Read more
A Spectator Best Book of the Year
'This book is a wry, critical friend to both writer and reader. It is filled with cogent examples and provoking statements. You will agree or quarrel with each page, and be a sharper writer and reader by the end.' Hilary Mantel
'There are three rules for writing a novel,' Somerset Maugham once said. 'Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.'
So how to bring characters to life, find a voice, kill your darlings, avoid plagiarism (or choose not to), or run that most challenging of literary gauntlets-writing a good sex scene?
Veteran editor and author Richard Cohen takes us on a fascinating excursion into the lives and minds of our greatest writers-from Balzac and Eliot to Woolf and Nabokov, through to Zadie Smith and Stephen King, with a few mischievous detours to Tolstoy along the way. In a glittering tour d'horizon, he lays bare their tricks, motivations, techniques, obsessions and flaws.
About the author
Der fünfmalige englische Fechtmeister Richard Cohen arbeitete in verschiedenen amerikanischen Verlagen, bevor er Richard Cohen Books gründete. Zudem schreibt er u.a. für die New York Times, den Guardian und den Daily Telegraph. Er lebt in New York.
Summary
The Spectator Best Book of the Year and a charming, eloquent love letter to the stories we adore
Report
'Provides amazing insight into the working methods, techniques, tricks and flaws of some of the greatest writers in literary history...An engrossing read for bibliophiles and lovers of literature as much as aspiring writers.'
New European
