Jeremy Dronfield
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The Dronfield blog

Good Writing, Bad Advice: When Vonnegut's rules go wrong: pt 1

18/11/2017

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GOOD WRITING, BAD ADVICE: An occasional series from a professional on writing, being a writer and how to be better at both. The aim is to promote good writing and debunk bad advice. There’s a lot of bad advice out there, so this could be a long series.

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There’s a lot of advice out there for writers. Do I intend to add to the enormous didactic dump-bin? You bet I do. As someone who earns a living from writing books and advising others on their works in progress, I’m a little disturbed by the quality of some of the advice that’s floating around out there, much of it coming from people who ought to know better. It’s hard enough to develop oneself as a writer, without wasting time being guided by bad rules and principles.
I’m beginning this occasional series with massive chutzpah, by taking on a literary colossus who has become a giant in the world of writing advice. Kurt Vonnegut was fond of giving out advice to budding writers. He published his opinions in the form of at least two lists of “rules” for good writing: his “Creative Writing 101” (which was part of the Introduction to his book of short stories Bagombo Snuff Box) and a more serious magazine article, “How to Write With Style”.

Both are reproduced in various forms online, and both of them have issues – elements of bad advice. Any novice writer attempting to stick by all of Vonnegut’s cardinal rules will come badly unstuck.
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First let me say that a lot of Vonnegut’s tips are very good. As a writer he knew what the hell he was doing. But some – including a few that get quoted frequently and admiringly (and out of context), even by some of my fellow professionals – are just nonsense. The one that’s exercising my ire here and now is this one, his Rule 4 from Creative Writing 101:


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"A Genius Bar for books": interview

18/11/2017

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So I did an interview for the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency. It went like this...
“A Genius Bar for Books” – interview with Jeremy Dronfield, author, ghostwriter, book consultant

You’ve had an unusual career trajectory, going from fiction to non-fiction and ghostwriting. How did that come about?

Being a writer isn’t what it used to be. The joy of creation may be timeless, but the way we research, write and sell books is changing constantly. At the same time, being a writer in the other sense – existing, earning a living from the written word – is changing too. Advances are declining in size and getting harder to come by, we have to work harder (and spend more) to do our own promotion, and sales are weakening as austerity infects the economy. Year after year, writers’ incomes are falling. Even with a bestseller or two under your belt you can find yourself struggling to make a living; luxury money one year followed by bread-crusts the next. Each of us has to have a strategy for survival. For some, branching out is the answer.

I began as an academic archaeologist. In search of a liveable income and hoping to realise a dream, I took up writing fiction (doesn’t sound like such a logical path these days, does it?). With the prolonged downturn in the book business, I eventually had to branch into manuscript reading, which led to consultancy and ghostwriting. Unexpectedly, I found a way of making my life as a writer sustainable. Because, somewhat to my surprise, it turned out that I was as good at reading as I was at writing...
Continue reading the interview at the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency website.
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Wonders, Curiosities and Found Facts: The British Empire's first successful caesarean delivery

15/11/2017

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Wonders, curiosities and found facts. An occasional series exposing the dimly lit recesses of history. In the course of writing books set in various historical periods, I continually come across remarkable incidental details which rarely make it into the books. Here I bring them out of the margins and explore them in more depth.

Today: Pioneering surgery by a surgeon with a secret!

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THE NIGHT OF 25 JULY 1826 was cold and wet. In the small settlement of Wynberg, nine miles from Cape Town, Mrs Wilhelmina Munnik’s pregnancy was coming to a traumatic conclusion. The baby – for which Wilhemina and her husband Thomas had waited for ten years – refused to be born. The midwife had done all she could, and was forced to concede defeat. A doctor was needed.
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Thomas Munnik ordered a servant to ride to Cape Town to fetch the very best surgeon available, a man known for his obstetric skill. Dr James Barry was a Staff Surgeon with the British Army garrison, as well as medical attendant to many of the Cape’s rich families and personal physician to the former Governor, Lord Charles Somerset. A fine medical practitioner, James Barry was known not only for his skill but also his eccentricity – particularly his appearance and manner. What was not well known about Dr Barry was that beneath his male attire he had the body of a woman.

James Barry's birth name was Margaret Bulkley. Born in Cork in 1789, Margaret had decided at the age of 19 that she wanted to study medicine (under the influence of her tutor and a maverick Venezuelan revolutionary who was living in exile in London). In 1809 such a course was firmly closed to women, and so Margaret made a courageous, audacious decision. She disguised herself as a man and adopted the name of her late uncle, the eccentric painter James Barry. After successfully gaining the MD degree at Edinburgh in 1812, “Dr James Barry” became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (in effect the first biological woman to do so) and joined the British Army as a military surgeon. In 1816 Dr Barry was posted to the Cape Colony, where he would make a great name for himself.

When Dr Barry arrived at the Munniks’ house on that rainy July night in 1826, he found Wilhelmina Munnik in a terrible state. An examination showed that the baby could not possibly be delivered in the normal way. This left only one option – an option dreaded by all doctors in that era. A caesarean operation would have to be performed.


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Wonders, Curiosities and Found Facts: How Lewis Carroll stole the Cheshire Cat

10/11/2017

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Wonders, curiosities and found facts. An occasional series exposing the dimly lit recesses of history. In the course of writing books set in various historical periods, I continually come across remarkable incidental details which rarely make it into the books. Here I bring them out of the margins and explore them in more depth.

Today: Cheshire Cats, with bonus British imperialism!

​“All right,” said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

“Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin,” thought Alice; “but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!”

(Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
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​The Cheshire Cat is one of the most memorable characters in a book which is largely famous for its memorable characters. The Cat’s grin has become part of the language – to “grin like a Cheshire Cat” is a stock expression, with or without vanishing. But, as with the madness of hatters, Lewis Carroll didn’t actually invent the Cheshire Cat – at least, not all of it – though you wouldn’t guess that from the book, in which Alice has clearly never heard the expression:

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​© Jeremy Dronfield 2019
  • Home
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
    • The Boy Who Followed
    • Beyond the Call
    • Hitler's Last Plot
    • Dr James Barry
    • A Very Dangerous Woman
    • Queer Saint
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Book Genius