Topography of a novel: Garth Greenwell on how he wrote What Belongs to You

Garth Greenwell reflects on the summer he spent in Madrid revising what has been dubbed the ‘great gay novel of our times’: his debut, What Belongs to You

By Garth Greenwell for Topography of a Novel by Blunderbuss Magazine, part of the Guardian Books Network

Every book has its own texture, materiality, and topography. This is not only metaphorical; the process of creating a novel produces all sorts of flotsam–notes, sketches, research, drafts–and sifting through this detritus can provide insight both into the architecture of a work and into the practice of writing. Blunderbuss is excited to run this series, in which we ask writers to select and assemble the artifacts of a book in a way that they find meaningful and revealing. In this installment, Garth Greenwell reflects on the summer he spent in Madrid revising his debut novel What Belongs to You.

Related: Garth Greenwell on his debut novel: 'I've been cruising since I was 14'

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