It may seem perverse that I compare my writing to plumbing, an occupation not regarded as high-end. But to me all work is equally honorable, all crafts an astonishment when they are performed with skill and self-respect. Just as I go to work every day with my tools, which are words, the plumber arrives with his kit of wrenches and washers, and afterward the pipes have been so adroitly fitted together that they don’t leak. I don’t want any of my sentences to leak. The fact that someone can make water come out of a faucet on the 10th floor strikes me as a feat no less remarkable than the construction of a clear declarative sentence.
Category Archives: Writing
The Only Way
[F]iction can sometimes be the only way to tell the truth.
Slacker
9:30 P.M. Dread resumption of office job in the morning. Regret all choices and circumstances that have led to necessity of having a day job. Recall A.O. Scott’s hilarious (yet sympathetic) indictment of Generation X in last week’s “Week in Review” piece on Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask. Track it down and reread. Reflect on the ultimate pointlessness of trying to escape the slacker mindset.
9:40 P.M. Begin drinking (bourbon).
After you’ve experienced a bit of life
I think that there is a case for saying that you have a bit more to say as you go through life. I mean, obviously there are people who write wonderful books in their early 20s. … But I think those people are the exception. Most of the time, I think one should just let these things mature. It’s no bad thing to start a writing career after you’ve experienced a bit of life.
A storehouse of material and memories
Not every major fiction writer is a natural, but each begins with a storehouse of material and memories that often attenuate over time. Writers in their youth generally have more direct access to childhood, with its freshets of sensation and revelation. What comes later — technical refinement, command of the literary tradition, deeper understanding of the human condition — may yield different results but not always richer or more artful ones.
It’s as real a form/genre as any
P.S. I’m glad you like my blog. I think I like blogging as much as writing poetry. I know many poets will think that heresy. I always see this sentiment that blogging is a waste of time and we should all get back to the “real work.” But to me it’s as real a form/genre as any: I’m trying to convey ideas artfully. I can do different things on my blog than I can do in a poem, which is why I want both outlets.
Handfeel
[T]he publishing industry is already responding to the digital challenge by making books more “papery”, a turn-on for bibliophiles for whom the tactile pleasures of a book are very much part of the reading experience.
A strong trend among entrants for this year’s Book Design Awards was for jacket and page designs with an artisanal look. In the way that food scientists engineer breakfast cereal and soup for “mouthfeel”, publishers and designers are paying increased attention to texture, weight and “handfeel”.
Bookshop browsers now find themselves tempted by unbleached and hand-cut pages and uncoated jackets. Handwriting or calligraphy feature prominently and images look as if they have been glued in.
This made me laugh. It’s verging on human/book slashfic!
No idea where it would go
[Ian] McEwan was halfway through the story of Michael Beard [Solar] and still had no idea where it would go. Aspiring writers, take note: Even novelists with 13 titles under their belts and shelves full of shiny trophies sometimes flail in the depths. Writing each book, McEwan says, is “like learning to swim all over again.”
Let your work take you by surprise
6. The only way to write fiction that will take someone else by surprise is to let your work take you by surprise too. Get lost. Be scared. Have no idea where you’re headed. All those wrong directions are really right directions because they get you where you want to go.
7. You’ll know you’re at the end when you write something utterly unexpected and surprising to you, and then, when you try to write past it, you can’t. You’ll realize that without saying what you thought you were going to say, you’ve said it.
What they can do
[W]hen people ask me what they can do to get a story collection published, I say this: Buy story collections. Buy every little unmarketed, swindling story collection you see. Let’s change the market.
The Remainder Table 