PDF Ebook On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner
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On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner
PDF Ebook On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner
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On Becoming a Novelist contains the wisdom accumulated during John Gardner's distinguished twenty-year career as a fiction writer and creative writing teacher. With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot. "For a certain kind of person," Gardner writes, "nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist." But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer's workshops, explaining the role of the novelist's agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life-affirming audiobook for anyone authentically called to the profession.
- Sales Rank: #607959 in Books
- Brand: HarperCollins
- Published on: 1983-06
- Ingredients: Example Ingredients
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 150 pages
Amazon.com Review
Picture the poor, young, serious-fiction writer. He toils alone at a pace not so different from that of Lincoln Tunnel traffic at rush hour in New York. His spouse has a "real" job, or perhaps he has a trust fund. His college friends are cashing in on their dot-coms and wondering if he's ever going to join the real world. He is not hell-bent on publication; he is trying to write "serious, honest fiction, the kind of novel that readers will find they enjoy reading more than once, the kind of fiction likely to survive." He's likely to have no idea whether he's succeeding. Nobody understands him.
Well, almost nobody. John Gardner understands him. Gardner's sympathetic On Becoming a Novelist is the novelist's ultimate comfort food--better than macaroni and cheese, better than chocolate. Gardner, a fiction writer himself (Grendel), knows in his bones the desperate questioning of a writer who's not sure he's up to the task. He recognizes the validation that comes with being published, just as he believes that "for a true novel there is generally no substitute for slow, slow baking." Gardner also has strong feelings about what kinds of workshops help (and whom they help), and what kinds hinder. But a full half of Gardner's book is devoted to an exploration of the writer's nature. The storyteller's intelligence, he says, "is composed of several qualities, most of which, in normal people, are signs of either immaturity or incivility." In addition, a writer needs "verbal sensitivity, accuracy of eye," and "an almost demonic compulsiveness." But wait--there's more. A writer needs to be driven, and to be driven, he says insightfully, "a psychological wound is helpful." --Jane Steinberg
Review
A classic of its kind. -- Joyce Carol Oates
Few, if any, American writers in our time understood the theory and practice of great literature better than novelist John Gardner. With imagination and breathtaking dedication, he trained a generation of young writers to reach for the highest artistic standards. That legacy is contained in "On Becoming a Novelist," one of the essential books for any writer's library. -- Charles Johnson, National Book Award-winning author of "Middle Passage"
John Gardner taught me how to write. I've read this book countless times, underlined it in many different inks, taught it, quote it, write by it. . . . Alone in my basement after my day job, I pawed through "On Becoming a Novelist," hoping to understand what it was I was trying to achieve, and why. John Gardner answered these questions and many more--and still does. Currently there are a number of popular writing guides--all worthwhile I'm sure--but there's no substitute for experience and the hard work of composition. John Gardner put in countless hours at his desk sweating over the depth, generosity and elegance of his fiction. That after his death he continues to share his practical knowledge with us is a gift. -- Stewart O'Nan, author of "A Prayer for the Dying" and "A World Away"
John Gardner's book is worth a thousand pictures of the writer writing--bemused, puffing a pipe, one hand on the keyboard, one in his hair. John was a devoted teacher, and those of us who witnessed his generous attention must be grateful for these pages and his enduring example. "On Becoming a Novelist" evokes the life of the writer, the student, the teacher, as few other documents can. -- Nicholas Delbanco, author of "Old Scores"
There are three books I keep on my desk so that I'll have them at the ready at any given moment in my writing life: the Bible, Roget's Thesaurus, and "On Becoming a Novelist." There is no better book on what it takes to be a writer than Gardner's classic. Period. -- Bret Lott, author of "Jewel"
About the Author
John Gardner’s gripping James Bond novels include: Seafire, License Renewed, Icebreaker, Role of Honour, Nobody Lives Forever, No Deals Mr. Bond, and Never Send Flowers.
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Fantastic way to "know" whether this "writing gig" is or is not for you!
By Kathryn
On Becoming a Novelist
by John Gardner
as reviewed by Kassie Ritman for Catholic Fiction.Net
rating ****
Here it is. With the definitive line at last drawn in the sand, we can know the truth. The real talents, tricks and learned abilities that absolutely separate the hobbiest from the serious writer. Admittedly, I hesitate to describe On Becoming a Novelist in this tone. It sounds rather snarky,really mean or sarcastic. But in truth, the description is apt for the contents of this book. Gardner himself was a prolific author, educator, and curmudgeonous guardian of art expressed via perfectly selected words. He dissects the work of noveling like a scientist dismantling an important new insect. He wants us to know what makes a story written as marks onto paper into what he refers to as a “fictive dream.”
I love that description; a story as a fictive dream. Indeed, the best told tales are always enchanting and nearly magical to experience. Each time a written scene draws us into it, we become a part of the book and authors’ own trance of imagery. We are transported, and when the writing is right, the spell wraps around each person who cracks open the fresh new book and settles in to be transported in place.
The first time I read John Gardner’s book, I was flying in criss crosses around the country trying to get from Asheville North Carolina to Indianapolis. With nothing even resembling a direct flight available, I had plenty of time onboard and during layovers to read the entire contents of “On Becoming.” I have to say that I was fascinated and found myself scribbling notes on the over leafs, in the margins and circling large blocks of text. After nearly 12 hours, four separate airports and too many chatty seatmates, I decided that I needed to set the book aside and reread it when the pleasant distraction from travel trauma wouldn’t cloud my opinion
Round two proved to be just as fascinating and worthwhile. More notes happened and by the end of my second reading, I found I was just as impressed as I was originally. I was glad on both readings that I had taken care to read the foreword written by Gardner’s student Raymond Carver and the author’s preface. Generally, I skip these long winded boring Oscar Award-style thankyou notes. But for some reason, I opened the book at Foreword page “i” and read all the preamble (both foreword and preface) in their entirety. On a book that weighs in at a scant 150 pages, the more than one dozen pages written before the “book” starts are a surprisingly worthwhile portion.
Published posthumously in 1983, one year after his passing by the writer’s estate, the Library of Congress indexes it perfectly.
1.Fiction--Authorship--Vocational guidance.
Gardner gathered his thoughts into four headings. Being a “good Catholic” I am naturally drawn most to the Alpha and the Omega. Parts 1 (The Writer’s Nature) and 4 (Faith) hold my attention like a vise grip every time I read them. The middle sections include, naturally, Part 2 (The Writer’s Training and Education) followed by Part 3’s description of “Publication and Survival.” Did I mention that this guy both knows his stuff, and is hilarious too? On page 46, the author talks about people who press and pry and how a writer can respond to such muse battering inquisitions:
The development of fully competent technique calls for further psychological armor. If a writer learns his craft slowly and carefully, laboriously strengthening his style, not publishing too fast, people may begin to look at the writer aslant and ask suspiciously, “And what do you do?” meaning: “How come you sit around all the time? How come your dog’s so thin?” Here the virtue of childishness is helpful--the writer’s tendency to cry, especially when drunk, a trick that makes persecutors quit. If the pressure grows intense, the oral and anal fixations swing into action: one relieves pressure by chewing things, chattering mindlessly, or straightening and restraightening one’s clothes.
This is fully representative of the writer’s wry style. He proclaims the things that are often thought but not said aloud during polite conversation. Things I will paraphrase here like “education can ruin a perfectly good writer” or “one must be damaged, but not too horrifically, to be an effective author” and “gin is sometimes what it takes to understand the essence of a character.” He makes mention several times of his own struggles with organized religion and whether or not he is cool enough, or dull enough to either bail out completely or whole heartedly jump back in. Through in his own novels he writes extensively on early classic story themes such as the days of King Arthur and his noble guardians of the grail. In these he shows a deep understanding of the lyricism and poetry originally funded and commissioned often by the Church. He uses many of these as inspiration for his written chronicles into the “fictive dream.”
I recommend this book highly to all aspiring writers and those who already find themselves flailing neck deep in lyrical prose passages and story arc. Although tongue-in-cheek at times, there are abundant kernels of wisdom. My only disappointment is that I was never fortunate enough to try my hand at enrolling and surviving one of his classes.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
An Exception in its Genre
By Vazhaspa Spitman
I found this book beyond my expectations, showing the pitfalls I had experienced directly, and echoing what I warned my colleagues and students. It is in fact not just a guide for a "young" novice trying to be a novelist but a critical advice for even the professional or the elitist who may easily forget about the magic of writing, or as Gardner puts it, neglect the magical job of creating an incessant vivid "dream" in the minds of the readers,not interrupted by anything. In this regard, the book is really exceptional in its genre.
It warns the writer not to forget about the entertaining/ charming core of story-writing, or not to be mesmerized by the elitist or critics' approach. Even though language is very important it should not be overdone unless you want your story or characters being devoured by the dragon of a bombastic language; and even though technique is a significant part of any story-writing it should not be so heavy to crash the story by overloaded trite tropes or superficial symbolism ... The book is not a writing-made-easy, but rather about the hard work of acute observation, years of hard-work, revising and constant editing until it turns into a satisfactory work of art. It is, however, a WORK not just piece of art!
I read the book with an aesthetic joy ... And I think any writer would find the book quite useful and enjoyable even if it just crystalizes what you have directly experienced or learned as a professional writer!
P.S. Perhaps the only drawback I found in the book is in the middle when the author, explaining the mystery of "epiphany" resorts to an example from his own novel and goes with a long descriptive interpretation of the denouement. But this few pages seem rather like a digression and it is not so negative to make me demote the book by giving it four star!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
98.27% Great advice
By CMB
I enjoyed reading Gardner's advice for young novelists. I found some of his advice somewhat antiquated in comparison to advice of contemporary writers. This book would be better described as a way to write a literary masterpiece few will ever read, but who cares since good fiction is rarely recognized until it's either beyond superb or so easily predictably digestible that it'll be on every bestseller list around. Oh.....and don't give up.
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