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Forrest Phelps is a liar.
(and he’s pretty annoying, too)
This is his autobiography.
(consider yourself warned)
Every novelist faces the problem of how best to tell the story. Based on my experience with this book, I heartily recommend first-person with a lying, wise-cracking, pretentious narrator. Every plot hole can be explained away: the narrator is lying. Bad writing? Well don’t blame me - I’m just recording the facts, after all. A wonderfully liberating experience. That said, I still tried to follow what I consider to be the belted kingfisher rules of writing (the cardinal rules were already taken), which are:
- Entertain the reader
- Maintain internal consistency
- Write until the end is reached
- Ignore all the other writing rules
As an acronym, EMWI leaves a bit to be desired, but so do all the other arrangements. As a guide to writing a novel, I found it helpful. This is where you, the reader, come in.
If you liked this novel, pass it (or word of it) on. Having learned to ignore the rules of writing, I’m also working on ignoring the rules of publishing (and marketing, and business, etc.). When asked “who’s your audience?” I have frequently answered that I’ll never have an audience - that the best I can hope for is a small cult following. So come on and join the cult. Membership’s free and you never have to attend a meeting.
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