Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York TimesNow in paperback, today's most celebrated writers explore literature and the literary life in an inspirational collection of original essays. |
Contents
A Literary Pilgrim Progresses to the Past | 1 |
A Novelists Vivid Memory Spins Fiction of Its Own | 8 |
To Engage the World More Fully Follow a Dog | 13 |
Hidden Within Technologys Empire a Republic of Letters | 17 |
Pupils Glimpse an Idea Teacher Gets a Gold Star | 23 |
Characters Weaknesses Build Fictions Strengths | 28 |
How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call? | 35 |
From Echoes Emerge Original Voices | 43 |
Comforting Lessons in Arranging Lifes Details | 141 |
The Humble Genre Novel Sometimes Full of Genius | 145 |
She Was Blond She Was in Trouble And She Paid 3 Cents a Word | 149 |
The Perils of Seeking a Novelists Facts in Her Fiction | 156 |
For Authors Fragile Ideas Need Loving Every Day | 161 |
To Invigorate Literary Mind Start Moving Literary Feet | 165 |
A Storyteller Stands Where Justice Confronts Basic Human Needs | 172 |
An Inspiring Combination | 178 |
The Novel Follows Film into a World of Fewer Words | 49 |
Two Languages in Mind but Just One in the Heart | 54 |
Instant Novels? In Your Dreams | 60 |
Goofing Off While the Muse Recharges | 65 |
A Novelist Breaches the Border to Nonfiction | 71 |
Putting Pen to Paper but Not Just Any Pen or Just Any Paper | 78 |
To See Your Story Clearly Start by Pulling the Wool over Your Own Eyes | 84 |
Real Life That Bizarre and Brazen Plagiarist | 90 |
Sustained by Fiction While Facing Lifes Facts | 95 |
The Enduring Commitment of a Faithful Storyteller | 99 |
Inventing Life Steals Time Living Life Begs It Back | 104 |
Pesky Themes Will Emerge When Youre Not Looking | 110 |
Sitting Down a Novelist Getting Up a Playwright | 116 |
Those Words That Echo Echo Echo Through Life | 123 |
A Forbidden Territory Familiar to All | 130 |
Summoning the Mystery and Tragedy but in a Subterranean Way | 136 |
Inspiration? Head Down the Back Road and Stop for the Yard Sales | 185 |
If You Invent the Story Youre the First to See How It Ends | 191 |
Once Upon a Time Literature Now What? | 198 |
Starting with a Tree and Finally Getting to the Death of a Brother | 204 |
Opting for Invention over the Injury of Invasion | 211 |
A Reluctant Muse Embraces His Task and Everything Changes | 217 |
Write Read Rewrite Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed | 223 |
An Odyssey That Started with Ulysses | 230 |
Theres No Ego as Wounded as a Wounded Alter Ego | 236 |
Despite Tough Guys Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists | 241 |
A Poets Experience of Meditation | 246 |
In the Castle of Indolence You Can Hear the Sound of Your Own Mind | 251 |
A Sacred Magic Can Elevate the Secular Storyteller | 258 |
Embarking Together on Solitary Journeys | 263 |
Other editions - View all
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York Times The New York Times No preview available - 2002 |
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York Times The New York Times No preview available - 2002 |
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York Times, Volume 1 The New York Times No preview available - 2001 |