The Jealous Writer's Book Review: The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby

 

Full disclosure: I bought this book by accident. One of the members of my writing group was trying to recommend The Clockwork Dark series by John Claude Bemis, but because I only remembered the word "clockwork," I picked up this book instead. So it goes.

Because of this little mistaken identity incident, I literally had no expectations for this book. Not in a negative way, but it's hard to be preemptively jealous of something you didn't mean to read in the first place. My jealousy would develop or not develop on the merits of the book alone. YOUR MOVE, BOOK!

The book rose to the challenge from the very first words on the page. First lines are a big deal in books these days. You have two seconds to bait a reader, and this book has an enticing hook:

When Giuseppe found the green violin, he did not think it would help him escape.

ALRIGHT, BOOK. YOU GOT ME. How could I not keep reading? Giuseppe is adorable. He's the Italian version of Jack from Newsies. But instead of selling newspapers, Giuseppe is a busker who plays his violin to try and earn enough money to pay off the unscrupulous people who took him from Italy to America and get back home to his little brother. When he plays the green violin, he makes more money than he ever has before. Here's the end of the first chapter:

But then he thought about home, of chasing his brother through the sheep pastures, and Giuseppe stayed where he was. If he let himself, he would use a little of that money every night, and soon it would be gone. He refused to let himself do that, or he would never earn enough for the boat ticket. It was enough that he had the green violin. 

He went inside.

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME CRY, BOOK? But seriously. This was probably the best first chapter I've ever read. It drew me in with a sympathetic character, an amazing setting, and a compelling story. I wanted to reach into my Kindle, pull Giuseppe out of that horrible place, smother him with hugs, and then stuff him full of pasta (but not in a creepy way). Writing lesson: The first chapter really does matter.

And then...we switched narrators. And then...we switched them again. This book has three narrators: Giuseppe, Frederick, and Hannah. The rest of the story is told through these alternating points of view. Unfortunately, I didn't personally find Frederick or Hannah to be as compelling as my beloved little Giuseppe. Each character had a clearly defined goal, and I admired the author's skill in weaving the three stories together, but, for me, Giuseppe's story remained the strongest. I was racing through two intervening chapters to get back to him.

The rest of the book was filled with plenty of twists and turns. Often, it seemed to veer into a different genre on a whim. There's a little magic, a little steampunk, a little industrial revolution, and a lot more Newsies-type exploitation of children. But despite the occasional meandering moments, it was a well-written, enjoyable read. It's the sort of book that makes you hate the author just a little bit because he's so imaginative and talented in ways that you will never be (or maybe that's just me). DAMN YOU, BOOK. YOU WERE VERY GOOD.

But at the end of it all, the biggest takeaway for me as a writer was still the amazing first chapter. If you're looking for a book that clearly demonstrates how to establish a likeable character with clear goals and obstacles, this is a good one to check out. And for that reason alone, it inspires much jealousy in my bitter heart.

Apparently, I'm not the only one. I will leave you with this review from Mikel Andrews on Amazon:

As a writer, I'm wildly jealous of Kirby's voice and complete mastery of storytelling. It's a perfect novel. For any age. Truly magical.

In Summation

Did I like it? Yes, especially my beloved bambino, Giuseppe
Would I recommend it? Yes
Did it make me jealous? Of course

Of How I Overcame Writer's Block: A Word Count Goal Worksheet

Writing a novel is hard. Really, really hard. If you've finished one, you know. If you're working on one, you also know. If you've never tried, then trust me: it's hard.

There are many reasons why writing an entire novel from beginning to "the end" is tough. It's like juggling 100 plates in the air at once. All writers have difficulties with different parts of the process. For me, getting through writer's block and making the time to write are particularly challenging.

A few months ago, I was about 25,000 words into my latest draft, and I was suddenly stuck. I couldn't have been more stuck if my fingers were glued together and my brain was filled with concrete. I had gotten to the point where I couldn't see the forest for the trees. Finishing seemed so far away that I couldn't figure out how to get there. Weeks, then months went by with little to no progress.

As I usually do, I turned to the Internet for advice. There is tons of good advice out there for overcoming writer's block: freewriting, skipping to a different place in the novel, taking a walk, drinking, writing on a schedule, etc. etc. There are even some great online word count trackers to keep track of your progress. I tried it all. None of it was working for me. What was even more frustrating was that I had the rest of the novel outlined. I had a map to the end, but my car was out of gas.

Long story short, I decided that what I needed was a checklist. Lists have always been my salvation. Nothing is more satisfying than crossing an item off a list or putting a ✓ in a box. I picked a daily word count goal of 500 that seemed attainable (that number was my average word count on a good day, but many writers average around 1000). Then I committed to meeting this word count goal five days per week. Adding that up (500 words per day × 5 days per week × 5 weeks = 12,500 words per month) meant that I'd rack up 25,000 words in two months! When I saw the numbers in black and white, it almost seemed too good to be true!

I sketched out my worksheet in boxes on a sheet of paper and gave it a try. Some days I made the goal, some I didn't, but to my delight, it worked! Two and half months after I started using my checklist, I had written over 25,000 words. My manuscript had doubled from 25,000 to nearly 60,000 words in less than half the time it took me to write the first part. I finally found my own personal miracle cure for my writer's block!

My handwritten worksheets

Every writer's process is individual, but I wanted to share my worksheet in the hopes that it will help someone else. You can adjust the numbers in the Word document to suit your own preferences. The only rule is that you have to celebrate when you get to the end of the sheet. Eat a cupcake, buy a new pair of shoes, go see a movie...whatever you want to do to celebrate getting to a writing milestone!

Good luck and happy writing!

Writing Word Count Goal Worksheet