Defusing the Writer’s Myth
Once upon a time, it was not permitted for the common person to hear services of worship in his own language, to read or understand scripture for him- or herself. Those days are long gone, of course, although similar principles prevail among certain lawyers, cosmeticians, plumbers, and loan sharks who would have you believe you are entirely incapable of doing fill-in-the-blank yourself.
At the Texas Book Festival, a handful of panels that explored writers’ practices summarily dismissed the idea that their process belongs to an exalted few, extolling instead the virtues of simple, stubborn persistence. At two panels, Character-Driven Fiction and Writers on Reading (presented by publisher Vintage/Anchor), literary stalwarts such as Francine Prose (nominee for the National Book Award) and Ann Packer (The Dive From Clausen’s Pier) laid plain the doubt and consternation that they encounter daily. In the words of Andrew Sean Greer (The Story of a Marriage): “We’d like you to think we’re transcribing the voice of some angel up above, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s hard work.” These authors attested time and again that they are like wanderers stumbling in the dark, guided by dim forms of character and setting that lead them in constant uncertainty, skepticism even, to an eventual, hopeful resolution. In the best case, said Carmen Tafolla (The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans) at Saturday’s Evoking a Sense of Place panel, a writer “let[s] the characters invent themselves.”
There’s an irony there, that an author faces such discomfort and ambiguity in order to produce a piece of art that will make the reader feel solid and reassured in its embrace. But this contradiction is key to the process, according to Packer, who said, “To write without knowing is terrifying and necessary.” No less an authority than Prose revealed, “It’s not until the last sentence, the last word on the last page, that I know I won’t have to tear up the whole draft – that it works.” Humble words from one so prolific. They discover through the writing itself, it seems, whether a character will turn out to be believable, whether the action in a story will come together in a meaningful way – whether the train they follow leads anywhere at all. – Elizabeth Jackson
This article appears in November 7 • 2008.
