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On Becoming a Novelist Reprint Edition

by John Gardner (Author), Raymond Carver (Foreword)

246 ratings

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"One of the greatest creative writing teachers we've ever had." ―Frederick Busch

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 handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession. "A miraculously detailed account of the creative process."―Anne Tyler, Baltimore Sun

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ISBN-10

0393320030
ISBN-13

978-0393320039
Edition

Reprint
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

October 17, 1999
Language

English
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.5 x 8.3 inches
Print length

172 pages

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Editorial Reviews

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"

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 1999
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 172 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393320030
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393320039
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.3 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #402,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21 in Authorship Reference
- #71 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
- #278,238 in Literature & Fiction (Books)
Customer Reviews:
246 ratings

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John Gardner

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John Gardner (1933–1982) was born in Batavia, New York. His critically acclaimed books include the novels Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues, and October Light, for which he received the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as several works of nonfiction and criticism such as On Becoming a Novelist. He was also a professor of medieval literature and a pioneering creative writing teacher whose students included Raymond Carver and Charles Johnson.

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Customer reviews

246 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book beautifully written and a joy to read, offering tons of help for emerging writers and providing blunt observations on the usefulness of its content. Moreover, they appreciate its authenticity, with one customer noting it passes along many pearls of wisdom, while another highlights its full consciousness of the writer. Additionally, the book receives positive feedback for its realism, with one review emphasizing how vivid detail is the lifeblood of fiction. However, customers disagree about the book's dated content.

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Writing style Advice Readability Authenticity Author's character Author's style Realism Dated content

20 customers mention "Writing style"18 positive2 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, describing it as beautifully written and a concrete study of writing's symphony of syntax, particularly beneficial for creative prose writers and emerging authors.

"The best book on writing I've ever run across, except for maybe The Art of Fiction, by the same author." Read more

"superbly written and useful, informative and finely wrought. G Kossow a joy to read and more to read twice." Read more

"...Beautifully written and easy to read." Read more

"One of my favorite books about writing. I have taken so many quotes from this." Read more

15 customers mention "Advice"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and helpful, providing blunt observations on the usefulness of its content, with one customer specifically noting useful information about editors and publishing.

"...It is informative, though sometimes rambling, and author self-indulgent (Gardner uses his own pieces to highlight some of his points)...." Read more

"...Gardner himself was a prolific author, educator, and curmudgeonous guardian of art expressed via perfectly selected words...." Read more

"It's an excellent resource and offers tons of help for emerging writers trying to break in. BUT remember that it's not the bible...." Read more

"...The wisdom and guidance given in this book is extremely helpful...." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"10 positive1 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable to read, with one noting it's easy to read and another mentioning it's worth twenty tomes on archetypes.

"...G Kossow a joy to read and more to read twice." Read more

"...Overall I enjoyed reading the book, stayed up late to finish it...." Read more

"...While "On Becoming a Novelist" is a decent read, I found the content somewhat disengaging making the book, overall, hard pressed to keep my attention." Read more

"This is a must read for anyone thinking of making a living from writing fiction...." Read more

7 customers mention "Authenticity"6 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the authenticity of the book, with one noting it passes along many pearls of wisdom.

"...Nature, Training and Education, Publication and Survival and, lastly, Faith...." Read more

"...Still, Gardner's advice is generous and convincing, yet never totalizing...." Read more

"Read it years ago. Just wanted it with me. Still true,even in digital form." Read more

"...of short stories, his advice to the would-be novelist is searing, honest, and accurate...." Read more

6 customers mention "Author's character"5 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the author's character development in the book, with one customer noting how it captures the full consciousness of the writer, while another mentions how it beautifully conveys the feeling of being a writer.

"...Gardner himself was a prolific author, educator, and curmudgeonous guardian of art expressed via perfectly selected words...." Read more

"John Gardner loves honest writers and is courageous to light the path for those who wish to get on that journey...." Read more

"...tips or strategies for plotting, rather it is about the full conciousness of the writer...." Read more

"John Gardner captures the feeling of being a writer so beautifully. Love this book!" Read more

5 customers mention "Author's style"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's writing style, with one noting that the best stories are always enchanting, while another finds the final chapter on creative faith particularly inspiring.

"John Gardner has a keen awareness of what makes a great novelist and how to parse the great from the merely mediocre...." Read more

"...I found most useful in writing my first novel, On Becoming a Novelist was the most inspiring. I will reread this book over and over again...." Read more

"...He describes the ideal novelist in humanistic terms and outlines various qualities and characteristics a true novelist should have...." Read more

"...some helpful pointers on editors and publishing, and a nice final chapter on creative faith...." Read more

4 customers mention "Realism"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the realism of the book, with one noting that vivid detail is the lifeblood of fiction.

