- Hardcover: 235 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (3 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0062736396
- ISBN-13: 978-0062736390
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14 x 3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,903,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
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"Twenty-three writers who share one thing here open their lives to you, writing about what they have pinned all their hopes to and for which they have given everything. What they share is the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the most famous writing school in the world.
"To Iowa come teachers like Vonnegut, John Cheever, and Phillip Roth. From it come writers like John Irving, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Ethan Canin. Read this book and you will understand why."-- James Salter"The selections in "The Eleventh Draft" provide unparalleled insights into the writing process. Some are impassioned, some cool, all are eloquent and lucid. This is a book anyone interested in the creative process should own."?? Robert Stone
Product Description
One of the Oldest and most distinguished writing programs in the nation, the Iowa Writers' Workshop has produced some of the greatest American writers of this century. Now for the first time, director Frank Conroy gathers together essays on writing from 25 of the workshop's celebrated faculty and students. Contributors include Charles D'Ambrosio, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Ethan Canin, Justin Cronin, Stuart Dybek, Deborah Eisenberg, Tom Grimes, Doris Grumbach, Barry Hannah, James Hynes, William Lashner, Margot Livesey, Elizabeth McCracken, Chris Offut, Jayne Anne Phillips, Susan Power, Francine Prose, James Salter, Scott Spencer, Marilynne Robinson, Abraham Verghese, and Geoffrey Wolff. An eclectic mix of essays on both craft and living the writing life, The Eleventh Draft is essential reading on writing from the best in the business.
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5 reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
A Worthwhile Read for Prose Writers
5 Oct 1999
Format:Hardcover
A compilation of essays from former students and teachers of the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, editor Frank Conroy's book The Eleventh Draft attempts to capture the essence of the writer's life. "These essays," Conroy notes in the introduction, "are written by people who struggle with both the visible and invisible realities of language every day of their lives." Consequently, authors including Stuart Dybek, Elizabeth McCracken, and Barry Hannah reflect on the unique nature of their profession. The tone varies wildly; while authors such as William Lashner and Justin Cronin write in a deeply personal manner, Scott Spencer and James Alan McPherson give more detached, less introspective observations. This variance renders some essays less affecting than others, but most are engaging, thoughtful pieces. Despite such a lofty goal this book is an overall success, a testament to Conroy's faith in his selected writers (evidenced in his "deliberately vague" instructions for each contributing author) as well as the authors' individual talents. Those looking for pragmatic tips should look elsewhere. However, prose writers seeking both inspiration and insight should find this book both valuable and enjoyable.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Charming
9 May 2000
Format:Hardcover
Elizabeth McCracken, Stuart Dybek, and Tom Grimes deliver the best here (in my opinion), but the other essays are worth reading. There is throughout the book a shared love of writing--even at its most frustrating and formdible. The title, The Eleventh Draft, is a gentle nudge to the rest of us that God is in the revisions; that no one--not even the best (and these writers are good)--writes easily or quickly, and that the process of writing is just as meaningful as the result (even if nobody ever sees your 11th draft but you). :-)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The Writing Life
15 Mar 2009
Format:Hardcover
I got this book because I'm a T.C. Boyle fan and wanted to know about his background.
However, I find myself drawn to a very amusing piece from writer William Lashner, who vividly portrays the difference from the writer's life he expected and the one he actually lives.
We meet him in his first "run" at sport fishing: "...my muscles ripping off the elbow, my feet slipping in the blood, my seasick patch shaking loose. Through it all one thought kept hammering at my skull: Hemingway was a jerk."
It builds from there as he shares his path to the Iowa Writers Workshop:
"So I'm sitting home, alone, watching reruns of "F-Troop," when a voice comes out of my television and asks if I'm desperate for a change. Of course I am desperate for a change. Who watching reruns of "F-Troop" isn't desperate for a change?"
He takes us into his experience with the page and how it transforms over time. He discoveres that once he's abut 100 pages into writing a novel, something changes. That's when the novel's voice takes over. "I have to slog a bit, waiting for the manuscript to start whispering in my ear."
"When I start, it is an act of faith, hoping it will come, not certain that it will but certain that if I don't begin it won't ever....it brings with it not merely its own voice but an entire world, the world of my fiction."
Lashner had expected summers on Sidney Sheldon's yacht, great applause, cruise wear. And what he got was a relationship.
"I haven't given up all aspirations to the glorious fun I had lusted for as a boy. I remember reading how Fitzgerald and Faulkner prostituted themselves to Hollywood and my first thought was, 'How about me?'"
This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
However, I find myself drawn to a very amusing piece from writer William Lashner, who vividly portrays the difference from the writer's life he expected and the one he actually lives.
We meet him in his first "run" at sport fishing: "...my muscles ripping off the elbow, my feet slipping in the blood, my seasick patch shaking loose. Through it all one thought kept hammering at my skull: Hemingway was a jerk."
It builds from there as he shares his path to the Iowa Writers Workshop:
"So I'm sitting home, alone, watching reruns of "F-Troop," when a voice comes out of my television and asks if I'm desperate for a change. Of course I am desperate for a change. Who watching reruns of "F-Troop" isn't desperate for a change?"
He takes us into his experience with the page and how it transforms over time. He discoveres that once he's abut 100 pages into writing a novel, something changes. That's when the novel's voice takes over. "I have to slog a bit, waiting for the manuscript to start whispering in my ear."
"When I start, it is an act of faith, hoping it will come, not certain that it will but certain that if I don't begin it won't ever....it brings with it not merely its own voice but an entire world, the world of my fiction."
Lashner had expected summers on Sidney Sheldon's yacht, great applause, cruise wear. And what he got was a relationship.
"I haven't given up all aspirations to the glorious fun I had lusted for as a boy. I remember reading how Fitzgerald and Faulkner prostituted themselves to Hollywood and my first thought was, 'How about me?'"
This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
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