Hunger by Knut Hamsun/90 Days to Your Novel by Sarah Domet

[Glenn Armstrong]

 

Pikini Death Ray mentioned that the Hamsun title was a great influence on Charles Bukowski so I had to go read it. Though you can get it for free on amazon as an e-book, I got the 6 e-book Hamsun deal instead for $2.99. At least dead white males often come cheap!

A few pages into Hunger you may think you are reading a Bukowski novel, except that it was written in 1890 by Norwegian Knut Hamsun. It involves the trials and travails of a starving young writer who is reduced to sucking on wood shavings to alleviate his hunger pangs. The novel realistically describes the fever and delirium symptoms that accompany severe starvation. Although there is a mysterious woman in black, the novel is mostly introspective. There are no horse and buggy chases here. However, many consider Hunger to be the dawn of the modern psychological novel so it is well worth reading.

. . .

I am working on a novel myself with the aid of a book called 90 Days to Your Novel by Sarah Domet. At first I was skeptical that the title sounded too much like "20 days to rock hard abs" or something but the author emphasizes how Faulkner wrote As I lay Dying in six weeks. By outlining your manuscript before putting anything to paper you save a lot of time and confusion. I had a rudimentary outline but this reference book stresses creating scenes that stand alone as well as part of the whole. And the 90 days creates a first draft. I won't dither about the plot but there is a CBGB based setting in the novel. With my wretched schedule I may have to stretch the exercises out to more than 90 days. Anyway, I have never published anything longer than short pieces, so this is the proverbial Matterhorn.

Is there anyone out there who has published a novel or is working on one? Do you have any work habits to recommend or any good novel writing reference books?

 

 

[Matt]

I have Hunger. I read it in the later 90s (?). Fabulous book. I should reread this, since it's been at least a decade. Such a great read.

Reading Niccolo Machiavelli's the Prince currently. Though this is a forced read for school, I'm really enjoying it. It's an honest brutal analyzation of the workings of politics.

[Pikini Death Ray]

Hi Glen,

Hunger is a great read eh! Hamsen's (character's) madness is palpable and the whole novel has a feverish intensity. I haven't read any of his others yet but Pan and Wonderland are on my reading list.

I am actually working on an autobiographical novel myself at the moment. I don't have a lot of experience but fortunately I don't have to worry to much about the plot as it all has happened it's just planning the chapters and what to include and what not to. Although it does read like a novel so developing a narrative style and being consistent are important. I have found the I can loosely plan chapters with a pen and paper so I have a rough idea and then I just start typing. All of the chapters I have written have taken several re-writes and lots of editing but I have found that through this I am starting to develop consistency.

I have found the most important thing is to plan days where I can write and start early in the morning. These are usually the days when I get most done but it is also important to keep re-reading it when you get a spare moment so as you almost know it all off-pat. That way you can spot bad/lazy dialogue and make corrections. For me I have found that you have to be a little obsessed with the finer details but also keep one eye on the bigger picture and to just enjoy the process too. I know there is probably nothing groundbreaking here but I would be happy to exchange writing and ideas. I could send you some chapters to read and vice versa if you like?

Anyway good luck with your writing.

Cheers

PDR

[Glenn Armstrong]

 

That would be great to exchange chapters/ideas. I am still outlining but I have a chunk of the current novel in the form of a poem entitled "CBGBs and the Way Back Machine" that just got rejected by Literal Latte'. You could reach me at [e-mail]. I think I have everthing set up properly this time to take on such a daunting project. I currently have no friends outside of work, no girlfriend, no particular standing in the community, a 1TB external hard drive and Motorhead's "Overkill" playing on Spotify. In other words, I am all set. hahahaha
 
Pikini Death Ray said:

Hi Glen,

Hunger is a great read eh! Hamsen's (character's) madness is palpable and the whole novel has a feverish intensity. I haven't read any of his others yet but Pan and Wonderland are on my reading list.

I am actually working on an autobiographical novel myself at the moment. I don't have a lot of experience but fortunately I don't have to worry to much about the plot as it all has happened it's just planning the chapters and what to include and what not to. Although it does read like a novel so developing a narrative style and being consistent are important. I have found the I can loosely plan chapters with a pen and paper so I have a rough idea and then I just start typing. All of the chapters I have written have taken several re-writes and lots of editing but I have found that through this I am starting to develop consistency.

