Commonly authors are asked
for advice about writing and it tends to be the same questions people want
answers for; to plan or not to plan, whether it’s important to know the ending
right from the beginning, how to choose whose voice to tell the story through.
Auckland novelist and
teacher Stephanie Johnson has done a clever thing with her latest book; fusing
her words of wisdom about the writing process (along with a few cautions about
the reality of being a novelist in the 21st century) with a
sharply-observed work of fiction.
The Writing Class (Random House) isn’t a manual exactly but still is brilliantly
structured to lead the reader through the stages of completing a novel,
providing examples of each technique along the way.
Our tutor is Merle an
out-of-inspiration author teaching creative writing at the local
university. Merle is married to Brendan,
a washed up TV producer who spends his days smoking, drinking tea and sleeping.
As their suburb gentrifies around them they have taken in a lodger, an elderly
German drop-out called Jurgen, to help them make ends meet. Meanwhile Merle’s
trendier, younger colleage Gareth is being targeted by her attractive,
self-obsessed student Jacinta who is falling out of love with surgeon husband
Hermann.
Johnson introduces us to
the lives these people have had and the places they find themselves in now in a
section called Ways Of Beginning
which illustrates how to create characters and weave them in with the thread of
the story without info-dumping (or being expositional which, as I now realise,
is the correct term).
Merle’s devotion to her
husband despite his failings, Jurgen’s internal battles, Jacinta and Gareth’s
affair, Hermann’s heartbreak, the challenges Merle’s students face as they try
to get their manuscripts ready for submission; all this is the stuff of the
story but also supplies its author with the tools she needs to teach us about
plot and structure, narrative perspective and even some of the hallmarks of bad
writing.
Johnson’s wit bites pretty
hard at times – particularly in the chapters where Merle is with her students.
While she claims not to have based any of her characters on people she’s taught
over the years it’s difficult to believe their conceits and concerns haven’t crossed
over from real life and that Johnson hasn’t rather enjoyed helping them.
In a way this is a
self-indulgent novel. It provides its author with an excuse to quote passages
of prose she likes or drop the names of authors she admires. But it’s also one
of the more useful pieces of fiction I’ve read. There are lessons to be learnt
– about life as well as writing – and Johnson teaches them pithily and well.
As the self-taught author
of seven novels I found it intriguing to see things I’ve been doing instinctively
broken down and explained. But The Writing Class would be an
informative and entertaining read for anyone interested in the craft; from
beginners to published authors, and firmly cements Johnson into place as one of
our most accomplished.
About the reviewer.
Nicky Pellegrino, an Auckland-based author of popular fiction, is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on Sunday 12 May 2013.
About the reviewer.
Nicky Pellegrino, an Auckland-based author of popular fiction, is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on Sunday 12 May 2013.
Her latest novel When In Rome is set in 1950's Italy and was published in September 2012. Her next novel, The Food Of Love Cooking School, will be published later this year
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