Secrets of the trade
Perspectives from pros
The same old story can be told in many ways. Here's how accomplished authors reflect on their craft.
John Irving
To John Irving, novel writing is a demonstration of emotional and psychological truth. As a craftsman, he starts with an ending and creates characters who readers will care about as the plot moves along.
Tell your own truth
Long before Alice Muno won a Nobel Prize for Literature year, she fit her writing around her duties as a homemaker. She celebrates the short story as as an effective form for telling your own truth and feelings.
The solitude of writing
Writing is a solitary calling, as Ernest Hemingway reminded us in accepting the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1954.
Clarity
Write about what you know
Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote the original British version The Office, affirms the often forgotten secret to writing that rings true: Stick to what you know.
Inhabiting the characters you create
Russell Banks: Fiction is a way way to penetrate what’s mysterious to you by inhabiting the characters you create.
Avoid puff words
David Foster Wallace: Don’t say “utilize” when “use” will work just fine.
Authenticity
Toni Morrison: Flowery language pares down as you become more authentic.
Be vulnerable
Jonathan Franzen: Writing involves a taking a personal risk and getting the tone right.
Narrative compromise
Margaret Atwood: Tell readers what should know, even if it’s no fun for you. Lose the passages you love when they don’t fit in the narrative.