Lessons from Rambo

...well, more accurately, lessons from the guy that invented Rambo. David Morrell wrote the novel First Blood, which was made into the movie Rambo. I recently picked up a craft book called, Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing that was written by Morrell.

Now, I didn't pick it up because I really wanted to find out the inner workings of the guy who created a crazed Vietnam vet that spawned a whole new form of anti-hero, vigilante, blow the shit out of everything trend. Don't get me wrong, I like when things blow up in movies - not so much in books. But the book had a blurb from Joe Lansdale and that intrigued me. Lansdale has not written a book on the craft but if likes this one, well, I'll give it a shot.

Turns out the book is wonderful. It is honest, clear, concise thoughts on technique and the whole business of writing. It actually reminded me a lot of Stephen King's On Writing. It's full of great anecdotes too – from a guy who makes his living writing and has experienced his book being turned into Hollywood screenplays.  When he gets into excerpts from his own work, I know that I wouldn't enjoy reading him, but you can tell the guy knows what he is talking about. It turns out, he is also an English Prof. - which explains his examples of Henry James and Dickens. (Not what you expect from the Rambo guy.)

The book has been helping me consider the shape of my new novel. I often find myself in between wanting to write strong literary work and wanting to tell a great story - I believe it is possible to do both. I wouldn't take Morrell's book as the only source here. It is good to read it alongside something like John Gardner's Art of Fiction. This is so when you come to a part in your book when something needs to blown up, you can do it in an artful fashion.

Ka-boom, the car transcended into the heavens spilling its parts like gossamer threads....

Uh, right.