Read Read Read
It has been many successful authors, including Joanne Harris and Stephen King who have said, if you want to improve your art, then you must Read Read Read and Write Write Write. Like any artist you must chip away at art until it is exceptional. Of course many authors write unexceptional work and it sells well and many authors write exceptional work and it doesn't get noticed. It just seems to be the way it goes....the better you are at marketing, the higher the sales.
I am a fantasy writer, but I read in most genres. Most. Not all. I love non-fiction as well as fiction. After reading a couple of heavy non-fiction political conspiracy type books, I thought I would dive into a good fiction Crime novel.
Anne Perry. I have heard of her, firstly as the girl who spent much of her childhood in New Zealand and a movie by Peter Jackson was made about an incident that took place, that I'm not going to go into. BUT I had not read any of her crime novels, so I thought I would brush up on my crime reading mental devices and start reading one of her books - The Whitechapel Conspiracy.
This is written and read slowly. The movement is slow, but that fits with the time when everyone either travels by horse and cart or by foot. This is the year 1892 and the place, Whitechapel, a dangerous place of seedy, immoral behavior and poverty. Whitechapel is dirty, you can almost smell the uncleanliness of the people mixed with tobacco and pollution.
I'm only half-way through, but already I am absorbing Perry's use of language and strategic thinking. Something I can take with me to my next book.
If you are interested in reading this murder mystery thriller, please click on the cover to be transported.
