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Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do Kindle Edition
Anyone who's ever sat down to write a novel or even a story knows how exhilarating and heartbreaking writing can be. So what makes writers stick with it? In Why We Write, twenty well-known authors candidly share what keeps them going and what they love most—and least—about their vocation.
Contributing authors include:
Isabel Allende
David Baldacci
Jennifer Egan
James Frey
Sue Grafton
Sara Gruen
Kathryn Harrison
Gish Jen
Sebastian Junger
Mary Karr
Michael Lewis
Armistead Maupin
Terry McMillan
Rick Moody
Walter Mosley
Susan Orlean
Ann Patchett
Jodi Picoult
Jane Smiley
Meg Wolitzer
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPlume
- Publication dateJanuary 29, 2013
- Reading age18 years and up
- File size719 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“When I’m writing... I’m living in two different dimensions: this life I’m living now…and this completely other world I’m inhabiting that no one else knows about.” —Jennifer Egan
“Every story is a seed inside of me that starts to grow and grow, like a tumor, and I have to deal with it sooner or later.” —Isabel Allende
“In the beginning, it was that sense of losing time. Now…I have the sense that I can biff the world a bit. I can exert a force.” —Michael Lewis
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B008H7KGPM
- Publisher : Plume (January 29, 2013)
- Publication date : January 29, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 719 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 250 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,081,443 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #400 in Words & Language Reference
- #481 in Books & Reading Literary Criticism
- #1,066 in Authorship
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Like a lot of women her age, MEREDITH MARAN has a hard time believing she’s a woman of her age. And yet she’s published more than a dozen books, including The New Old Me, Why We Write About Ourselves, Why We Write, My Lie, and A Theory of Small Earthquakes. When she’s not hiking Mount Hollywood, attending readings at indie bookstores, or scouring Los Angeles’ finest thrift shops, she's writing for venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and Salon. The grateful recipient of fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo and a member of the National Book Critics Circle, Meredith lives in a Silver Lake bungalow that’s even older than she is.
To reach Meredith:
meredith@meredithmaran.com
On Twitter: @meredithmaran
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Truly fascinating! A sensational read! Delightful, charming, and amazing don’t fully capture my impression. Whether you are a writer, someone who wants to become a writer, or just someone interested in the remarkable world of writers, you will be as thrilled by the sincere, candid, no-nonsense, matter-of-fact candor of these authors as I was.
Now, you may quibble with my use of the phrase, "remarkable world of writers," but you will have greater appreciation for my use of the phrase when you know that I am a writer too. When I say, "remarkable world of writers," it is simply that I find so many of these authors accurately describing my world. I have written about "my world" in numerous blog entries and my essay, "So you want to write a book?" is essay 23 in And Then Some: Essays to Entertain, Motivate, & Inspire. I have been a professional writer for close to forty years. That may be why I so closely identify with this book. I wish it could have been twice as long; for me, twenty authors just wasn’t enough.
In addition to the way each of the authors answered the question, "Why do you write?" I found the format of the book both informative and instructive. That is, Maran, as the editor, begins each chapter with a quotation from one of the author’s books, provides details about each author’s "vitals" (birthday, current home, schooling, honors and awards, notable notes, as well as website, facebook, and twitter addresses, and more), then lists the author’s "collected works." Those sections are followed by the author’s answer to the question, "Why I write," and each chapter ends with two, three, or sometimes even four "Wisdom for Writers" where each author provides specific suggestions—ideas about writing most useful, of course, for aspiring writers.
So many of the writers here respond to the statement, "Why I write," by saying something similar to what Sara Grafton writes, "Seriously," she says, "I write because it’s all I know how to do." James Frey says, "I’m really not qualified to do anything else." Susan Orlean says, "Writing is all I’ve ever done. I don’t think of it as a profession. It’s just who I am." Ann Patchett responds to the statement in this way: "I write because I swear to God I don’t know how to do anything else."
My personal response to the statement about why I write is multifaceted. I find numerous joys in the act of writing and the first, and most obvious, is pleasure—the pleasure I experience in having an outlet for expressing my ideas. There is pleasure, too, in capturing the abstract conceptions and notions of my mind in concrete, tangible language. A second reason I write has to do with instruction—sharing my views of the world with others. Through articles, books (mostly college textbooks), speeches, and blog essays—and the responses of others to those products—I built efficacy—the belief in my ability to produce results. In Why We Write, in all the authors’ statements about why they write, there is (beyond their basic motivation to write) a sense of purpose. They have some overriding, all-encompassing value or set of principles that drives or compels them to continue. And what is important, too, is that it is the motivation, set of values or principles that keeps them buoyant through the hard times—when the creative well momentarily runs dry.
What the above paragraph displays is how this book forces you to look inside yourself. As I read, I conducted a wonderful, enriching, productive internal dialogue as I responded to what each author described. You see, writing gives me something to do, it rewards my needs as an independent person who enjoys autonomy, isolation, and solitude (writing is a solitary endeavor), it challenges me to think more deeply about everything, and it satisfies my need to acquire knowledge. I am forever the student. Occasionally, too, I have those moments some of these authors talk about when you, as an author, become a channel or conduit for a force greater than yourself—when all you are is a secretary (and observer) in one of the most awe-inspiring, stirring, mind-blowing occurrences in writing. The only question then is can your fingers on the keyboard keep up with the thoughts coming from your brain?
This book not only allows you inside the writer’s brain, allows you to understand the world in which they live, but it offers, too, a realistic view of the challenges, difficulties, and arduous task that writing truly is. Anyone who dreams of being a writer will surely come away from reading this book with a far more grounded, reasonable, and hard-nosed assessment of what it’s all about. I absolutely loved this book, read it all in one sitting (228 pages of text in a 5 1/4" by 8" format), and wanted more—much more! To say that it is fascinating, sensational, delightful, charming, and amazing is an understatement. It is truly remarkable!
Nice because you can leave it on the shelf or pull it off the nightstand whenever you want to read one author. No continuity or connective tissue to try and keep track of.
As with most books of this type, there is a decent amount of repetition and contradiction. But, that is the point! The repetition (ex: most writers are voracious readers; writing is a job; expect to write about 2 pages of fiction per day; write for its own sake not for rewards) helps paint a picture of shared experience. The contradiction(ex: write during the day vs write early morning/late night; write with music vs write in silence) shows that there is no "right" way to write.
There are a few nice threads that give the book a gentle narrative including: (a) comments on the Iowa Writers' Workshop (b) reactions to Orwell's four great motives for writing (c) tension between literary writing and commercial writing.
(Note: While I was reading this book, I did not notice the lack of an index. However, while writing this review, I wished it had one. Perhaps the publisher will include an index in the next printing.)
Could be useful in a beginner writing course.
Almost to a person, many of these writers feel they are in another world when the words flow and they feel they’re writing well.
Many made the comment that at times the characters in their stories often take on a life of their own, as if they were guiding the author’s pen.
As good as many of these scribes are, they still at times suffer from self-doubt, or lack of confidence, and of course practically all of them dread the inevitable bout with block.
Many of them swear to rituals that they feel help them get started; cleaning their studio, ridding the space of any shred of the last work, displaying artifacts that engages their creativity and summons the muse.
Overall, this is a wonderful book for anyone contemplating or already engaged in the writer’s craft. It’s been of tremendous help to me already (mining my first novel), and it was great to see some of the same faults I have shared by professionals. There is much to learn from and a great deal that will give comfort and support to aspiring authors in this book.