The Writer December 2013

DURING THE FINAL STAGES of putting together each issue of this magazine, I am almost always surprised by a theme that stealthily slips into my consciousness as if secretly hired by the powerful collective wisdom of the writers gathered in these 50-some pages. Our editors believed we were knitting together stories in this issue about “the truth” about nonfiction writing – and yes, the predominance of these stories address those “truths” (shall we say). Pat Olsen’s investigation of the rules of personal essays, Alissa Quart’s reportorial training employed for a book about community outsiders, Kelly James-Enger’s tips on finding anecdotal sources for articles and both Nancy K. Miller’s and Jesmyn Ward’s observations on memoir. There it is: a treasure trove of nonfiction craft stories. But within each of the stories…

Four years from now, Jane Austen fans around the world will race to get hold of England’s new 10-pound note, which will feature a portrait of the author. Other writers have been depicted on currency in the past, such as the Brothers Grimm and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and others still do, including Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century Mexican poet who wrote what has been called the first feminist manifesto. Sor Juana, as she is known, has been on Mexico’s 200-pesos note since 1996. Time has muddied the waters of historical accuracy, and accounts of Sor Juana’s life read like the work of a novelist who can’t decide how to let the plot play out. What is clear is that she was a woman who could give…

Chang-rae Lee is a novelist and a professor of creative writing at Princeton University. Lee was born in Korea and moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of 3. He has won many awards for his writing, including the PEN/Hemmingway Award in 1995 for his debut novel Native Speaker, and he was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for his novel The Surrendered. Lee’s fiction is characterized by spare yet weighty prose that often depicts protagonists dealing with isolation and displacement. His latest novel On Such a Full Sea will be published in 2014. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU’VE LEARNED ABOUT WRITING? It’s impossible to boil anything down about writing to the “most important” notion, but one of the things that has…

Founded in 1933, Kirkus has been one of the most recognizable and respected voices in the book world for 80 years. Kirkus Reviews magazine gives industry professionals a sneak peek at the books we read and the books we write. We asked Kirkus chief operating officer Meg LaBorde Kuehn to reflect on the history and mission of one of the industry’s tastemakers. Kirkus has been a bastion of the reading and writing world for nearly a century. What’s the biggest change in the company’s mission over the years? Remarkably, our mission has changed very little over the past 80 years. When she retired in 1963, Virginia Kirkus said of the company, “We are idealists. We love books.” Today, that sentiment still guides our business. We believe our brand will thrive…

I can never seem to get past the first draft. I know revising is important, but I just don’t know how to start, and I’m really dreading it. Help? The first draft can be an exhilarating experience. You’re learning about your characters, their circumstances and the conflict. You’re inventing scenes and settings. You’re immersed in that first flush of creation. During revision, you drive toward your intentions with more focus. Revision doesn’t have to be a hard slog. If the first draft is like frolicking in a meadow on a sunny day, the revision process is like flying a kite in that same sunny meadow. In the latter, your task is more defined, but there are still plenty of delights. Revision is an opportunity to delve deeper into your intentions…

’Tis the season for gift giving. We asked six authors with recently published novels to offer tips – as gifts to aspiring writers. “Believe. If you truly believe in your story, you will edit it ruthlessly and polish every line until the whole is as perfect as you can make it.” —Brenda Novak, Take Me Home for Christmas “Always put the book you’re writing first. Your work in progress should come before marketing and promotion. Your work in progress should come before answering email. No matter where you are in your career, the book is always the most important thing.” —Bella Andre, Kissing Under the Mistletoe “Simply write. We can talk about our dreams, spend copious amounts of time plotting our novels, even make up sheets of goals, but what…