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How to write a beach book |
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Written by asap
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Thursday, 31 May 2007 |
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 Novelist Mark Haskell Smith says a good beach book is like a good beach drink.
“When you’re on vacation you’ll drink a mai tai or a piña colada, and normally you wouldn’t,” he says.
“You drink it because it’s slightly exotic, it’s got a little umbrella, it’s kind of sexy, it’s in a funny-shaped mug. It’s sweet, and yet it packs a sneaky punch. And that’s what a good beach read has.”
A lot of metaphors from the Los Angeles writer involve drinks, or food, or other guilty pleasures. It comes with his literary territory.
Smith is the author of three books in a genre that might be best described as tropical noir. The latest, “Salty,” continues a run of savory titles that also includes 2002’s “Moist” and 2005’s “Delicious.”
Besides writing his own books, Smith teaches other people how to write theirs.
Smith, who is 49, makes no apologies for plunging into places that high-culture snobs might consider unseemly. As a screenwriter, his projects have included the 1997 movie “Anaconda,” which he describes, in his ever-sensible tone, as an attempt to make the best B-movie possible. “I got a free trip to the Amazonian rain forest with J. Lo before she was famous,” he adds. “She was super nice.”
Smith’s classroom campaign against writerly self-repression applies to other, less salacious aspects of writing as well. He encourages writers to try new approaches, to take risks, to start stories with characters in the middle of conversations, to push moments for maximum dramatic effect.
Student Julie Buxbaum even grabbed a career out of all the fun: expect to see her debut novel, “The Opposite of Love,” on bookshelves next year.
So how is writing a beach book different from writing just a book? “With any novel you need to have a compelling character, a vivid setting, and you want to make a page-turner,” Smith says. “But if you talk about a beach read, you need a book that’s really got an element of fun. Because people are going to choose between parasailing and scuba diving and sitting on their butt reading your book.’’ | Only registered users can write comments.
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I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
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