On Becoming a Novelist

Rating:
Summary: Not The Typical Book On Writing
Review: Before discovering a dusty old hardcover copy of John Gardner's 'On Becoming A Novelist' in an infamous New York City bookstore (Gotham Book Mart), I was under the impression that every book related to the art of writing fit into one of three catagories. Either it focused on technique (Robert McKee's 'Story'), it offered encouragement (Anne Lamott's 'Bird By Bird'), or it took memoir form (Annie Dillard's 'The Writing Life'). I was wrong.

This book is a portrait of the writer as a young man (or woman). After years of teaching creative writing courses and wallowing around the publishing industry, Gardner acquired an opinion or two (major understatement). He correctly believed that writing novels is not a profession or a pasttime for the timid, and so he outlines the prototypical writer's 'character'. The purpose, of course, is to get the young writer to ask himself if he is really cut out for this. In the course of telling you what traits a talented writer must have (verbal accuity, a discerning eye, faith, etc.), Gardner offers up some brilliant insights into the craft. His discussion ranges from writer's block to writers' conferences, and while you may not always agree with him, his views are always thought provoking and perceptive.

In the end, this book may be mildly discouraging for the would-be writer who is currently on the fence. Gardner does not sugar coat his opinions, but I am glad for that. He has no qualms in informing his readers that worthwhile writing takes a great deal of talent, and not everyone has that talent. As he says, the worst that can happen after reading this book is that you will realize you don't have the right stuff, and you will move on to something else.

In reading this book, you get the impression that he was a brilliant writing teacher, as is evidenced by perhaps his greatest student, Raymond Carver. Carver wrote the brilliant introduction to this book, which familiarizes the reader with Gardner's personality and makes it easier to put the rest of the book in perspective. I, for one, would have loved to have Gardner as a teacher. As that is no longer possible (he died in a motorcycle accident years ago), this book is no small consolation.

Rating:
Summary: Still fantasic after all these years!
Review: Don't imagine that is book is out dated. It's actually better than most other books on writing out there today. Read it with your highlighter to capture some really helpful and inspiring advice. This is one you'll want to own.

Rating:
Summary: Great insights and counsel to writers
Review: Gardner comes across as a realist and an inspiration to writers. This is not a step-by-step book about how to write a novel. It is more of a big picture approach to developing the mindset, skills and discipline to become a novelist.

Gardner illustrates the ingredients to writing novels and to being a novelist. His examples of his own writing experiences are the crux of this book. He has been through the angst and exhiliration of writing and shares his insights in this book.

He clearly conveys that writing takes discipline, skill, perseverance and teachability. He elaborates on these areas in the book.

Overall, the book is inspiring and educational. It is not drawn out or wordy. He gets to the point and keeps it short, so it is very helpful throughout.

