“A writer’s job is to imagine everything so personally
that the fiction is as vivid as memories.” ~ John Irving
that the fiction is as vivid as memories.” ~ John Irving
A Tip from John Irving
8 thoughts on “A Tip from John Irving”
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Tracy Abell 
A memoirist’s job is to make her intimate experiences relateable, to write truth as vivid as fiction.
Or something like that. 🙂
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I like your take on this, Melodye. You do have a different task ahead of you yet it’s a variation of the same theme: we all need to write vividly.
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Yes! And also: To write our stories true, even as we tell them slant.
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Another excellent take. You’re on a roll, sister!
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Ooh – nice quote. Got to attend a reading of his once, and he’s dead sexy. And an excellent reader. His manner of writing is intense, though – he prewrites for years, if memory serves.
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I went to one of his readings, too, and agree he’s pretty amazing. You’re correct about the pre-writing. He believes if a writer doesn’t know everything before starting that they’re nothing more than a common liar. Ouch.
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You know, that’s the best writing advice I’ve ever heard and this is the first time I’ve ever heard it put so succinctly.
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Isn’t it great? It helped keep me on the beam yesterday, I tell you. I found it in FOR WRITERS ONLY by Sophy Burnham.
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