I have found the most important thing is to plan days where I can write and start early in the morning. These are usually the days when I get most done but it is also important to keep re-reading it when you get a spare moment so as you almost know it all off-pat. That way you can spot bad/lazy dialogue and make corrections. For me I have found that you have to be a little obsessed with the finer details but also keep one eye on the bigger picture and to just enjoy the process too. I know there is probably nothing groundbreaking here but I would be happy to exchange writing and ideas. I could send you some chapters to read and vice versa if you like?

Anyway good luck with your writing.

Cheers

PDR

[Michael Wilson]

Hi Glenn! Just joined the forum and saw this post. It caught my eye because i actually went to school with Sarah Domet and I saw that she had published this book! Glad to see that it sounds like it is helping you!

[Glenn Armstrong]

 

Wow, yes when I was in school I used to really enjoy creating outlines and viewing timelines and such. So this book speaks to me. I am proud to have had a scholarship to the same prep school as Kerouac and had a teacher who knew him. But I don't have the ability to write spontaneous prose for days on end like Kerouac did. He must have at least had some drafts in his head, linear or not. So Sarah Domet says that first thought is not always best thought at least for us literary mortals. And Truman Capote unfairly said of Kerouac, "That's not writing, that's typing" misunderstanding the whole spontaneous bop prose thing. Anyway, yes I am only on day 2 of exercises but it is certainly fun and helpful. 
 
Michael Wilson said:

Hi Glenn! Just joined the forum and saw this post. It caught my eye because i actually went to school with Sarah Domet and I saw that she had published this book! Glad to see that it sounds like it is helping you!

[Pikini Death Ray]

Will send you an email over the next couple of days. Been busting my hump at work and not time for GPN or writing or anything much. I would be really interested to read your work. You seem to know a lot  about the process, me I left school at 16 and don't know shit!  Maybe I will try Motorhead for inspiration. PDR. P.S just noticed I spelled your name wrong before (tut tut!)

[Glenn Armstrong]

 

Both Charles Bukowski and Philip K Dick only took some community college courses after high school I believe. Clark Ashton Smith never went to HS and HP Lovecraft never graduated from HS either. All of these writers were primarily self-taught. I actually read a study that said the more years in school you spend the more your creativity level drops. I have a useless liberal arts degree in English lit. But as humorist Garrison Keillor says, someone has to write the sonnets in between frothing up the mochas. I have only published a few essays/poems in the American small press and mostly on paper. I can send you an essay published online in Sugar Mule magazine when I was on a Buddhist jag. I am especially psyched about my first scene (beginning-middle-ending, proper tension/conflict) created with the Domet book. It is however very NSFW or anywhere else so I will not inflict it, or anything else of that nature, on the Garage Punk Community. Thank you for your tolerance with my writing about writing. Perhaps after we get a correspondence going we can free up the frequency here a bit and get back to book reviews and less pedantic stuff! 
 
Pikini Death Ray said:

Will send you an email over the next couple of days. Been busting my hump at work and not time for GPN or writing or anything much. I would be really interested to read your work. You seem to know a lot  about the process, me I left school at 16 and don't know shit!  Maybe I will try Motorhead for inspiration. PDR. P.S just noticed I spelled your name wrong before (tut tut!)

[Bibliodiscoteque]

Hunger is a fantastic read. I've been using it in the classroom for years. It strikes a chord with people that most wandering narratives don't.

[Glenn Armstrong]

Yeah, you really see the world through the prism of a starving writer who is willing to sacrifice the comfortable material trappings of the bourgeoisie for his art. Past and contemporary axe-slingers can probably relate.
Bibliodiscoteque said:

Hunger is a fantastic read. I've been using it in the classroom for years. It strikes a chord with people that most wandering narratives don't.

[hips like cinderella]

Hunger is one of my favorite books, and sadly, it's not as widely known as it should be. Maybe because of that whole association with Hitler by Hamsun thing. Either way, I've read it three times.

[Zachary Griffin]

Thanks for the tip about "90 Days..."

[Glenn Armstrong]

 

To be honest, having 2 jobs, a "day" for me can stretch out to 3 or 4. But the book is great. You do a lot of "prewriting" and character development at first. And the 90 days just points to a first draft not necessarily the final version. I am getting to the point where I almost feel I kinda know what I am doing, haha
 
Zachary Griffin said:

Thanks for the tip about "90 Days..."