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I'll make a confession right at the outset. Of Terry Brooks' twenty-three books, this is the first I've read. I realize this probably makes me one of the few people with a bent toward speculative fiction who has not read Brooks. I also realize that this must have caused me to approach this book with different expectations - or a lack thereof - than most readers.
Terry Brooks probably needs little introduction, but for those who have been living under a rock for the last quarter of a century, let me note that he is the author of twenty New York Times bestsellers. The best known of these are the Shannara series, a Tolkien-inspired run of books that debuted in 1977, with The Sword Of Shannara and has most recently given the world Morgawr, the eleventh book in the series.
Brooks is also responsible for The Magic Kingdom of Landover and The Word And The Void, a five and a three-volume series and novelized adaptations of movies Hook and The Phantom Menace.
As the title suggests, Sometimes The Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life draws heavily on Brooks' experiences as a wildly successful writer of fantasy over the course of nearly three decades. Brooks mixes a healthy dose of reminiscence with a more than a few dashes of writing advice, most of which is geared toward the motivational and inspirational rather than the practical.
At less than two hundred generously spaced pages, Sometimes is hardly doorstop material. It is written in a breezy conversational style that makes for a quick read. I whizzed through it in two not very long sittings.
Brooks' book is reminiscent of On Writing, the reminiscence/memoir/writing manual by Stephen King, another genre writer who needs no introduction. Brooks breaks his book down into twenty bite-sized chapters that discuss his beginnings as a writer and the fortuitous turn of events that led to the publication and bestsellerdom of The Sword Of Shannara. He also gives more than a passing nod to the legendary Lester Del Rey, that crotchety old man of science fiction, who served as Brooks' first editor and mentor - a word that, coincidentally, is not all that far removed from tormentor.
Brooks does tackle the practical side of writing, including two chapters on outlining - a practice he swears by - and another two devoted to sketching out and discussing Maud Manx, an imaginary book dreamed up for the purposes of discussing how to write a book. Maud Manx features as its protagonist, an 80-year old female CIA agent with one arm and with any luck Brooks will never bow to the temptation to actually loose this particular tome on the market.
The World According To Hunter, Part One and Part Two, finds Brooks trying to take the words of his young grandson and wax profound on the nature of fantasy and innocence. These chapters come across as rather sappy and the book would have been no worse off without them. Chicken Soup For The Soul fans might enjoy this stuff, but others will probably want to give them a quick skim at best.
A much more interesting pair of asides are the two chapters Brooks devotes to his experiences working in - or with - Hollywood. The first recounts the debacle that ensued when he agreed to do a novelization of Hook, Steven Spielberg's twisted take on Peter Pan. The experience caused Brooks to swear off of novelizations for life. Of course, we've all heard the old saw about the road to hell, so it is not surprising to find, that about a decade later, Brooks found himself working with George Lucas on The Phantom Menace, an experience that was diametrically opposed to the previous one and was eminently satisfying in most regards.
Like King's On Writing, Sometimes The Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life is hardly a staggering work of heartbreaking genius and it really doesn't provide any fresh insights into the business of writing. But like its predecessor, it is entertaining and quite readable, if only for its many glimpses into the rarefied world occupied by such best-selling giants of word.
William I. Lengeman III has published non-fiction in numerous publications, including Saveur, Historic Traveler, Terra Nova, and the anthology, "An Ear to the Ground." His fiction and poetry have appeared or been accepted for publication in such print venues as Andromeda Spaceways, City Slab and Dark Animus, as well as in numerous independent and small press online publications. For more info and links to stories and his blog, visit 499-Word Tales For The Modern Age.
© 2003 William I. Lengeman III
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