Thirteen Reasons Why ... or Maybe One Good Reason Why Writers' Should Read Best-Selling Books

Surprise. I read serious books as well as genre fiction.

What can be more serious than teen suicide? Yeah, I realize Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher has been on the New York Times List a long time, but I just got around to reading it. 

Why hadn't I read the book before now? Well ... YA fiction has the distressing habit of appearing in trade paperback. The cheapskate in me balks at paying $10-12.00 for a book. Then, I found it used! Voila. You get my opinion on this impressive book. 

When Hannah Baker moved to a new town, several missteps landed her with a reputation she didn't deserve. "Kids-Being-Kids" circumstances kept her life taking turns for the worse, until Hannah feels she has no choice but to commit suicide. Asher creates suspenseful novel using the premise that Hannah tape records her J'accuse to force her tormentors follow her journey by threantening to publically reveal them. The main character, a nice boy who makes mistakes, is also forced to listen to the tapes in sequence.

So what can pip-squeak writer learn from reading Thirteen Reasons Why besides that some writer's make a huge splash with their first book? [*sigh*]

Well, for one thing, a story can succeed in spite of flat craft skills.His characters all to often flirt with becoming caricatures, even with two view points describing people and events. Don't look for three dimensional characters here. The people described in Hannah's tape play their role and disappear. Even Clay, who is the narrator, and the most sympathetic character, doesn't escape his role of the "nice" boy, though he does gain insight from the tapes and grows. We assume the other kids in the book continue to wallow in their mud holes.

Another, thing. It's possible to create suspense even when the reader knows the ending -- Hannah kills herself. I think that's Asher's best achievement with this book. He manages to keep millions of readers turning the pages even though the storyline circles the same actions-reactions repeatedly.

Asher also uses a neat technique to distinguish the intertwining points of view -- italics for Hannah and regular typeface for Clay. The normal convention is to put changes in points of view in separate chapters or instar separate sections within a chapter. Asher writes them concurrently -- Hannah describes how she was wronged and Clay reacts ... over ... and ... over... again.

This last point is one reason why you should buy this book. Study it. Mark it up. Note the good craft points and the weaker craft points. Why? The bottom line is that Asher told a story that has enthralled millions. He did lots of stuff right even if the book drags in lots of places.

Rating? I give it 4**** stars. Hey, I finished it, and I plan to read it again ... soon. And, wondering why I didn't turn cutesie and give thirteen reasons why writers should read the book? -- I'm lazy.
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It's rather embarrassing, but I'm still trying to get my website straightened out. One of the problems: I always seem to hit snags where the site just doesn't respond -- in spite of the trouble-shooting by the host's customer service.  This last problem happens no matter which email provider I used, Firefox, Chrome, or Explorer, the website wouldn't download properly so I could change pages. Called the people three times over about a week, and it still didn't work.

Grump. Grump. Was busy and didn't have a two hour block to call customer service...yet again, and didn't get back to the site for two or three days more. It miraculously worked. 

Net result. The Ignoble Nobel Prize Winner is now listed on my author website. Even got my free short story page updated so all four stories have their Smashwords and Nook links displayed. Still have a six item list of corrections that still need to be done ... with the help of customer service but ... would you guess, no time.

One marketing note, I'd like to make.

I get most of my sales from Barnes & Noble. I think the free stories are the reason why. So, I am wondering: What are your experiences? Where do you buy most of your books? I buy print even though I have a Kindle.

Cliched Characters

Writerly Fantasy Review:

Lee Child: Worth Dying For.   Yeah, I consider Lee Child a fantasy writer ... with thriller elements ... but really, just how realistic is the series?  Reacher dodges bullets better than Superman.

In this book Reacher is creaking [badly in need of aspirin] along after escaping from the inferno at the end of the last book.  Found this book disappointing, though.  I thought he was moving towards more emotional involvement with people, but this book was just more of the same: Reacher seeking justice for a girl that had disappeared years before -- with help of the gang who controls the town.

Child trots his well-drawn complications [villains] across the canvas.  The brutalized citizens cower convincingly -- with good reasons.  There's even a cowardly drunken doctor with a heart of gold.  Did I mention cliches here?  Doesn't matter, really.  The book's a good, fast-moving read with well-drawn characters worth studying how he places the details ... if somewhat unsatisfying.

Is there such a thing as internal cliches.  Of course, there is.  I think writers get into habits ... not always bad, but human brains tend to run in ruts.  It takes concentrated effort to jump on the verge and go wandering.  The more bushes concealing things, the better.  No, I won't demand my money back because of the recycled plot pattern. 

Social Networking Web Stuff:

I'm beginning to understand social networking.  [I'm a slow learner.]  It's simple.  You're damn if you do ... and damned if you don't.  I think Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware lifted my lid and looked inside my head.  She posted about how she spent too much time on the web even though lots of it was work related.  Ditto here even though I don't have the excuse.  She does.

Then there's the other side of argument with a critique contest.

Which side of the coin do you fall on? Pro or anti or in-between?

Do you remember the brouhaha the Wall Street Journal article raised about distopian YA books?  Well, Rob Brunner in his blog EW Shelf Life gives support to the opposite position.  He interviews author Jay Asher about how his book, Thirteen Reasons Why, is saving lives.

Thought I'd give another person a chance to wade in on effective social media.  Connor Dempsey does just that at on his blog.  Of course, I mostly agree with him.  --  I think I'm looking for support on cutting back on social media.  Still, he makes some good points.  What do you think?

I'm looking at the first pages for two of the WIPs sitting in my files as I snatch revising time here and there.  Brooke Favero writing about what happened last week in the writing world for The Writing Bug linked to Katia Lief's discussion of the 3 "Cs" of Writing which gives the basics of what your first pages should do.  If your manuscript isn't hooking anyone, you might take a look.

Thought I had this wrapped up when I discovered Eric's blog, "The Long and Short of It",  at Pimp My Novel.  He gives a nice strategy for getting published.  Great ... unless your ideas always metathesizes into something longer ... and longer. 

Writing Lesson:

Writing a series has other pitfalls than cliched characters.  How about keeping everything straight?  This problem has been nagging me since last week when I started creating seriously again.  

Backstory:  Once I wrote a 400,000+ word story about the Far Isle Half-Elven.  Somewhere around 200,000 words, I had a harder and harder time keeping everything straight.  I solved the problem by keeping a log of features, personality traits, place names, special terms, etc.  Later, I discovered many writers call this a bible.  Not the Bible, but the go to source when you try not to make mistakes in your own writing.  Like being able to edit the mistakes before anyone else notices them.

Then, Taking Vengeance was published, and I find I need to write more in the Half-Elven world to support the ebook's sales.  [Thus, the reason why I self-published Cavern Between Worlds.]  

Now, I'm writing a subsequential of Vengeance.  It's an idea that's been bubbling to the surface of my mind for at least two-three years, but always sank again.  Now, I'm 2000 words into the thing, and I'm rather intrigued by the unfolding plot since the main villain isn't one of the Felds.  I think they'll end up being the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend this time around.  It'll be interesting to see how the story develops after having taken some fiction writing classes and doing critiques.

Main change:  I'm having to revise the chaotic Half-Elven bible. [Watch Kay's eyes cross.... especially since she's trying to keep her characters from becoming cliches.]

Do you have a bible for your world, series, or whatever you're writing?  Have you found that one helps if you only plan to write one book in your world?

Trivia:

My cheapness bit me ... again.  Thought I'd try to save money on toilet paper by buying it at Big Lots.  Not only was the roll short by an inch, but the paper was so thin you can almost see through it.  Back to the supermarket.