Story Craft
Reflections on Faith, Culture, and Writing from the Author of Hank the Cowdog
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In his book, Story Craft, John R. Erickson says that one of the biggest challenges he faced as a young author was figuring out, "What is a story, and what is it supposed to do?"Those were simple questions, he says, but they didn't have simple answers. We could say that he found his answers when he wrote and self-published the first Hank the Cowdog book in 1983. The series now stands at 54 books with over 7.5 million copies sold.For 26 years, Erickson was content to leave it there.But after receiving hundreds of letters from teachers and parents, he began to realize that his actual business was not books, but "spiritual nourishment." Good stories nourish the human spirit, and it doesn't happen by accident.Part 1 of the book describes Erickson's experiences as an apprentice writer and publisher. In Part 2, he attempts to defiine what a story should be and how it relates to culture and religious faith. And in Part 3, he gives helpful, practical advice to aspiring writers.
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I really enjoyed reading about how John Erickson started the Hank series and about his life. He also has a section towards the end of the book where he gave tips on writing that I found very helpful. The only downside to the book, is that John seemed like he did not encourage young writers, that children should not write because they don't have enough “life experience” to write completely. I might have taken him completely wrong, but that is what I gathered from one of the chapters. Being a young writer myself, it kind of hurt my feelings to read one of my favorite authors words discouraging my writing. But, this has not stopped me from writing:-) So, I would not recommend this book to any young writers that are not confident in themselves or their writing. There are plenty of other better books that give great encouragement to young writers that you would be better off reading. However, if you have always wanted to know the history of Hank the Cowdog or anything else about Mr. Erickson, this was a great book!