House Call #16
Plus a 3-D Book Cover!
Brazil has Given Me My First 3D Cover!
Sure, Haunted glowed in the dark, but this new Portuguese edition of Fight Club is a beautiful hardcover AND when you shift the book, the cover changes to the title stitched in flesh! Pics don’t do it justice, but it works!
What’s important is that I have THREE copies to give away. Please have a mailing address within the United States, and if you’re one of the first three to dibs in the Comments, I’ll send you a copy. In the future, you must demand your publisher give you a 3D cover. Don’t take No for an answer. The result is beautiful.
This Week’s House Call Has Been a Blast
End of the Vine is a strong, captivating beginning to something that’s bound to be great. The author, Nivethine Mahendran, has been a joy to explore ideas with. This might not be your writing sample, but we learn from one another, so give it a read and post your feedback, please. Often it’s easier to learn from other people’s work because we’re too attached to our own.
For almost a year I’ve been in communication with the David Perell show, How I Write. On occasion I enjoy the show, but I find that too much talking ABOUT writing grosses me out. Very few guests can really unpack how fiction gets its effects, and I’ve been determined to not commit to the show until I have something worth filling the time. Again, the armchair experience of talking ABOUT writing isn’t the same as applying ideas and technique to a piece of writing.
To date, this is my favorite episode of the David Perell program. Song writing is all about rhetoric, and my best writing is based on song writing. I wasn’t surprised to see Fight Club mentioned in Mark Forsyth’s book The Elements of Eloquence.
While the House Calls take some effort to consume — you have to read the work and Comments, you don’t just hit Play on YouTube — you’ll learn more from seeing the application of solid ideas. Some Tom’s ideas. Some from Lish. From Amy Hempel and Mark Richard. Even if you don’t have a light bulb A-Ha! moment, these ideas will linger in your memory until the exact moment you find yourself stuck. In fact you might be stuck right now, and my dialog with Nivethine might help break you loose.
So, please make the extra effort, read End of the Vine and take part in the dialog. My extra thanks to Nivethine Mahendran for being so enthusiastic and open to ideas. Ours has been a fun week’s work.
Every story is an experiment.
Thank you, Chuck!! This was an amazing experience and I’ve learned so much from you! I can’t wait to get to work on the rest of this story 🫡
I'm too late, but I'm saying dibs anyway because that's really cool and fifteen minutes ago I suggested to the Mrs. About going back to Portugal after twenty years.
Unrelated but I'll mention anyway. I take a self defense class in the gym at the office building in which I work. I was cut on the face which involved a fair amount of bleeding so I put a big giant bandaid on my face that day and the next. I'm pretty sure I scared a few children who noticed while walking home from work. All the next day, proudly getting my coffee rtc., with my big bandaid, I was waiting for "what happened to you?" Nothing. No one said anything. I was denied my "Rule No. 1 of Fight Club . . . ." Extremely disappointing.