Pulp Serenade has some interesting observations by Louis L'Amour on words and writing.
When I was young and far more sophisticated, I avoided the L'Amour books. Since then I've read a few and discovered why the old guy was - and is - so popular. He knew how to tell a good story.
2 comments:
Michael,
Having read all of Louis's westerns I can attest to a few things: he was a good story teller, his writing was uneven - which is another way of saying that a number of his books would have benefited mightily if an editor had been present, the good guy always won and often got the girl, and while avoiding any plot twists or complicated story lines, he has provided countless hours of entertainment. Cotton candy for the mind. It has its place. Steve
When I first decided that I wanted to make part of my living by writing, I also set about finding models and deconstructing them. L'Amour was one of the first. Any writer with his output will be somewhat uneven, but I was wanted to learn why you always wanted to move on to the next chapter, even when it was late and you were sleepy. The answer is the little "coming attraction" that's at the end of almost every chapter he wrote, a single sentence, usually, that said, "you will be fascinated by what happens next."
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