Fiction recommendations?

Toole wrote it while serving in the army, teaching English to recruits in Puerto Rico during the Cuban middle crisis. They were expecting to be nuked any day, or attacked from the hills by guerillas lead by Cuban officers. So another lesson is that a writer/copywriter finds a way to work, no matter what's going on around him.

Well I'm genuinely surprised. As a writer, I actually take my practice in fiction more seriously than I do in business (not that I don't see the importance of the latter as it's the only way I get a stable income to even facilitate my more novelist ambitions :p). Hence, I'm kinda happy to see a more fiction-oriented discussion here.

With that said, you should try and pay attention to your preferred genres. It helps in the search. Judging from your recent post, I think it's pretty clear that you like science-fiction.

As much as I'm more of a fantasy buff (just recently I finished reading an M:TG-related novel called The Purifying Fire ), I've heard the Canticle of Leibowitz is a must-read for any sci-fi fan.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Last book I read of his was Honeymoon and it was weak. The underlying passion and attention to detail just wasn't there.

Whoa, Lustbader got a hold of the Bourne series? I mean I've only read one of his books (Jian) but I'm guessing he's getting more popular since I last heard of him. I even checked the guy's wiki and it says he writes fantasy. I swear to God, that wasn't there. Has his style changed from his older novels?

Agree 100% with all of the above. While I have enjoyed lots of literature, you asked specifically (kind of) in the context of being useful for copy.

Here's why I think the above guys qualify:

1. Elmore Leonard is a MASTER of realistic dialogue, delivered in a minimal, raw style that puts you right in the action. Insofar as a sales letter should have a voice putting forth a viewpoint in as few words as possible, EL is where to look.

2. Ray Bradbury has a compactness and elegance that betrays the fact he used to spend up to a year working on a single story, distilling it down to it essence through repeated refinements. But Ray used those skills to tell ripping good yarns that are deeply moving despite brevity.

3. Neil Gaiman's imagination is boundless, and I'm endlessly fascinated by the way he can take the more magical aspects of the fabled ancient past and integrate them into the mundane present.

For Palanhiuk, the guy is visceral and direct and usually writes in first person. Which is great for copy because copy should be first person, too. If you want to learn how to tell stories that can kick you in the stomach with unpolished detail, he's a good read.

4. Douglas Adams is probable more responsible for me thinking of wanting to maybe be a writer than anyone else. His manic style, his endless digressions, his imaginative worlds literally bristling with brilliance oozing out of every nook and cranny - if you can instill a shred of the enthusiasm and wonder that Adams could muster, and still deliver in his matter of fact "of course I am from space" attitude, you would do very well indeed.

5. Kurt Vonnegut is a man after my own heart in that he managed to simultaneously be bleak and curmudgeonly and dark and fatalistic, but at the same time still capable of seeing the utter, undeniable beauty in the chaotic and harmful world we live in. He's like Mark Twain with all the Pollyanna "aw shucks" bull**** beat out of him. Which is literally true in Vonnegut's case. It was bombed out of his brain forever one night in Dresden.

6. Terry Pratchett is one I recommend with hesitation. If you're into fantasy, and you like what Douglas Adams does for sci-fi, you will love Pratchett. But if you aren't it can feel like a giant in-joke that you're not really a part of. As pertains to copy, I think his best lesson is in how you can take an old trope and get much mileage out of it with a new spin. And also that you can be humorous and funny at the same EXACT time that you are being deathly serious.

7. The Count of Monte Cristo is just the most badass tale of two fisted goddman revenge ever written. I don't know what it has to do with copy, but if Revenge, murder, piracy, hidden treasure, prison escapes, sword fights, etc is your kind of thing, wtf why haven't you read this until the pages fall out already?

Some additional thoughts on fiction that is awesome but will also benefit copy, much as the previous poster mentioned Noir as a genre, I will support the close reading of the best of surviving pulp stories.

Not just detective noir, but Sword and Sorcery, Weird Tales, Science Fantasy, Adventure Fiction, etc. Conan, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Allan Quartermain, etc.

The reason I think these are good to study is because the market they were created in was sort of like proto-comic books. They needed to have instant and self-contained appeal, but also tie into upcoming episodes to keep people buying more issues. Much like we would love to do with blog posts and email messages.

It's true the pulps can be lurid and even lowbrow, but there's no doubt that they are ripping yarns - plucking at our most basic psychology in an effort to get you wanting more. Anything you can read that does that has something to teach a copywriter.