Usually I write about middle grade, young adult books, or writing craft books here, but this story of a young woman pursuing the acting dream has lots of parallels with the writing life. A nice novel to cheer up overworked writers with a bit of unexpected creative philosophy built in.
Someday, Someday, Maybe is a charming debut novel for adults by actress Lauren Graham. It’s funny, with perfect, believeable details–except maybe the terrible script which is perfectly AWFUL.
My two favorite quotes:
One of the characters explains J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. (I was grateful for this because I’ve read Salinger’s novel and never could figure out what it was about.)
“. . .the act of repetition itself–will bring enlightenment. That’s the thing that always stuck out to me–the idea that quantity becomes quality. I always took it to mean if you do anything enough, if you keep putting effort in, eventually something will happen, with or without you. You don’t have to have faith when you start out, you just have to dedicate yourself to practice as if you have it.” –Chapter 29, pg. 249
I love this explanation of the actor’s advice: “Faster, Funnier, Louder.”
“FASTER–don’t talk down to the audience, take us for a spin, don’t spell everything out for us, we’re as smart as you–assume we can keep up; FUNNIER–entertain us, help us see how ridiculous and beautiful life can be, give us a reason to feel better about our flaws; LOUDER–deliver the story in the appropriate size, DON’T be indulgent or keep it to yourself, be generous–you’re there to reach US.” –Chapter 30, pg. 255
I’m off to do some repetitive practice with my novel revision!
Happy writing and revising!
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