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Loading... On Becoming a Novelistby John Gardner
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  ajsomerset | Aug 23, 2008 |  This is by far one of the best books on the "craft of writing." (  ) kperfetto | Nov 29, 2007 | This book is what made me decide to become an English teacher and an editor instead of a full-time writer. Every aspiring writer in the world ought to read this brutally honest tract. heina | Sep 2, 2007 | No writer should go without reading this book. It focuses on the kinds of things that makes good writing actual literary writing, and it makes you think about your craft. ( ) devilwrites | Jun 8, 2007 | I've been writing daily for 15 years and I love this book. Not because I agree with everything Gardner says, but because he tells you up front that writing is hard work... ( ) clothingoptional | Feb 26, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
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Well, almost nobody. John Gardner understands him. Gardner's sympathetic On Becoming a Novelist is the novelist's ultimate comfort food--better than macaroni and cheese, better than chocolate. Gardner, a fiction writer himself (Grendel), knows in his bones the desperate questioning of a writer who's not sure he's up to the task. He recognizes the validation that comes with being published, just as he believes that "for a true novel there is generally no substitute for slow, slow baking." Gardner also has strong feelings about what kinds of workshops help (and whom they help), and what kinds hinder. But a full half of Gardner's book is devoted to an exploration of the writer's nature. The storyteller's intelligence, he says, "is composed of several qualities, most of which, in normal people, are signs of either immaturity or incivility." In addition, a writer needs "verbal sensitivity, accuracy of eye," and "an almost demonic compulsiveness." But wait--there's more. A writer needs to be driven, and to be driven, he says insightfully, "a psychological wound is helpful." --Jane Steinberg
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:02 -0400)
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Raymond Carver's introduction is helpful; it makes a convincing case that Gardner was actually a nice guy and a great teacher, not the swaggering egotist that he appears to be. Consequently, On Becoming a Novelist is much more palatable than Gardner's other book on writing, The Art of Fiction.
In On Becoming a Novelist, Gardner steps back from the dogmatism that marks The Art of Fiction. Notably, he now admits that a PhD in English literature, accompanied by many courses in creative writing, is not a prerequisite to writing serious fiction.
Still, as with The Art of Fiction, it's best to approach Gardner's ideas about writing with a skeptical mind.