Customer Reviews

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm glad I bought this book. As an author of suspense myself, I found it very worthwhile. It won't teach you how to write--but I've found no book can really do that. In the same vein as Stephen Kings book On Writing, it is more an account about how this highly successful author developed her craft over the years, her successes and failures. If you want a how to guide you would be better off with another title. It also enhances the enjoyment of this book if the reader is familiar with Highsmith's books. I found it interesting to know where she got her ideas and how she developed a small incident into a novel.

I enjoyed a few of Highsmith's novels and short stories, and was impressed enough to become curious about how the author came up with her detailed insights into the psychology of the likable criminal. Common sense told me it was observation - but I still wanted to find out from the horse's mouth so to speak.

While I found it interesting to read about Highsmith looking back at the circumstances under which she wrote, I felt that Highsmith herself was not whole-heartedly interested, or confident about writing about her particular process of writing. It was mildly irritating that she apologised several times (usually at the beginning of a chapter) for having the audacity to presume to write about how to write. Fair enough: it is wise not to assume you speak for everyone or be totally pompous about it (like Sol Stein, ugh) but still, by the time a reader picks up a book like this, they really WANT to know how that particular author writes. I also felt that there was a fair amount of distance between the time she analysed her process, and the time she actually wrote her stories, so the book lacks the intricacy that one gets from reading a more immediate record.

However, there were some useful and interesting bits, especially Highsmith's opinions on thickening the plot, and the use of coincidence. It would help very much to have read her work widely as she quotes from some of them and uses the Glass Cell as a case study.

In her introduciton to Plotting and Writing Suspense, prolific suspense author Patricia Highsmith tells us that this will not be a how-to book, but a book that collects her own ideas and thoughts on the craft of writing. She isn't there to give us a grammar lesson. She wants to tell us how she does it and, hopefully, teach us a thing or two in the process.

It's great fun to read this legendary author's thoughts. After all, Highsmith has written some of the best novels of suspense; The Two Faces Of January, The Blunderer and, of course, The Talented Mr Ripley series. In this book, she collects her thoughts on the genre and on the process of writing. And she tells us quite bluntly that what worked for her as an author might not work for us. But I think that any author (or fan) could and will learn a thing or two from this author's lessons.

The best parts are when Highsmith takes her own books apart to show her readers that not even the established writer is safe from the typical mistakes most writers will make at one time or another. And if there is one thing that you'll come away with from reading this book is that writers (pros and beginners alike) have to learn to practice and practice and practice some more. Practice, according to Highsmith, does make better. And that is one lesson I will not forget.

I read this book after experiencing a couple of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels. Since I liked her mysteries so much I thought this book would provide interesting insite into the mind and technique of the author, which it did. In terms of revealing the brain child behind the Ripley books it was quite revealing.

ALthough I am not a professional writer of fiction, I found the advice in this book interesting and helpful because it was suplemented with real life examples. Highsmith fills this book with examples of what she did right and what she did wrong throughout her career. She explains the general--and fairly sensible--principles that guide her writing as well as the little details that can enhance or ruin a novel. If I were an aspiring author, I think I would derive useful and interesting information from this book.

A modestly written, terse, readable and nuts and bolts book about how plots come to be put together, how a writer makes a living (or doesn't) and how to tell the story. What I found most charming about this "How-To" book was that it wasn't chirpy, wasn't preachy, didn't have a whiff of unreality arising from its advice, and was eminently practical. The only crime writing manual so far that I have picked up, browsed in, bought, took home and actually finished reading from cover to cover (sometimes doing the reading on a bus, that's how gripping it is). Recommended.

In this short book, Patricia Highsmith offers her opinions on writing suspense stories. She addresses story ideas, using personal experiences, story development and plotting, first and second drafts, revisions, and other dimensions of the writing craft. Highsmith is honest up front, stating that "This is not a how-to-do-it handbook." After giving writers the somewhat despairing advice that "It is impossible to explain how a successful -- that is readable -- book is written," she goes on to describe her own methods, describing failures as well as successes. There are some useful hints in here, but much of the material is too personalized to be of general use. Suspense writers need a better handbook than this one.

As noted on the cover of the book, Highsmith is the author of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train," both of which have been made into movies. That is not the main idea of this book though. She does mention that it requires a different kind of thinking, but she did not write the screenplays. She just mentions that some of her books were made into movies in England, American, France, and Germany.

If you are picking up this book to learn how to write suspense fiction, this should not be the book. There are no things to remember and no rules. Merely, she is telling you about how she has written books. If you are very familiar with her works (not just the more famous ones), then you may be able to make this work for you. Otherwise, the book is more about her. Writers should know that you should go through a few drafts at least.

I thought this was an interesting book, and I read all of it, but I didn't get any useful pointers about writing from it. I would recommend it to readers who just enjoy reading about writers, but it certainly isn't any kind of guide to plotting and writing.

Patricia Highsmith doesn't sell out, despite writing in the suspense genre. The reason, as one gathers from this book, is that she sees suspense as a necessary ingredient of all fiction; the suspense genre simply focuses on the most extreme kinds of dread and excitement.

I found the book just about right as to depth vs. chattiness. It's true there's only so much one can teach about the writing process. Everything an aspiring writer encounters in his own practice is covered: plotting, first drafts, second drafts, revision. Highsmith's telescoped prose is a lesson in itself and worth the price of the book. We need as many encouraging monographs like this, written by masters who take the time to address the rest of us, as we can get.

Especially the chapter "Snags." She has a lot of practical information for beginning writers. She uses her own books as examples, but also to describe the rewriting for publication process. Some of the advice is particular to suspense writing, but much is helpful for any fiction writer.