I try to deal with, and if possible get rid of, the beginning novelist’s worries.” This book is for the beginning novelist who has already figured out that it is far more satisfying to write well than simply to write well enough to get published…. “I write for those who desire, not publication at any cost, but publication one can be proud of-serious, honest fiction, the kind of novel that readers will find they enjoy reading more than once, the kind of fiction likely to survive…. With a forward by Raymond Carver, who had been a student of Gardner’s in 1958, On Becoming a Novelist contains four sections: (1) The Writer’s Nature, (2) The Writer’s Training and Education, (3) Publication and Survival, and (4) Faith. And oh, my goodness, so much bang for that buck! If you’re not familiar with Gardner, here’s an interview with him in the Paris Review.) I can’t remember how I learned about this book, but I ordered a used library edition ( you can get one for less than a dollar) since I was spending my big bucks on Christmas gifts at the time. (Note: Gardner died in 1982, at the young age of 49. Today, it’s John Gardner’s 1983 work, On Becoming a Novelist. A few weeks ago I blogged about discovering Michener’s 1991 book, The Novel. Somehow I seem to keep finding treasures from the past-not the distant past, but still, books I “happen” upon that inspire and inform.
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