John Vorhaus

This is a sequel to The California Roll, and although I think it's entirely readable on its own, I definitely recommend reading that one first if you're interested at all, because the whole setup for this one is a spoiler for that one in a fairly big way. I'll just say that it focuses on the same character from the first book, a con man with the unlikely name of Radar Hoverlander. In this one, Radar has retired to Santa Fe in an attempt to finally go straight, but that proves increasingly difficult when his long-lost (or, more accurately, long-absconded) father, the man from whom he inherited his criminal ways, shows up on his doorstep supposedly in need of help.

Like the first one, it's a lot of fun. Radar is an entertaining character, and the slightly over-the-top first-person narrative voice he presents us with works better than it almost seems like it ought to. The plot, again like the first one, is convoluted and ridiculous, and sometimes a little hard to keep up with, but never feeling remotely sure of exactly what's going on and who is playing whom is part of the charm.

I did have one small disappointment in it, which is that, since I live in New Mexico, I was looking forward to seeing Radar Radaring it up around my state. But most of the real action in the book takes place in Las Vegas (not the one in New Mexico), and it's fairly clear that, while Vorhaus may have some tourist experience of Santa Fe, he doesn't really know the area well. I mean, it's cute that he thinks we have an Ikea in New Mexico. I know someone here who once drove to the nearest Ikea to buy a bed. It was about a twelve-hour round trip. But, oh well. I enjoyed the story enough that I'm willing to forgive him for that!… (plus d'informations)

This little book is jam-packed with tools that will help any and every writer, regardless of genre. With down-to-earth language, and brief explanations, Vorhaus walks you through a series of processes, tools and rules that simplify rather than complicate writing tasks.

From the rule of nine (out of every ten ideas you write, 9 will be useless, so take risks, keep going and don't judge yourself) to the hill climbing problem (when revising your work, merely good is the enemy of great, so get that editing pen dirty).

As he puts it, "That's the trouble with re-writing. You have to commit to sacrifice with no certain expectation of reward. Yet even absent that guarantee, there's one thing we know for sure: If we don't come down off the hill, we'll never reach the mountain."

His explanation of plot structure is a 9-point list:

* Who is the hero?

* What does the hero want?

* The door opens

* Hero takes control

* A monkey wrench is thrown

* Things fall apart

* Hero hits bottoms

* Hero risks all

* What does the hero get?

If you include all of these points in your story (as he explains one by one), then it will work as any kind of story. This list parallels and expands slightly on the 3-act structure of commercial feature films (inciting incident, Climax 1, 2, 3). The only thing I'd add to his list is that when the door opens, the character walks through it. Because until the character acts in a way that reveals character, the story engine doesn't get in gear.

What's really useful about a tool like this is you can fit the answers to the questions on a single page, so it serves as your pencil sketch, thinking tool, your briefest of outlines, to help you manage the narrative arc of your story. Great stuff.

Since it's a comic toolbox, it covers the comic premise, comic story types, joke types, situation comedy, sketch comedy and more using oodles of easy to understand examples. After introducing each simple tool he encourages you to try them out.

The only thing I don't like about this book is its title and sub-title, The Comic Toolbox: How to be funny even if you're not.

Although the emphasis in this book is comedic, the application of his lessons go so much wider. From his advice on why you need to re-write, how to re-write, how to kill your inner editor and resuscitate them when you need them, this book isn't just about how to be funny, it's about how to write.

Given this, I'd re-title the book, The Writer's Toolbox: From a funny perspective.… (plus d'informations)