what i’m reading
“American Mermaid: A Novel” by Julia Langbein
not only did this book find its way into my life at a time when i am actively working on becoming a mermaid, but the cover is literally color scheme goals for this website. an absolute perfect fit, imo. i really had to switch my brain on for this book after reading light-hearted romcoms. this book is FUNNY. it nails what i assume the LA book-to-movie industry looks like so well. and, probably the best part, this book has a book within a book. and both stories are equally compelling. i have a feeling i’m going to be sad when i get to the end of this one.
“The Anatomy of Story” by John Truby
this is a craft book on setting up stories and characters that was recommended during my novel-writing class last summer. it is mainly geared at screenwriters, but i find it to be really helpful as i start to draft and outline some short stories. my plan is to complete the book and all of its prompts for one short story (“The Diner”) and then see if i can use some of what I learn for other stories/books in the future. also learning about the “save the cat” structure, mostly online, so it’s interesting to see similarities and differences between the two structures.