Rating:
Summary: Who Is Jane Steinberg?
Review: I can't think of a better book to put in the hands of a young writer: it inspires, teaches, comforts, and offers endless hope. I first read this book in hardback in 1983 -- still saddened by the author's death in a motorcycle accident the year before -- and I've enjoyed reading it many times since. In a beautiful and touching foreword Raymond Carver, a student of Gardner's in the '50s, writes that Gardner gave to the teaching of fiction the same energy and devotion to craft and moral concerns that he gave to his novels. Gardner's main objective in this book, as he states early on, is "to deal with, and if possible get rid of, the beginning novelist's worries." Does he do that? Well, he certainly helps the young writer answer a crucial question: Am I talented enough to write novels? Gardner explores the indicators -- sensitivity to language, an eye for significant detail, the knack of sustaining a narrative ("a vivid and continuous dream"), self-awareness, curiosity, nerve, empathy, a huge curiosity about people. (Gardner believes that lousy people will necessarily write lousy books.) Gardner also addresses some of the darker aspects of the writing life: writer's block, rejection, depression, suicide. And through it all he draws upon beliefs and practices that sustained him through the ups and downs of his controversial career, thus providing beginning novelists with a faith that can sustain them in the years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for writers-to-be
Review: I read a lot of John Gardner's books about 25 years ago, and only recently started reading his books for writers. As an aspiring fictionist myself, I drank up his comments and advice in this book. Gardner was a strange bird, who didn't walk the walk - he rails often in his writings against some of the very types of writing he committed. But he remains one of America's original voices, and this brief book should be read by anyone who wants to write fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Good for creative prose writers in general
Review: I recommend this book for any serious creative prose writer. The wisdom and guidance given in this book is extremely helpful. Gardner covers it all; he says things I wish I could, or don't have the time to say to students in my classes.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book
Review: If you want to start writing fiction, or improve what you're already writing, then buy this book. There's really nothing more to say. Gardner's slim volume is worth twenty tomes on archetypes and story structures and channeling your inner child. Those things are important, but for the most part they can take care of themselves. The strength of Gardner's approach is that he gets straight down to the serious business of putting words on the page and figuring out if you're the kind of person who's good at it. Drawing examples from his own writing and experience as a teacher, he describes what he sees as the "writer's nature" (verbal facility, accuracy of vision, a particular kind of intelligence, and a daemonic compulsiveness), gives some blunt observations on the usefulness (or otherwise) of creative writing workshops, some helpful pointers on editors and publishing, and a nice final chapter on creative faith. My only reservation is that he comes down quite heavily on the side of realism. "Good writers may 'tell' almost anything in fiction except the characters' feelings," he maintains (p.33). Certainly, a lot of bad writing is bad because it "tells" rather than "shows", but I think one of the great beauties and values of fiction is precisely that it can take us inside the minds characters and make legible what they are REFUSING to show. Ironically, this often provides a much greater fidelity to 'real life' than the strikingly un-lifelike practice of levering arcane metaphors into place to represent, externally, a character's mental or emotional experience. If prose fiction isn't allowed to recount a character's inner life, then what value does it have over film and television - two forms which Gardner seems to decry? Still, Gardner's advice is generous and convincing, yet never totalising. You get the distinct impression that if you totally disagreed with everything he said, and yet still wrote good fiction, he'd be nothing less than delighted for you. Now that's a good teacher.

Rating:
Summary: Learn from the best
Review: There are lots of books out there on the mechanics of writing a novel. There are others that give you plot outlines, character sketches, or tell you how hard, hard, hard, or easy, easy, easy it is to build a career in writing.
Gardner, on the other hand, simply tells you how it is- at least from his point of view, and he makes it clear throughout that his advice to young writers is only one wall of the pigpen. The most refreshing aspect of this book is that it is geared to the "serious" novelist- i.e. someone who doesn't want to write books based on formulas or what sells, but just wants to write what they want to write. Gardner doesn't lie about the slim possibilities of making a living as a novelist, but he does give solid advice on how to make money without your job interfering with your work.
Though it was written more than twenty years ago, this book is still valuable today for the beginning writer- I'll keep it on my shelf for many years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading
Review: This is the classic work on becoming a novelist that should be required reading for any aspiring author of fiction. Gardner does not go into specific craft techniques in this book, but his detailed discussions on the writing process, dealing with publishers, and overcoming rejection are essential reading. The foreword to this book, written by Raymond Carver, is 8 pages long and is very good-almost worth the price of the book itself. Gardner states in his preface, page xxiii, "I try here to deal with, and if possible get rid of, the beginning novelist's worries." No single book can discuss everything a writer worries about, but Gardner does a good job covering the main points. Gardner does not focus on any particular genre in this book, and in fact, genre writers may be a bit frustrated by his focus on the mainstream novel, and writing for the sake of art, over commercialism. However, his ideas are worth looking at by all of us.

Similar books which I would recommend for the aspiring writer include: "The Writer's Book of Hope," by Ralph Keyes, and "The Forest for the Trees," by Betsy Lerner.

Ron Atkins is the author of two children's books, Abby and the Bicycle Caper, and his upcoming (January 2005) Abby and the Bike Race Mystery.