tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post1795570611071940508..comments2024-03-28T13:37:53.397-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: Liars' ClubLeigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-56465607600655704322014-02-17T11:53:49.805-05:002014-02-17T11:53:49.805-05:00Linda, I did have that thought. I can't even ...Linda, I did have that thought. I can't even imagine not reading any fiction, and I feel sorry for those who don't.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-52476794628547421082014-02-17T11:44:25.341-05:002014-02-17T11:44:25.341-05:00My response to anyone who tells me they never read...My response to anyone who tells me they never read fiction is "Oh. Poor you."Linda Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15552596180334246173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-48825786541743135922014-02-15T16:37:44.315-05:002014-02-15T16:37:44.315-05:00Thank you, Peter, for those recommendations. All ...Thank you, Peter, for those recommendations. All three are now on my to-read list, and especially <i>Riches Among the Ruins</i>. Your description of that book reminds me of a trip I once made to Manila to teach a two-week class for IBM, and a few days after returning home I was watching coverage on CNN of a coup there, with machine-gun battles in the street outside the hotel where I'd stayed. <i>The Invisible Hook</i> also sounds really interesting.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-62831669854639194952014-02-15T16:26:22.271-05:002014-02-15T16:26:22.271-05:00Thanks for this post. For more nonfiction that can...Thanks for this post. For more nonfiction that can be riveting as well as informative, try journalist John Maclean's Fire on the Mountain, which gives his reporting on a deadly wildfire that trapped a team of "smoke jumper" firefighters.<br /><br />If you like business and economics (but not traveling) there's Robert Smith's Riches Among the Ruins, which recounts his business trips into dangerous areas around the world during the early days of emerging-market bond trading. And economist Peter T. Leeson's The Invisible Hook is a hoot: an entertaining and readable economics-based explanation of pirates' behavior during the golden age of piracy.<br /><br />One caveat: I read more fiction than non-fiction, and find nonfiction often moves more slowly on the page, even the thriller-style adventures. Fiction does aim to entertain, while nonfiction reports. Different writing styles that lead to different reading experiences.Peter DiChellishttp://murderandfries.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-74992164216579941132014-02-15T14:38:16.925-05:002014-02-15T14:38:16.925-05:00Small world, Herschel--I also had a piece in Elysi...Small world, Herschel--I also had a piece in <i>Elysian Field Quarterly</i>, years ago.<br /><br />As for my response to the guy who said he didn't read any fiction because it was lies, I was tempted to twist his nose instead, but I didn't figure the store manager would invite me back if I did.<br /><br />I've always been impressed, by the way, by the many, many pieces of fiction that you've had published.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-49919604322236465302014-02-15T14:29:43.068-05:002014-02-15T14:29:43.068-05:00Barb, good to hear from you!
As for your question...Barb, good to hear from you!<br /><br />As for your question, an essay is--to me--sort of an opinion piece that draws some kind of conclusion at the end, while an article is more a reporting of facts about a subject--but be aware, those are my definitions only. Both are of course nonfiction, and I'm always amused when someone says they saw my article in AHMM, etc. I usually inform them that I'm not smart enough to write an article--I have to make things up. (You'll notice, Barb, that I didn't say I "lied" about them.)<br /><br />Yes, I do consider blog entries essays, and also all those assignments (ugh) that we were told to write while in school.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-39969855572502908532014-02-15T13:45:09.768-05:002014-02-15T13:45:09.768-05:00Like Eve, I read about 50-50, (maybe a little more...Like Eve, I read about 50-50, (maybe a little more fiction)<br />I am partial to WWII non-fiction, like Ryan's "The Longest Day". Just finished "Guns At Last Light", and found it almost too detailed, but providing insights into the machinations of Allied leaders.<br />But when it comes to writing I am a non-fiction guy. with one exception: I had several baseball pieces published in the defunct Elysian Fields Quarterly. <br />You handled the guy at your booksigning with class, which is no surprise. I shudder to think what I would have said. <br />Herschel Cozinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06097703750150309319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-56924722346370000652014-02-15T13:39:48.017-05:002014-02-15T13:39:48.017-05:00The books and short stories I read are all fiction...The books and short stories I read are all fiction. (Would a non-fiction short be an article or essay? Then I guess I read those, too, via blogs.)<br /><br />I must comment on folks who think fiction is lies. I've heard this several times in the past few years, and it always strikes me as so odd. Fiction is a story. It's not lies. It's something utterly different. To lie is to take a real person or event and say something inaccurate about it and tell people that's what really happened in real life. Fiction is not real life. It's a wonderful place to visit, where the author calls the shots and whatever she says is what is; no lies involved.<br /><br />Even fiction using characters based on real people shouldn't invoke the dreaded "lies" comment, because no one is saying these fictional stories are true.<br /><br />Sorry for the rant. But I'm glad I could say my piece. And that's no lie!Barb Goffmanhttp://www.barbgoffman.