{"id":31809,"date":"2024-07-03T08:54:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T12:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=31809"},"modified":"2024-08-07T09:47:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T13:47:49","slug":"a-writers-guide-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/03\/a-writers-guide-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"A WRITER’S GUIDE (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nI’m back<\/strong><\/span> in Cleveland. I’m thinking about Boston and New York. I know you are, too.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the title of my next book: Horseman Jake Rides the Syrup<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nostalgia is a drag. Jack Kerouac is an inspiration. How about reading My Friend Henry Miller <\/em>by Alfred Perles?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The dinosaur was the most successful specie that ever lived.<\/p>\n

I left my heart in Sandusky.<\/p>\n

My<\/strong> friend<\/strong><\/span> Chap owns a Corvette. He rendezvoused with 11 other Corvette owners at Eastgate. He\u2019s got a 350 hp with headers, minus emission controls.<\/p>\n

I saw Sleeper<\/em>. I resented the nebbish-Jewish stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Dad: “If you get a car, what are you going to do to support it?” Me: “I’ll get some money somewhere. I’ll rob a bank.” Dad: “You do that and I’ll wipe my hands of you — finished!”<\/p>\n

Anybody who<\/strong><\/span> talks Lit in this town is talking $.<\/p>\n

Stan Smith vs. John Newcombe.<\/p>\n

Nelson Algren’s tough-guy first-person stories are obnoxious. Bukowski can pull it off because he really is a fuck-up.<\/p>\n

To Martha Winston at the Curtis Brown Agency: “This is my latest novel. I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look at it. The book is mostly about a junior-high-school boy. I haven’t sent this manuscript to anybody else.”<\/p>\n

Terry Southern, Erje Ayden, Buk, Dreiser and McMurtry ought to form a horny men’s club. I’d join.<\/p>\n

Never write<\/span> <\/strong>about a place you haven\u2019t done time in — at least a year.<\/p>\n

Here’s a simile. Not sure where it’s from:\u00a0 He looked like a chalkboard eraser floating in a pool of beer.<\/p>\n

High school is something I’m trying to forget — not remember!<\/p>\n

I dig Bob Newhart because his humor is so low-key, and he’s so shy. Richard Price said, “I used to think writing was like being a stand-up comedian.”<\/p>\n

Anthony Burgess doesn’t crack a joke in the first 60 pages of his novel M\/F<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Detail for detail\u2019s sake is useless.<\/p>\n

My dad said I should apologize to my friend Dennis for calling him a \u201cswine\u201d on the phone.<\/p>\n

Horse sit.<\/p>\n

Anwar Sadat. Answer Sadat.<\/p>\n

Erza, from <\/span><\/strong>the Bible, lived in Babylonia.<\/p>\n

I’m buying my dad’s Plymouth Valiant, and he’s\u00a0 buying a new Dodge Dart Swinger. I’ll need plates, a title, and insurance.<\/p>\n

Dad says, “You don’t know what rough times are.” He knows. His mother wouldn’t allow him to go out for track in high school because he had to work in the store after school.<\/p>\n

Authors have two jobs: writing stuff and learning stuff. You need to know something. What do I know?<\/p>\n

Music is easier than Lit. In music — at least instrumental music — you can play scales all day if you\u2019re uninspired. In Lit you can pick your nose and flip out.<\/p>\n

Zawinul. Hank Crawford. Adderley. The Nude Wave is on Impulse.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bert Stratton, U-M Hopwood photo, 1974.<\/p><\/div>\n

Characters in novels go to Chapel Hill (Thomas Wolfe), Harvard (Wolfe again), U. of Chicago (Roth), or Columbia (Kerouac). Where is the great A2 novel?<\/p>\n

Blue and maize will make a purple Hayes.<\/p>\n

Tickle University, Philadelphia, Pa.<\/p>\n

This Book Closes at 10 pm. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Bar Mitzvah Goer <\/em>by Walker Pearl.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Never again <\/strong><\/span>— Meir Kahane.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking of getting married. To whom? You!<\/p>\n

The Time-Life building is right here. I\u2019m living in it — the Mark IV apartments, Beachwood, Ohio. (So are my parents.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I’m back in Cleveland. I’m thinking about Boston and New York. I know you are, too. Here\u2019s the title of my next book: Horseman Jake Rides the Syrup. Nostalgia is a drag. Jack Kerouac is an inspiration. How about reading My Friend Henry Miller by Alfred Perles? The dinosaur was the most successful specie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coming-of-age"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31809"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31914,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31809\/revisions\/31914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}