Doing a post on writing advice this morning reminded me of a new release this week, something that flies in the face of conventional “how to write” guides, focusing on dialing in the passion of a writer. Drown The Cat quite intentionally parodies the title of Save The Cat, the writing guide that so many authors use–a book that in a lot of ways has produced monotone, boring fiction from a good portion of the industry.
I’ve read Drown The Cat, and it hits the points that every new writer should learn in their journey, most importantly encouraging writers to be themselves. It’s very easy to read, and well organized and formatted. There are some standard writing points in there, but this encourages you to stretch your mind more than follow everyone else in the field. Though he’s not as keen on wall-to-wall action as many of us, this IS the writing guide for the Pulp Revolution.
If you don’t know who Dario is, it’s a shame. He is one of the best editors in science fiction and fantasy, and very few have heard of him. If you can hire him, do it, you won’t regret it. He’s edited Doug Sharp’s Channel Zilch, which is one of the most unique and innovative science fiction works of our time, as well as Bonnie Randall’s Divinity and the Python, of which is a great work of horror/romance fiction every writer could and should read as a study in how to write characters readers connect with. He’s got his own fiction as well, of which I equally hail. Bottom line is, if you want to improve your fiction fast as a new writer, you should listen to his writing advice.
Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Drown-Cat-Authors-Writing-Beyond-ebook/dp/B071GDVVS9
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