Writers on Writing

I love this compilation of writers' essays about writing. There is nothing harder than writing. Maybe it's because it's a lonely profession. Perhaps the loneliest profession of all, it's not easy being a writer. I'm still struggling like so many thousands of aspiring writers. Of course, writing doesn't happen on stage, film, and television. It happens usually at home, on a coffeetable, on a desk, in the offices, dens, libraries, and bedrooms of writers. I always retrieve to this book to get some inspiration when I'm down. I love the variety of writers here like Joyce Carol Oates, Elie Wiesel, Russell Banks, Annie Proulx, etc. I believe that if you won't enjoy your success without your sanity in check as well as understanding the world. Writers including myself are the strangest creatures on earth. So if you're inspiring writer like myself, reading this book can be a great comfort during your writing blocks or at times when you think you can't write or want too but nothing makes sense.

This book is not the how-to-write manual that many beginning writers seem to be seeking. I sometimes go to book readings and I am continually amazed (and bored) by the people who cross-examine writers about how they write. If you are a frustrated writer who is hoping to find some magic formula about how it's done, this book isn't for you. If you are a writer who is looking for kindred souls, you will be blown away and feel comforted by how much the writing process of writers like William Sarayon mirrors your own. This collection of 41 essays was compiled from the New York Times's "Writers on Writing" column. The result is an beguiling collection of writers thoughts on the creative process. All of these the included essays are engaging and intruging. Suprising is the subject matter. Joyce Carol oates connects her writing process with running. Annie Proloux writes about the need to surround herself with books on every subject matter. Walter Mosley stresses the need for discipline. One of my favourite collections of essays. A must for anyone needing inspiration or entertainment in their darkest writing hours.

This is a collection of 46 essays on writing fiction. Each is about four or five pages long and each is by an established author. The authors discuss where they got the ideas for stories, how they approach the tasks, their general feelings on writing, and sometimes they tell us how they became successful. The book has a short introduction by the editor, John Darnton. Overall, the book is excellent. There are a few bad spots so let us dispense with those first. I am a fan of Saul Bellow and have read most of his novels. I bought the book - in part - because he was a contributor. So I first read his piece and then read the contribution by John Updike. Both wrote rather disappointingly shallow comments and then each author took the opportunity to peddle a publication. One wonders if they were invited to contribute or if one of their short stories or short essays was simply included by the editor. Perhaps "how they write and what are their ideas" is a question that they are tired of discussing? At that point one wants to throw the book into the wastebasket. But do not give up yet. By the way, there is a good interview with Saul Bellow in the Paris Review on line and one learns in that interview - free of charge - where he got some of his ideas and how he developed as a writer. Fortunately for us, the other forty or so contributors took their tasks seriously, or they are not tired of the question. In any case, the hard facts are that most published authors do not work in isolation and most have some sort of professional training. One of the messages in the book advanced by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and others is that it is a good idea to attend a writers workshop or school. Vonnegut was an instructor in Iowa and he started "Slaughterhouse-Five" while he was there. That is one of the key bits of information in the book. Attending such as course can be a reality check. Some will give up their writing at that point. For others, it can act as a pathway to writing novels. There are a number of other good ideas in the book and you will discover them as you read. I will mention a few. Nicholas Delbanco has a good piece on great literature and he points out what we can learn from books such as Ulysses. Barbara Kingsolver has a good contribution on writing about sex in a novel. David Mamet has an interesting piece on the genre novel, while Walter Mosely gives tips on making small daily contributions. Scott Turow tells an interesting story about his own career that went from writing to law, and then back again to writing. I enjoyed the piece by Susan Sontag. There are many other interesting essays - too numerous to review and comment on here. The book is good but you will have to sift through the stories to find the nuggets. Overall I think it deserves 4 or 5 stars and it is worth the price.

It's amazing that the more than three dozen writers contributing to "Writers on Writing" managed each to have a different view of the topic at hand. Everyone from Annie Proulx to Jamaica Kincaid to E. L. Doctorow to the late Saul Bellow approaches the act of writing differently, and each has different thoughts to offer. Some of the essays are funny, some are quietly sad, and still others address the dual difficulty and delight of turning out something new and yet universal. The breadth of thought is amazing, but each of the essays is skillful and thought-provoking. Perhaps my favorite was by Alice Hoffman, who writes, "I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real, to see daylilies and swimming pools, loyalty and devotion, even though my eyes were closed and all that surrounded me was a dark room. I wrote because that was who I was at the core, and if I was too damaged to walk around the block, I was lucky all the same. Once I got to my desk, once I started writing, I still believed anything was possible." In this short passage, she speaks for all the writers here, in saying that writing is a need, not a desire, and that the act is without boundaries and filled with possibility. This is a useful and enriching book for writers, and for those who are simply curious about how writers do what they do.

Forty- six writers speak about the life of the writer. They provide a whole host of interesting observations. Vonnegut tells us that he learned from Aristotle that to write comedy one must write about characters the readers feel superior to. And that to write tragedy there must be one character that the readers feel superior to them. Joyce Carol Oates tells about the strange feeling about living in one of the major cities of the world for a sabbatical year, London, and having her heart and mind in Detroit. Bellow tells about the slightly uneasy feeling of the writer before the neighbors who are always wondering what this guy is doing at home. Elie Weisel talks about how Hasidic story formed his imagination and still lives within him. Each of the writers seems to have his own problems, obsessions and methods. It is almost as if they were saying ' Of course all human beings are individuals, but somehow writers are among the most individual of individuals. A good collection. One point though. In part because the Paris Reviews are longer, and in part I think because there is someone who asks questions about the work of the writer the Paris Review interviews about writing are richer than these.