Writers on Writing, Volume II More Collected

n a second volume of original essays drawn from the long-running New York Times column, Writers on Writing brings together another group of contemporary literature's finest voices to muse on the challenges and gifts of language and creativity. The pieces range from taciturn, hilarious advice for aspiring writers to thoughtful, soul-wrenching reflections on writing in the midst of national tragedy. William Kennedy talks about the intersecting lives of real and imagined Albany politics; Susan Isaacs reveals her nostalgia for a long-retired protagonist; and Elmore Leonard offers pithy rules for letting the writing, and not the writer, take charge. With contributions from Diane Ackerman, Margaret Atwood, Frank Conroy, Mary Karr, Patrick McGrath, Arthur Miller, Amy Tan, and Edmund White, Writers on Writing, Volume II offers an uncommon and revealing view of the writer's world.

Jane Smiley is the author of ten works of fiction, including Good Faith; Horse Heaven; A Thousand Acres, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; and Moo. She lives in northern California.

Introduction by Jane Smiley	ix
Poems Foster Self-Discovery by Diane Ackerman	1	(8)
A Path Taken, with All the Certainty of Youth by Margaret Atwood	9	(4)
Essentials Get Lost in the Shuffle of Publicity by Ann Beattie	13	(6)
Timeless Tact Helps Sustain a Literary Time Traveler by Geraldine Brooks	19	(6)
Yes, There Are Second Acts (Literary Ones) in American Lives by Alan Cheuse	25	(6)
Footprints of Greatness on Your Turf by Frank Conroy	31	(6)
New Insights into the Novel? Try Reading Three Hundred by Chitra Divakaruni	37	(6)
Returning to Proust's World Stirs Remembranc by Leslie Epstein	43	(6)
Forget Ideas, Mr. Author. What Kind of Pen Do You Use? by Stephen Fry	49	(6)
In Paris and Moscow, a Novelist Finds His Time and Place by Alan Furst	55	(6)
Recognizing the Book That Needs to Be Written by Dorothy Gallagher	61	(6)
How to Insult a Writer by Herbert Gold	67	(4)
Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work by Allegra Goodman	71	(6)
A Narrator Leaps Past Journalism by Vivian Gornick	77	(6)
They Leap from Your Brain Then Take Over Your Heart	83	(6)
When Inspiration Stared Stoically from an Old Photograph by Kathryn Harrison	89	(10)
A Career Despite Dad's Advice 93
Seeing the Unimaginable Freezes the Imagination by A.M. Homes	99	(6)
Hemingway's Blessing, Copland's Collaboration by A.E. Hotchner	105	(6)
Returning to the Character Who Started It All by Susan Isaacs	111	(6)
Negotiating the Darkness, Fortified by Poets' Strength by Mary Karr	117	(8)
Hometown Boy Makes Waves by William Kennedy	125	(8)
As Her Son Creates His Story, a Mother Waits for the Ending by Beth Kephart	133	(4)
The Glory of a First Book by Brad Leithauser	137	(6)
Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle by Elmore Leonard	143	(4)
A Famous Author Says: "Swell Book! Loved It!" by Elinor Lipman	147	(6)
Hearing the Notes That Aren't Played by David Mamet	153	(4)
Heroism in Trying Times by Patrick McGrath	157	(6)
Shattering the Silence, Illuminating the Hatred by Arthur Miller	163	(6)
Overcome by Intensity, Redeemed by Effort by Honor Moore	169	(6)
A Novelist's Life Is Altered by Her Alter Ego by Marcia Muller	175	(6)
Computers Invite a Tangled Web of Complications by P.J. O'Rourke	181	(6)
Saluting All the King's Mentors by Jay Parini	187	(4)
Why Not Put Off Till Tomorrow the Novel You Could Begin Today? by Ann Patchett	191	(4)
The Eye of the Reporter, the Heart of the Novelist by Anna Quindlen	195	(6)
A Retreat from the World Can Be a Perilous Journey by Jonathan Rosen	201	(6)
After Six Novels in Twelve Years, a Character Just Moves On by James Sallis	207	(6)
Fiction and Fact Collide, with Unexpected Consequences by John Sedgwick	213	(6)
Confession Begets Connection by David Shields	219	(6)
A Storyteller Finds Comfort in a Cloak of Anonymity by Susan Richards Shreve	225	(6)
Autumnal Accounting Endangers Happiness by Richard Stern	231	(6)
Family Ghosts Hoard Secrets That Bewitch the Living by Amy Tan	237	(8)
A Bedeviling Question in the Cadence of English by Shashi Tharoor	245	(6)
Still Replying to Grandma's Persistent "And Then?" by Frederic Tuten	251	(6)
A Pseudonym Returns from an Alter-Ego Trip, with New Tales to Tell by Donald E. Westlake	257	(4)
Before a Rendezvous with the Muse, First Select the Music by Edmund White	261

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Writers on Writing, Volume II More Collected Essays from The New York Times

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials