The Agony and the Ego: The Art and Strategy of Fiction Writing Explored

by Clare Boylan (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 1993

Reviews

[Rachel Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short essays by published writers on how, why, where, but not what to write. They range from the excellent (Hilary Mantel, Jane Gardam, Patricia Highsmith, Lorrie Moore) to the uninformative (Marilyn French provides no insights, but talks about how feminism changed her life, Malcolm Bradbury only tells that that working at a university is great) to the weird (Roberston Davies (?) about being un homme de lettres, Brian Moore (not that one) on Tolstoy).

"I create things out of boredom with reality and with the sameness of routine & objects around me." - Patricia Highsmith
"All art is based on a desire to communicate, a love of beauty, a need to create order out of disorder." – ibid
"Do not despise your instincts like some awful parents affect to despise their children." – Jane Gardam
"For it's crucial to keep ourselves, as a species, interested in ourselves.... art has been given to us to keep us interested and engaged rather than distracted by materialism or sated with boredom so that we can attach to this life, a life which might otherwise be a unbearable one." – Lorrie Moore
"Writing is both the excursion into and the excursion out of one's life." - ibid

[Bodies in the Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

In our first study block one of our tutors quoted extensively from Hilary Mantel's essay in this collection, and recommended the rest of the book to us.

I found it really useful, particularly:

Sara Paretsky on being a female writer:
"It wasn't until I read Woolf's 'Professions for Women' two years ago that I realized how universal the conflict between being angel and monster is for women who write."

Josephine Hart on the challenges of starting to write:
"For most of my adult life I resisted writing."

Fay Weldon on drafting:
"Consider, would-be writer, that if I, who have been writing for years, still have to carry on in this way, drafting and redrafting, refining and elaborating, searching for proper expression, whether this sort of thing is really how you wish to spend your life."

Marina Warner on reading:
"I like research, I find the smell of book dust exciting, and libraries give me a sense of flight, so all my books are rooted in reading."

Patricia Highsmith on plotting:
"When I am thickening my plots, I like to think 'What if ... What *if* ...' Thus my imagination can move from the likely, which everyone can think of, to the unlikely-but-possible, my preferred plot."

Highsmith, in the same essay, on the importance of authenticity:
"In a word, be yourself."

*So* much good advice all together. Highly recommended.

[Sarak77]

The insights into writing are timeless, and worth reading by anyone who has ever tried to write and found themselves dissatisfied with the result. What's truly fascinating however, is the portrait of a vanished age, the 1990s when Sunday papers carried whole extra supplements dedicated to the latest books. I couldn't help wondering what all these writers would make of the internet, about to burst into their lives.

[Katrinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A n interesting book to dip in and out of, setting dates for when I read it doesn't mean much.

[Catherine Daly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional boook for writer and readers. It explores many facets of writing fiction from the initial inspiration, through editing, to making a living as a writer. The book is compilation of essays from a variety of writers, including William Boyd, Mary Wesley and Fay Weldon. It is a credit to the late Clare Boylan that she assembled so many authors between two covers without egos getting in the way!