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-77309606754824319362014-02-15T10:44:21.847-05:002014-02-15T10:44:21.847-05:00Thanks for the information, Eve. I'm pleased t...Thanks for the information, Eve. I'm pleased to know your choices for favorite nonfiction, and I will treat those as a recommended reading list. I confess that the only ones I've read are Shelby Foote's Civil War books. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy all of James Clavell's novels, which I think taught me a lot about Japan, Hong Kong, Iran, etc.<br /><br />Any historian who can quote from <i>A Fish Called Wanda</i> is okay by me.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-81482127088337951882014-02-15T10:20:10.201-05:002014-02-15T10:20:10.201-05:00(1) I read about 50-50, fiction/nonfiction. Why? ...(1) I read about 50-50, fiction/nonfiction. Why? Because I'm an omnivore, constantly curious, and I cannot, cannot, cannot keep my nose out of almost any subject at all.<br />(2) I find history most interesting, of course, with theoretical physics running a close second. In history, I'm always fascinated by social history - how did people live back then? - and again, I'm omnivorous, although most of my shelves are European, Chinese, and Japanese history. Re physics, well, I love it, but I suspect that I'm a lot like Otto in "A Fish Called Wanda" - "Apes don't read philosophy." "Yes, they do, Otto, they just don't understand it."<br />(3) Best non-fiction ever? Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror"; Jonathan Spence's "Death of Woman Wang", and "God's Chinese Son"; Junichi Suga's "Memories of Silk and Straw"; Shelby Foote's 3 volume "Civil War"; Angus Calder's "The People's War"; Dorothy Hartley's "Lost Country Life"; Hiroaki Sato's "Legends of the Samurai"; any of the diaries of Heian Japan. For starters.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-91776409134277207542014-02-15T10:09:23.703-05:002014-02-15T10:09:23.703-05:00What I meant was, your take on THAT is understanda...What I meant was, your take on THAT is understandable. (It's still early.)John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-81683696859066869112014-02-15T10:08:11.835-05:002014-02-15T10:08:11.835-05:00Liz, I think your take on is understandable--you&#...Liz, I think your take on is understandable--you've done so much nonfiction yourself, it's something you don't seek out as a reader. I feel the same way about traveling--I did so much globetrotting on the job, I now try never to leave my own zip code.<br /><br />As for publishing a novel, I'm not there yet, although I just sent a new one off to my agent and have my fingers crossed--but I think all fiction is fun to write, mostly BECAUSE you have to make up the story. The plotting will always be the most enjoyable part of the process for me. Congrats, by the way, on those thirty years of poetry--that's a form of writing that I think very few can do well.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-67309848441901199582014-02-15T09:49:19.163-05:002014-02-15T09:49:19.163-05:00John, I hope it isn't a big irrevocable mistak...John, I hope it isn't a big irrevocable mistake to confess on the Internet that I find it very hard to read nonfiction at all. I've written plenty of it myself, though not trade, ie commercial, nonfiction like the books you mention: my professional works on addictions and relationships and online therapy, and my pop or journalistic style pieces including about 400 well written, entertaining blog posts; and my thirty years' worth of poetry, about which I used to tell audiences, "All the stories in my poems are true." But I've always believed to some extent (not quite like your friend, but similarly) that I wasn't a real WRITER (vs "author") until I'd published (not simply written) a novel. Since that happened (the first one launched on my 64th birthday), I've had no doubts at all on that score.<br /><br />Oh, and I agree with Fran that writing fiction is harder, because you have to make up the story. Elizabeth Zelvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13944424094949207841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-78994940382837545652014-02-15T09:32:44.790-05:002014-02-15T09:32:44.790-05:00Fran, you can honestly say you're good at both...Fran, you can honestly say you're good at both. <br /><br />Unlike you, I got my start with fiction rather than nonfiction; like you, I was fortunate enough to have some fiction success early on (although I've had plenty of failures since). Those early acceptances can be a great shot in the arm.<br /><br />I heard someone say that the easiest writing you can do is a memoir, because your outline is already done and all you have to do is fill in the blanks. John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-88906583655099293542014-02-15T06:20:43.560-05:002014-02-15T06:20:43.560-05:00John, I began writing for profit in the nonfiction...John, I began writing for profit in the nonfiction world--feature articles in magazines, which averaged about $300 each. Later, I wrote scientific papers for Clemson University.<br />When I joined a writers' group, they constantly told me that breaking into fiction was much tougher. My favorite phrase back then was, "Watch me!" so I wrote a short story. Miraculously, that story won in the Augusta Arts Short Fiction Competition, putting $500 in my pocket and an invitation to read at the Augusta Arts Festival, which I thoroughly enjoyed.<br />I've been hooked since then on writing fiction, though to be honest, I do think it is more difficult. I read fiction for pleasure and usually nonfiction for information when I develop a new interest. I wasn't much on history until Eve began posting. Now I occasionally read history.Fran Rizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08655783035179620991noreply@blogger.com