Off the Page
Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything In Between
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A guide where today’s best writers reveal their secrets.
How do writers approach a new novel? Do they start with plot, character, or theme? A. S. Byatt starts with color. E. L. Doctorow begins with an image. In Off the Page, authors tell us how they work, giving insight into their writing process. Gathered from some of today’s best writers—Paul Auster, Martin Amis, Gish Jen, Dan Chaon, Alice McDermott, and many others interviewed on washingtonpost.com’s “Off the Page” series—host Carole Burns has woven their wisdom into chapters illuminating to any writer or reader. How does place influence authors? How do they make a sex scene work? How do they tell when the work is done? Walter Mosley defying genre; Shirley Hazzard on love; Michael Cunningham on compassion: these and more from Richard Ford, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Charles Baxter will deepen your appreciation for the art of writing and excite you to try new ways of writing yourself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As host of "Off the Page," a literary chat program on Washingtonpost.com, Burns has interviewed more than 40 authors-from Pulitzer Prize winners Edward P. Jones and Richard Ford to newcomers Doreen Baingana and Hannah Tinti-and here she collects those Q&A moments "when I knew I was hearing something extraordinary," including A.S. Byatt noting that she sees her writing in blocks of color and Martin Amis referring to himself as a "yob." Burns organizes her bon mots into 16 highly readable chapters, each covering a different aspect of fiction writing: beginnings, characters, influences, language and style, novels vs. short stories, sex scenes, revision, fact vs. fiction, critics, muses and endings. Most authors speak eloquently, more like prose writing than casual conversation, with only an occasional dash of high-brow condescension. Readers will surely find familiar names among the 43 writers contributing, many of whom refer to their own best-loved works (though a dash of humility from the likes of Paul Auster-"I would never tell anyone to read my books"-is much appreciated). Author biographies, including each writer's own favorite quote about writing, round out this treat for avid readers and writers.
