The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy

I want to be Leonard Marcus. Well, except for the gender thing. But imagine earning a living by talking to some of the best known and loved authors of fiction for children and young adults.

In this collection of interviews, Marcus threads some identical questions throughout, and part of the fun is keeping track of the similarities in answers and noting the differences. Among the themes that emerge is that fantasy writing is an oblique way at getting at truths that reality-based fiction, or nonfiction, can't touch. Sprinkled amid the interviews are the writers' often charming stories of family members.

The authors are presented in alphabetical order, and eager as I was to get to Pratchett, I read them in sequence. Glad I did, too, show more because it saved what I found to be the best for last: Jane Yolen.

Marcus asks her one of his standard questions: What kind of child were you? Yolen responds: "... A little whiny. A performer. I was bossy to my brother. And I was very moral, which is probably why I love fantasy. In fantasy, you can talk about the great moral issues -- honor, heroism, truth, trust, loyalty, and evil -- things that become pretty clouded and gray in most modern 'realistic' literature."

Philip Pullman talks about a teacher who read poetry aloud to his class, leading him years later to tell his teaching students they shouldn't be afraid of poetry. "...they thought the thing to do was to explain it, to 'translate' it into simple language. I had to keep telling them, 'When you do that , you take the poetry out of it. If you don't understand a poem, so what? Just listen to it. Just taste it. Just say it. Just let it do its work without interfering with it. Sound first -- then meaning."

These are not just writers of fantasy. They are word magicians. show less

When I came across this at the library, I had to check it out, because all of the interviews are from my favorite fantasy authors. These people have had a huge impact on the genre, and have been inspirations to me both as a reader and a writer.

The Wand in the Word provides a brief look into the writers' lives in a quick-to-understand format. I enjoyed the pictures of the authors when they were younger, and I loved learning about their first experiences with reading, storytelling and fantasy. For some reason, I thought that this would be more writing instruction and less interview, (maybe because of the title?) but I quickly got over my disappointment. Being an aspiring writer and having read a lot of books from these people, it was show more interesting to compare their different views and ways of approaching stories and writing. And as always for people who live and breathe words, it is evident how they center their lives around books.

Though somewhat insightful and interesting, the questions aren't groundbreaking. If you're looking for a tell-all book about your favorite fantasy author, this isn't it. It provides nice overviews for all the authors involved, but nothing too in-depth. The best part for me was that all of these authors have an encouraging outlook for aspiring writers. They are all very different and have very different experiences with school, books, reading, and life in general. Yet, all of them have experienced success. That was a great thing to see -- there isn't a formula for becoming a writer, the only thing that's required is a love for stories.

Confession: I started writing right after I finished reading this book.

A great read for fans of these authors and for aspiring writers. show less

Reviewed by Aubrey Hepburn for TeensReadToo.com

Ever wondered what it takes to be a writer or where writers get their ideas? THE WAND IN THE WORD answers these questions and more.

The book is in question/answer format. Each author is introduced with a brief biography, and each section is closed with a reader - a list of books written by that author. I enjoyed reading each author's responses: war stories from Brian Jacques and Garth Nix, rejection tales by Tamora Pierce, Granny Aching character inspiration from Terry Pratchett, and good, solid writing advice from all around.

This is one book that will spread through your home or workplace. I showed the book to my mother to describe something about one of the featured authors, leaving her show more engrossed in a story by Lloyd Alexander. When I came back in, she was reading a quote to my teenage brother. Three with one blow, I guess, but we all enjoyed catching a glimpse of what makes a fantasy writer.

I'd recommend THE WAND IN THE WORD for anyone who writes or reads fantasy - or who plans on becoming a writer in the future. show less

What an excellent collection! Marcus talks to so many of my favorite authors—including Diana Wynne Jones; she says she “was quite stroppy and contrary” as a child! The only inclusion I questioned was Franny Billingsley, who has only two books to her name. (Why not Robin McKinley or Peter Dickinson or Sherwood Smith?)

Marcus asks some questions of all the authors and crafts specific questions for individual authors. This results in interesting interviews that retain a good sense of consistency. Each section includes a photo of the author as a kid.

I do wish the selected bibligraphy at the end of each interview was comprehensive, for completeness’s sake.

This was a rather adorable collection of interviews with fantasy authors which I enjoyed very much. (It helped that of the thirteen authors interviewed, the only one I’d never read any of was Frannie Billingsley, which I am hoping to do something about soon.) It did annoy me a bit that the book was focused on YA/children’s fantasy, without ever actually saying that out loud, so keep that in mind if you’re looking at this book. It was a lovely little nostalgia trip, though, and reminded me that it’s been far too long since I’ve reread A Wrinkle in Time or The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm.

This lovely collection of interviews with 13 well known fantasy authors concentrates mostly on their children's/YA fiction, but it gives lovely little glimpses in the varied world of writers. I only read the interviews with the authors with whom I was familiar -- Lloyd Alexander, Diane Wynn Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L'Engle and Terry Pratchett -- and just glanced through the others. The interviews are not extensive or very personalized -- many of the questions are the same for each -- but that just made the comparisons more interesting.

What it really gave me was insight into the varied methods of writing. Some of these authors write daily, for set hours. Others write when moved. Some research, others consider their whole show more lives research for their writing. Some love to revise, some dread it, some have ambivalent feelings. Many faced difficulties getting published. All seem to love Tolkien. I enjoyed finding these little facts and knowing the authors that touched and formed me (Alexander's [b:Time Cat|822630|Time Cat|Lloyd Alexander|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178690488s/822630.jpg|3016959] stands in my memory as my first indication science fiction and fantasy existed). show less

Set-piece interviews with some of the best-known names in fantasy, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip Pullman, Brian Jacques, Tamora Pierce and Nancy Farmer. There's a photo of Lloyd Alexander that took my breath away. I've resolved to read something by Garth Nix, based on his interview. And Nancy Farmer, too. Jacques strikes me as an endearing rogue in the Heinlein vein. My verdict on the book is that it's spotty but interesting.