"...He doesn't sugarcoat, keeps it real, and probably my best part of this book is the last paragraph, where he describes writing "is not so much a..." Read more

"...Here's how Gardner puts it, "...vivid detail is the life blood of fiction. ......" Read more

"...It is a realistic view of the qualities and training necessary for the task." Read more

"...More realistic than fantasy, John Gardner lays the groundwork on what you can really expect from a writing career; hard work that is endless, tiring..." Read more

3 customers mention "Dated content"1 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's dated content.

"...The four stars I give this book, is because it's a tad outdated and John Gardner had a very era specific view about the publishing world and things..." Read more

"This is the most recent book I've read and probably the one that had the biggest direct impact on my writing...." Read more

"Difficult read. Very dated...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

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Steven Reynolds
Buy this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2003
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you want to start writing fiction, or improve what you're already writing, then buy this book. There's really nothing more to say. Gardner's slim volume is worth twenty tomes on archetypes and story structures and channeling your inner child. Those things are important, but for the most part they can take care of themselves. The strength of Gardner's approach is that he gets straight down to the serious business of putting words on the page and figuring out if you're the kind of person who's good at it. Drawing examples from his own writing and experience as a teacher, he describes what he sees as the "writer's nature" (verbal facility, accuracy of vision, a particular kind of intelligence, and a daemonic compulsiveness), gives some blunt observations on the usefulness (or otherwise) of creative writing workshops, some helpful pointers on editors and publishing, and a nice final chapter on creative faith. My only reservation is that he comes down quite heavily on the side of realism. "Good writers may 'tell' almost anything in fiction except the characters' feelings," he maintains (p.33). Certainly, a lot of bad writing is bad because it "tells" rather than "shows", but I think one of the great beauties and values of prose fiction is precisely that it can take us inside the minds characters and make legible what they are REFUSING to show. Ironically, this often provides a much greater fidelity to 'real life' than the strikingly un-lifelike practice of levering arcane metaphors into place to represent, externally, a character's mental or emotional experience. If prose fiction isn't allowed to recount a character's inner life, then what value does it have over film and television - two forms which Gardner seems to decry? Still, Gardner's advice is generous and convincing, yet never totalizing. You get the distinct impression that if you totally disagreed with everything he said, and yet still wrote good fiction, he'd be nothing less than delighted for you. Now that's a good teacher.

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Kathryn
Fantastic way to "know" whether this "writing gig" is or is not for you!
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
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.

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18 people found this helpful

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ian
You're creating a movie in someone's head — make it come alive with detail.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is the most recent book I've read and probably the one that had the biggest direct impact on my writing.

Here's how Gardner puts it, "...vivid detail is the life blood of fiction. ... The reader is regularly presented with proofs—in the form of closely observed details—that what is said to be happening is really happening."

That is, when a floor board creaks for no apparent reason, when the wind whistles, and the author does up his sweater, the one with three buttons, not four, whose threads have worn through at the elbows, it's because they're helping you imagine the story in your mind. Guiding you through details, small puzzle pieces, that you put together to form a picture, a running movie.

It is not because the writer is verbose or likes to hear himself speak (though, this writer may sometimes like exactly that), or because he wishes to bore you, but precisely because he does not want to bore you, that those added details, those ostensibly pointless facts of a story, are there.

If you're looking to get at the heart of writing, this book is for you.

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Ron Baxter
Read it
Reviewed in Canada on October 14, 2024
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Buy it read apply

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Kindle Customer
Very enjoyable and informative
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Excellent book written by a well established author.

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J.J.N.
Great book!
Reviewed in Germany on January 15, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
If you want to read the truth and nothing but the truth about writing, then this is the right book for you. This not a book that tells you "how" to write but the one that tells you "why" to write. It is more like an emotional and spiritual guide for those who want to write, who are lost in their own writing, or who need a nice kick back to their writing tables.
So if you are looking for technique tips or stylistic advises - yes, there are some, but not exclusively.
A book that in my humble opinion, everyone who thinks he can write, or who wants to write should read!
I could have given 10 stars to it if there was this option.

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Carole C.
Parfait
Reviewed in France on September 14, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Livraison dans les temps, livre conforme à la description. Parfait !

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dmt001
A LOT of good advice!
Reviewed in Germany on August 14, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
There were a lot of good tips in this book, but it's a bit dated in its language (assuming, for instance, that a novelist is male and young in most of the text). I had read other books on writing craft, and I can honestly say that this is the best I've read so far. The observations on what makes readers love stories and advice on how to avoid and combat writer's block are invaluable. There will be parts that some modern readers won't be able to relate to, but overall, I would advise anyone who wants to write novels to read this book and afterward, consult it often.

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