Although entertaining, Murakami seemed to be dodging half the questions and giving snotty answers to the other half. Murakami should have received a negative score for his highly evasive answers.

Most authors scored at least one point, although a few did not. The results: Aleksander Hemon scored the highest with 21, Jennifer Egan had 12 points, and Andrew Sean Greer, Tayari Jones, and Chris Abani tied with 5 each. It would be a way to discover my next favorite author, I hoped. I tallied answers I found to be good (1 point) and those which were right-on (2 points). Wouldn't dream of it.'Ī little way into the book, I decided to keep a score sheet. 'Absolutely,' answers one writer, while the next replies to the same question, 'No. The Secret Miracle destroys any hope that there is one method to write. And when it doesn't work for the reader, the newbie author is to assume they are doing something wrong. Many books on the subject repeat these tips, telling the reader the most conducive way to write. find a quite place, stick with a routine, keep a journal, etc. From Writing 101, aspiring authors are told to do this or that-i.e. What I found most appealing about this book was the variation in answers. A question is presented to the group about the process of writing a novel, and writers chime in with honest and thoughtful answers. Imagine a round table discussion with 54 well-known and fabulous writers: Aleksandar Hemon, Claire Messud, Rick Moody, Stephen King, Gary Shteyngart, Daniel Handler, Haruki Murakami, and so forth. Paul Auster, Roddy Doyle, Allegra Goodman, Aleksandar Hemon, Mario Vargas Llosa, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, Daniel Alarcón, and others take us step by step through the alchemy of writing fiction, answering everything from nuts-and-bolts queries-'Do you outline?'-to perennial questions posed by writers and readers alike: 'What makes a character compelling?'įrom Stephen King's deadpan distinction between novels and short stories ('Novels are longer and have more s**t in them') to Colm Toibin's anti-romanticized take on his characters ('They are just words') to José Manuel Prieto's mature perspective on the anxieties of influence ('Influences are felt or weigh you down more when young'), every page contains insights found nowh. The world's best contemporary writers-from Michael Chabon and Claire Messud to Jonathan Lethem and Amy Tan-engage in a wide-ranging, insightful, and oft- surprising roundtable discussion on the art of writing fictionĭrawing back the curtain on the mysterious process of writing novels, The Secret Miracle brings together the foremost practitioners of the craft to discuss how they write.

The Secret Miracle by Daniel Alarcón