Nathan Henrion

Death of a Writer

Robert B. Parker died this week from an apparent heart attack:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/01/20/robert-b-parker-spenser-novel/

What is doubly heart-breaking (triply, quad…you get the idea) is that all the characters that he developed, in a sense, pass away with him.

I was a new fan of Parker’s, and came about his work through his westerns. Virgil Cole and Everitt Hitch are some of my favorite characters of the past year. I have been looking forward to the next installment in the series due out this spring. These two characters are in a morbid sense, dead too.

As readers we really don’t get a sense of who an author is. But the characters they create become an intimate part of our lives.

So Godspeed to you Mr. Parker. But also, Godspeed to you Virgil and Everitt. I will miss you.

2010: 01/21
CATEGORY: books
writing
2 comments

Help! The Pain of Revising…Methods

I am struggling with the process of revising my manuscript with the suggestions from my agent in regards to character development. I think the reason is is that I have read this story so many times it feels that I can’t think of it in any other way than what I have down on paper already.

In this rewrite, I can see some weak metaphors and phrasing that can be strengthened, but what about character development? Oy vey this is hard. Hmmm. I have already tried a couple methods and none of them seem to be clicking.

The critique was that some characters seem to be just filler. That they are not developed enough even though they are in the storyline…they are written as if to give the other characters dialogue points or action.

Anybody have any methods they care to share here?

HELP!

2010: 01/20
CATEGORY: writing
7 comments

NYC Literati

I’m in NYC today and am going to have dinner with “my agent”. This is what its all about right? haha….fun fun fun

2010: 01/18
CATEGORY: writing
1 comment

Times Sure Have Changed

I was cruising on I-40 yesterday to the great city of Amarillo and I had my iPod set on shuffle. The song “More Than A Feeling” came on by Boston which I even forgot was on there.

I first heard this song when I was around 9 years old. It came on the radio that I had set up in my room and I dug the guitar riff in it. I didn’t catch the name of the song then, but I grabbed a blank Memorex (remember those?), popped it into the cassette deck, and waited fervently for it to come back on and record it. This was 1985.

I had no idea at that time that the song was already old. It came out in 1976. I thought it was new, but hey, I was 9 years old. And little did I know that radio stations don’t put 10 year old songs on heavy rotation. It came on by a fluke.

So I sat in my room from the time I got home from school to the time I went to bed for a week, waiting for that d__n song to come back on the radio. And I waited. And waited.

A whole week. Who would do that now?

Eventually I gave up. Later on, I heard that song again and said to my brother “I love that song!” He then informed me he had the tape in his room. Naturally, he wouldn’t let me listen to it.

Thinking back on this memory, it is amazing how things have changed. We now have instant access to almost everything. 30 seconds and 99 cents will get you any song you want. No more persevering to get those things we really must have.

Now, would any of us sit vigilantly for a week or more waiting for anything?

2010: 01/13
CATEGORY: Growing Up
7 comments

Legos Are Awesome

Me and the family are spending a month in Florida right now (I’m working on remote) and so we decided to take the boys to downtown Disney tonight. We took them into the Lego store that they had there and they picked out their first small bucket of Legos.

I forgot how awesome Legos are!

I could not wait to get back to the house and bust those things open. So we have been sitting here for awhile while we build this-and-that.

IF you need any reason to have kids, use it as a legitimate excuse to play with toys again. A thirty something year old man playing with blocks by himself is usually not accepted in our current, jaded culture.

2010: 01/04
CATEGORY: Growing Up
5 comments

New Year’s Resolution 2010

Like everyone else, I have been trying to think of different New Year’s resolutions that I can fail at by mid-February. 2009 was actually pretty good, so hopefully I can get a little more out of ‘10.

1. Drink more water: I switched to diet pop last March, and since then, all other variables remaining constant, I have lost 17 pounds. I dropped from 187 to 170. That means I was drinking a WHOLE LOT of Mt. Dew. I think adding a few more ounces of water to the diet will only help me out.

2. Exercise: I don’t have any plan for this. I just need to do something. Anything. Any type of movement will be an improvement.

3. Write another novel: I accomplished the first novel in ‘09, now have an agent, and am hoping that it will get sold this year. Now I need to follow that up with a second tale that hopefully meets with the same excitement.

4. Be a better husband: I’ve been slacking in this department a bit. We are closing in on the decade mark, and I think I have forgotten that my wife still likes to get flowers and compliments.

5. Read: I want to read 50 books this year. A low number by some people’s reading pace, but a goal which is about 1 a week.

What are some of your resolutions?

2010: 01/01
CATEGORY: Random
3 comments

Ever Want To Do This To Your Manuscript?

2009: 12/21
CATEGORY: writing
3 comments

A Story Too Big For You?

I was thinking about an idea for a story over the weekend, an idea that is still in the very beginning amoeba state of being. After just mulling the idea around for awhile I came to the conclusion that I am just not ready to tackle the concept. (I will refrain from divulging the thesis here). I think it has something to do with the fact that some themes require a lot of living to grasp.

Call it maturity or experience, I’m not sure. Maybe its the notion that once you hit a certain age you won’t care if you can’t pull it off. Who knows?

I wrote the idea down and will keep it in a file. Maybe in ten years I will be ready to begin it. Right now, the idea seems too big, too deep, to nuanced and beyond my capabilities to do it justice….for now. I’m not talking about word count or length, I am talking about depth. Subtleties. The magnitude of a sliver of emotion.

So here’s the question: Have you ever thought about this with an idea or story? Have you ever admited to yourself that maybe now is not the time to begin that masterpiece?

2009: 12/21
CATEGORY: writing
3 comments

One Step Closer

Needless to say, I have been pretty geeked up the past 24 hours. I now can say I have people. An agent. A Jerry Maguire to my Rod Tidwell.

What is most exciting is that I instantly got some great feedback and critique of my story, as far as what I would need to do to make it even stronger. So over the past day I have been thinking about the points expressed to me and you know what(?)…the brain is firing again. I am re-energized to go over the script again and make it even better.

And just like that, my mind is tracing plot lines for another tale that has been on the back burner of the synaptic stove top for a couple months.

This is basically just a “yeah for me” post. Sorry about that.

2009: 12/18
CATEGORY: writing
2 comments

African-American Bookselling: PW Article

Felicia Pride wrote a solid article for the most recent issue of Publisher’s Weekly. Yours truly is quoted in it.

Great article Felicia!

African-American Books in Today’s Marketplace

2009: 12/15
CATEGORY: books
Write comment

Every time you leave a comment, a child learns to read