Regardless of how long you’ve been writing, or how successful you’ve been in your literary career, you have more to learn. This series of essays is dedicated to that proposition. Each is a boiled-down observation on some element of the craft I’ve been trying to master for more than fifty years. I offer these thoughts to my colleagues and welcome your lessons in return.
Write Away Essays:
by David Benjamin “ … These [rules governing literary art] require that the author shall: 12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it. 13. Use the right word, not its second cousin. 14. Eschew surplusage. 15. Not omit necessary details. 16. Avoid slovenliness of form. 17. Use good grammar. 18.……
by David Benjamin “Call any vegetable. Call it by name, and the chances are good that a vegetable will respond to you.” —Frank Zappa MADISON, Wis.—I studied to become a teacher. I got a degree and everything. I racked up a whole semester of classroom experience at Edgerton (Wis.) High School. There, I stared into……
by David Benjamin “You are absolutely a beginner—every day. You have no right to assume that you’ll be able to write because you could write yesterday.” ―Hilary Mantel MADISON, Wis.—When I was in high school, circulating my adolescent prose and scripting ironic skits for pep rallies, my most haunting aspiration was to be able to……
by David Benjamin “There are women named Faith, Hope, Joy, and Prudence. Why not Despair, Guilt, Rage, and Grief? It seems only right. ‘Tom, I’d like you to meet the girl of my dreams, Tragedy.’ These days, Trajedi.” ―George Carlin MADISON, Wis.—When I was in fourth grade, drafting my first novel, I dedicated a fat……
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—At age eight, in my first stab at storytelling, I was drawn—perhaps almost instinctively—to dialog. My two protagonists, twin toddlers named Stanley and Peggy, spoke volubly to each other in a cute, infantile dialect, rendered phonetically, in which they turned each letter “L” into a “W”. In high school, my love……
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—My current “new” project is a novel called Upstairs, the sixth in a series of smalltown crime novels featuring police chief Jim Otis. I’m fifteen chapters deep in a story that, according to my plan, tops out at thirty chapters. Of course, I don’t believe that latter number for a minute,……
by David Benjamin “On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, In the heart of the day, in the cool of the pool, He was splashing … enjoying the jungle’s great joys … When Horton the elephant heard a small noise … ” ―Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who MADISON, Wis.—I’ve always believed—and……
by David Benjamin “My father was a stuffy man.” ―William Goldman, The Temple of Gold, first paragraph MADISON, Wis.—A while ago, I was stationed among my books at Literatus & Co., an airy and comfortable bookstore in Watertown, Wis. During a lull in my lull-intensive author appearance, I plucked a book from a display and……
by David Benjamin “It’s important for authors to be flexible, but they should keep writing what they love to write. Writing is a profession, I understand, but it is also an art. Be true to it.” ―Kailin Gow MADISON, Wis.—Lately, the suppression of “diversity” has become the political mission of the right wing not just……
by David Benjamin “Vinnie and Hawk lounged in the theater lobby, blending in to the theatrical scene like two coyotes at a poultry festival.” —Robert B. Parker, Walking Shadow MADISON, Wis.—In my newspaper days, it was necessary, if I wanted coverage of high-school sports in my circulation range, to teach a kid from the high……