted to 85% reading, 15% writing.

Just as humans need food to live, writers require inspiration to transform into creative energy. The time between finishing a first draft and revising the second is made for this sort of intake. I’m fortunate that, along with notes on my manuscript, my agent also gave me a reading list of novels to help me refine character motivation, plot arc, and all those other persnickety details that give a book emotional resonance.  Other suggestions came way of friends familiar with my novel and the era in which it takes place.

So, curious what I’ve been reading? So far, the books have fallen into three categories:

1. Fiction with similar themes and character dynamics.

2. Biographies of Victorian-era artists and muses.

3. Nonfiction about the craft of story.**

Here are a few of the books I’ve been perusing:

FICTION:

The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton)

Year of Wonders (Geraldine Brooks)

Inamorata (Joseph Gangemi)

The Piano Teacher (Janice Yee)

Girl With a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)

The Good Soldier (Ford Maddox Ford)

Anne Perry’s Victorian-era mysteries (for setting and details on class structure)

and a host of others….

***

BIOGRAPHIES:

Lizzy Siddal: Face of the Pre-Raphaelites (Lucinda Hawksley)

Jane and May Morris (Jan Marsh)

Oscar Wilde (Richard Ellman)

Several group biographies of the Souls, a Victorian cohort of artistic intellectuals

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (James McNeill Whistler)

also several books on photography, Victorian spiritualism, and other related subjects….

***

NONFICTION:

The Fire in Fiction (Donald Maass) – Has great revisions suggestions for novels underway.

Story Structure Architect (Victoria Schmidt) -  The author breaks down plot in examples using mythic examples. She includes diagrams for the story arc for each plot example too, which I think is reason enough to buy it.

Story (Robert McKee) – This book is a classic for screenwriters but has lots of applicable ideas for novelists.

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (Patricia Highsmith) – Recommended to me by a novelist-friend who teaches fiction writing. Has applicable ideas even if one isn’t writing a thriller or mystery.

Bestseller: Secrets of Successful Writing (Celia Brayfield) – Corny title, but she uses Joseph Campbell’s hero’s return to illustrate plot structure in novels. It offers great advice for shaping what my agent calls the “C Plot” of a book—character development.

And several others, some which I haven’t mentioned because I found them a bit simplistic or jargonesque.

***

What has been the result of all this reading to write? Well, I’m starting to chomp at the bit to dive into Draft #2 in earnest. In other words, I feel inspired and prepared for the next phase. If all goes as hoped, I plan to have a revised draft of THE LILY MAID sometime this winter.

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* Yes, that is my journal in the photograph. I have very messy handwriting, alas!

**To those reading this blog who are also writers: What are your favorite books for writing and revising a book? I’d love to hear! Please share in the comments.

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