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Synopsis
The world’s best contemporary writers—from Michael Chabon and Claire Messud to Jonathan Lethem and Amy Tan—engage in a wide-ranging, insightful, and oft- surprising roundtable discussion on the art of writing fiction
Drawing back the curtain on the mysterious process of writing novels, The Secret Miracle brings together the foremost practitioners of the craft to discuss how they write. Paul Auster, Roddy Doyle, Allegra Goodman, Aleksandar Hemon, Mario Vargas Llosa, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, and others take us step by step through the alchemy of writing fiction, answering everything from nuts-and-bolts queries—“Do you outline?”—to perennial questions posed by writers and readers alike: “What makes a character compelling?”
From Stephen King’s deadpan distinction between novels and short stories (“Novels are longer and have more s**t in them”) to Colm Toibin’s anti-romanticized take on his characters (“They are just words”) to José Manuel Prieto’s mature perspective on the anxieties of influence (“Influences are felt or weigh you down more when young”), every page contains insights found nowhere else.
With honesty, humor, and elegance, The Secret Miracle gives both aspiring writers and lovers of literature a master class in the art of writing.
Library Journal
Organized into a Q&A format, this book takes readers through the very idiosyncratic act of writing a novel. Over 50 contemporary novelists—including Stephen King, A.M. Holmes, Amy Tan, Roddy Doyle, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Haruki Murakami—reply to questions about their writing procedures. The questions are categorized and proceed from reading habits and influences through getting started; structure, plot, and character; to the actual writing and revision. The responses, as might be expected, vary significantly. When asked about outlining, Mehmet Murat Somer says he makes detailed plot outlines, while King and Susan Choi avoid them entirely. Concerning dialog, comments range from less is better to Choi's belief that "good dialog bears little resemblance to how people actually talk." VERDICT This book will be valuable to beginning novelists or those contemplating writing someday. Reading it is almost like attending a writer's conference and will serve to motivate and challenge as well as to instruct.—Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo