One thing we talk about as authors is reading. To be a great writer, you must be a great reader. In fact, it’s probably the primo craft study: reading.

Craft books are largely about theory and how-to. And, in my humble opinion, craft books often use “high concept” books as their examples which can make the lessons hard to translate for genre or literary writers.

Nevertheless, read craft books!

Back to reading… what should you read to improve your craft? First, read the genre you’re writing.

Read best sellers, or books that are getting a lot of buzz.

Still, there’s no guarantee you’re “reading up.” I’ve read a few best sellers that were not strong on craft. The writing was fun, but not tight. I was mentally rewriting every other sentence. But, the story captured me.

For me, reading up means finding authors who are great storytellers, who know how to weave emotion. These are weak areas for me.

For you, it might be finding an author who writes well, and develops great characters.

For this week, my pick for reading up is Lisa Samson’s, “Straight Up.” Lisa has a very unique voice and writing style. She’s compassionate and skillfully weaves in social issues many Christians ignore.

In Straight Up, Lisa tells the story of Georgia and Fairly in first person. It’s tricky to tell two points of view in first person, but Lisa pulled it off well by starting each protags scene with something unique to the character.

Lisa also added a third person point of view, in third person. Wisely, she limited this character so that the mix of voices did not overwhelm.

Lisa writes tight while getting to the deep emotion. Her voice is crisp, sincere and sensative. And not without humor. She had me laughing out loud a few times.

Straight Up deals with alcoholism. Again, Lisa deals with this “straight up” building compassion for Georgia, but not backing away from the devasation of alcohol.

The spiritual thread is woven in through Georgia and Fairly’s Uncle. Lisa does some fun things with his name, like UG instead of Uncle Geoffrey.

Sometimes she denoted dialog with a single name. For example, “What are you thinking?” Georgia. I loved it.

What I gleaned from Lisa’s writing is not to get wrapped around the axel with rules and the formality of writing. She assumes the reader “gets it.”

On top of it all, is Lisa’s clever, intelligent, thoughtful writing. Sol Stein says, “Dialog is created. Every word counts.” Lisa Samson is a master of this. Even her prose carried a punch, a weight of truth.

So, if you want to “read up”, the Book Therapists pick Straight Up by Lisa Samson.

(And of course, any of the Book Therapist books, too, a-hem, I mean, you know… (shamless self promotion..)

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