The Elegant Variation: SECOND NOVEL WOES

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May 10, 2011

SECOND NOVEL WOES

I am, understandably, obsessed with tales of second novelhood, like this one in Slate. (Thanks to Katherine Taylor, who bested me!)

My first novel had gotten good reviews and sold, for a first novel, reasonably well; I wanted to do better this time. At the very least, I wanted not to go backward. This novel's success would also impact my next book deal—hell, it might determine whether there would be a next one. And then there was Deborah. She works as a high-level editor at a major magazine; I didn't want to put her in the position of walking into the office the wife of second-rate novelist. The prospect of embarrassing her—of being anything less than a husband she might feel the urge to brag about—was even worse than the prospect of embarrassing myself.

The unfortunate use of impact as a verb notwithstanding, it's worth a read.

Posted at 01:29 PM in On Writing | Permalink

Comments

So, Mark, how does this piece impact your approach to your next novel?

Posted by: Konstantin | May 11, 2011 at 12:23 AM

From east of the Atlantic, I'd add 'gotten'.

Posted by: Andrew | May 12, 2011 at 05:04 AM

ps and 'backward'.

Posted by: Andrew | May 12, 2011 at 05:04 AM

What's the problem with "impact" as a verb? I don't get it? Webster's has a half dozen definitions for "impact" as a verb; seems kosher to me....

Posted by: Turbo Ferbo | May 12, 2011 at 01:08 PM

Deborah's "I loved being your wife tonight," at that reading where he thought the audience liked his short story is pretty sad. Having a wife whose devotion is that conditional, I mean.

Posted by: ward | May 14, 2011 at 06:23 PM

Yeah impact is also a verb. Nothing wrong with that sentence. TEV, can you explain?

Posted by: Ed Bast | May 15, 2011 at 07:14 AM

Ward, I totally agree with you. I wouldn't bet the farm on the longeivity of that relationship. It felt unbearably chilly.

OK. Impact. Yes, the dictionary allows the use of impact as a verb. But the dictionary also allows alright as one word, which people of a certain age still find hideous. I have no issue with impacted being use to describe, say, wisdom teeth - i.e., pressed up firmly against. But to use it in the transitive sense of having an effect on something is the ugliest kind of corporate sales jargon speak. It's fine, I suppose, at a board meeting but it has no place among people who care about words.

But like I said, I'm a certain age, and all.

Posted by: TEV | May 16, 2011 at 10:30 AM

If you've had one novel published, then you've won the game for all time.

A second one is just frosting.

Posted by: Shelley | May 17, 2011 at 09:28 AM

I agree about the use of 'impact' as a verb - it is similar to using 'ask' as a noun. In Australian Rules football, the word 'goal' is frequently used as a verb as well - as in 'he goals!' It sets my (non-impacted) teeth on edge.

Posted by: melbournegirl | May 18, 2011 at 04:54 PM

I felt a lot of pressure writing my second novel (just finished!). The first one was easy - I never really thought it would be published, so was able to write with freedom. With the second, I had an audience in my mind all the time, and I don't think that's a good thing. Still, it turned out better in the end (in my opinion) - but it needed a lot more work to get it to that point.

By the way "impact" as a verb sounds fine to me if you're a sales manager delivering a Powerpoint presentation, but not if you're a novelist writing about your latest book. I suppose the English language has always changed, but I think it says a lot about us that our language is being shaped not by writers and philosophers but by corporate jargon.

Posted by: Andrew Blackman | May 26, 2011 at 02:47 PM

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The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

May 10, 2011

SECOND NOVEL WOES

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

May 10, 2011

SECOND NOVEL WOES

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism