[.ca] Letters To A Fiction Writer (ISBN 0393320618)

From Amazon.com:
"As a writer," says Andre Dubus, "you are constantly in training. Day after day, alone at your desk, with no one watching you or even depending on you, you take your position on the playing field." Letters to a Fiction Writer, which was inspired by Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, is a reminder that there is actually a whole community out there sharing your Sisyphean task. These 33 letters are written by authors such as Ann Beattie, John Gardner, Joyce Carol Oates, and Tobias Wolff. Lee K. Abbott (Living After Midnight) addresses the obligation of the fiction writer to "write it all goddamn down." Raymond Carver ponders the relationship between writing and alcoholism (upon recovering from it, he says, "I was so grateful to have my health back, and my life back, that it really didn't matter to me in one large way if I ever wrote anything again or not"). David Bradley discusses the difficulty of being an as-yet unpublished writer: "Most professions," he says, "pay bright prospects to develop their skills.... There are no such positions in writing." Trying to make it as a writer is discouraging, yes. "If you can stop," recommends Reynolds Price, "you probably should. Try cabinet-making." But if you're all thumbs with a band saw, clasp this book to your breast and don't let go. For in it there are words of wisdom, wit, encouragement, and enticement that are sure to help you through that "strange and particular torture" that comes, according to Nicholas Delbanco, "after four hours of sitting with a paragraph you know to be poor." Of course, the true key to being a writer, say many of the authors included in this anthology, is writing. "Show up for work as dutifully and with as little fanfare as any civil servant," says Rosellen Brown. "Stop thinking of becoming an author," says Stanley W. Lindberg, editor of The Georgia Review, "and work instead to become a writer." And finally, intones Janette Turner Hospital (The Ivory Swing), "When rejection slips or rotten reviews come in ... have one stiff drink, say five Hail Mary's and ten Fuck-You's, and get back to work." --Jane Steinberg

Some Good, Some Bad:
While there is some good, specific advice, most of the advice boils down to this: 1. Read a lot 2. Write a lot 3. Don't become a writer, because if you do you'll work in isolation, won't be able to make a living and no one will read your work. Many of the letters seemed self-conscious to me, and I found myself saying, look, I know you're a writer, but please don't try to impress me with your carefully crafted wisdom. The best IMHO were those written privately, with palpable passion (John Gardner, Shelby Foote, a couple more.) This is not to say the other writers are or were not passionate about their work, but I couldn't feel it here. Some of the good advice: 1. Stop in the middle of a sentence when you know what is going to happen next. 2. Go against the grain. Add bad characteristics to your good characters, good characteristics to your bad. 3. Avoid cynicism. For those of you interested in hearing more from published writers, find Don Swaim's library of interviews online. That's a whole college education there.

Outstanding. One "bright moment" after another:
Frederick Busch's collection of letters is masterfully conceived and edited. This book should be required reading for anyone who has ever considered writing fiction (as well as for anyone who has ever pondered the degree of self and soul that go into creative writing). The insights into the process of such writing are most illuminating, rather like holding a rare diamond up to the light and being struck by its varied points of brilliance as one turns it from one angle to another.

Comforting, wise, tremendously helpful:
After about two decades of writing and teaching, I have an awful lot of writing books. Some books are wonderful straightforward textbooks (like Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction), others are brilliant collections of essays on the art and craft of writing, like Charles Baxter's Burning Down the House or Charles Baxter and Peter Turchi's Bringing the Devil to His Knees or the Julie Checkoway-edited Creating Fiction. But sometimes what we need are books that amuse, comfort, guide, and inspire us, like Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird or Chekhov's letters or Frederick Busch's collection, Letters to a Fiction Writer. Different writers will respond to different essays in here, but there are some that are among the most honest and helpful pieces imaginable. This is one of the books on my shelf that I consider essential.

Changed my writing (if not my real) life:
My wife gave this book to me when we were first engaged. I was (and still am) writing an epic fantasy novel and I had never gotten any advice on writing. This book was my first. Believe me it felt like my first. I didn't know myself or why the heck I was writing anything at all until I read this book. All the authors in here have great advice and inspiration for young (and by young we mean aspiring and new) writers. I discovered some very important things about myself by reading this book. It helped covince me to seek out other forms of instruction, read other good fiction novels and really immerse myself in the art and practice of writing.

Buy this book!:
And then burn it! The fancy words and adult themes in this book are scandalous! As a Christian, I just cannot tolerate this muck! Save yourself!