Letters to a Young Writer - Book Review (July 2018)

Disclosure: This blog post contains some links to books on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

For our July Book Review, I once again ventured to the "new book" section of my local library. I had a mental checklist of what I wanted: relatively new, non-fiction, on writing fiction, not too familiar with the author, something you and I would both find interesting, etc.

Given that I basically choose this book at random, I didn't have the highest expectations. But surprisingly, I found this book to be a real gem. I thought it was fantastic and one I would highly recommend for new writers.

Letters to a Young Writer 

by Colum McCann 

Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann is a series of 52 letters (or essays if you prefer) on writing. I think McCann best describes this book in the introduction:

"This, then, is not a Writer's Manual. Nor is it, I hope, a rant. It's more a whisper while out walking in the park, something else I like to do with my students at times. I imagined it as a word in the ear of a young writer, though it could, I suppose, be a series of letters to any writer, not least myself." (Pages xvi-xvii)

The book's 52 letters are filled with imagery, poetic language, thoughts, contradictions, and musings, as McCann tries to explain the writing process. Each letter is aptly titled and gives a different thought on writing: Your First Line, The Terror of the White Page, Carry a Notebook, How to Get An Agent, To MFA or Not to MFA, etc. 

The letters are short, easy reads that range from 3 words long, to 7 pages. The letters can each be read individually. This is a great book to get, read a little, put on the shelf and pull out when you need a bit of inspiration or have a question about a specific writing issue.

The book is great for "young writers" (i.e. beginner writers of all ages) who are just starting out. It offers the encouragement, explanation, advise, insight, etc. that beginner writers need to get over those mental and emotional stumbling blocks of the writing process.

For more experienced writers, you may find that this book is filled with things you've already heard before. But MaCann present these old ideas in a humorous, hopefully inspiring and motivating way. Just because we've heard it before, doesn't mean we listened the first time. This book has a lot of offer even the experienced writer.

Some takeaways from: 
Letters to a Young Writer 

With each month's book review, I share with you some of the things from the book I thought most interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring, that will hopefully help you with your own writing. (And things I certainly will be thinking about in my own.)

Every letter has a helpful bit of advice

I originally wanted to compile a list of the letters I thought were most helpful, useful or said the same thing I've been saying for years. But it got to the point where I was basically just listing the table of contents. 

I can't really summarize a few takeaways because the book is overflowing with helpful advice. (And certainly, different parts will be more or less meaningful to different writers.)

So all I can say is, pick up a copy from your Local Library or Amazon. It will be worth the read. 

McCann's Poetic Inspiration

Photo of Rainer Maria Rilke

This book was inspired, in part, by Letters to a Young Poet (original title, in German: Briefe an einen jungen Dichter). Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters written by the famous Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus, a 19-year-old officer cadet at the Theresian Military Academy.

In the letters, Rilke shares advice on writing poetry and how life inspires one's poetry. 

In the introduction to this book, McCann talks about how he personally had been inspired by Rikle's writings and how he uses it in his writing classes. And, we see a lot of Rilke's poetic writing style in McCann's own writing.  

Certainly, you don't want to copy someone's writing completely. But it can be helpful to take inspiration from another writer's narrative, form, or style. Some of the greatest works of literature are highly influenced by and derivative of other great works. 

This is part of the reason why I wanted to share a monthly book review. One of the biggest sources of inspiration and guidance as writers is other good books. So, read, read, read. 

Epigraphs

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the use of epigraphs at the start of each letter. (Epigraphs are short, little quotes or poems at the beginning of a chapter or section. The epigraph usually comments on that section's theme.) 

With non-fiction, epigraphs can help to bolster the writer's creditability, trustworthiness & authority (AKA the writer's ethos). They can affect two things: how we view the author, and how we view their content. 

In this book, McCann uses epigraphs to show that there are other people (all experienced writers, in various stages of their career, and through history) that have commented on the same topic and share the McCann's ideas. And therefore, this is not just some of McCann's personal theories, but there are support and agreement from other expert writers.

McCann also uses epigraphs to show he is well versed in literature and creative writing, which helps to bolster his authority to speak on this topic. For example, McCann quoted Anne Lamott in his epigraphs. Lamott's book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, is a classic writing book that is often required reading for creative writing classes. (Lamott's chapter title "Shitty First Drafts" is one of my personal writing mottos.) Lamott & her book is the kind of thing that any good teacher of creative writing should be familiar with. And McCann proves that he is. 

McCann also quotes Annie Dillard, whose book, A Writer's Life, is another popular required reading. And many of the other writers, McCann quoted, are fairly well-known, instantly recognizable names (e.g. Virginia Woolf, Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway). 

Of the names I didn't recognize, a simple google search showed that they are also experienced, successful writers. Many were fairly new writers, who only just published their best-selling work in the last decade. So, McCann also shows he's very up-to-date. And the fact he's quoting people I'm not familiar with, but are successful writers, is definitely a plus. I can't help but feel like he's better read than me. And that is exactly the kind of person you want giving you writing advice. (It also helps that McCann has written a number of award-winning books, and has been teaching MFA Creative Writing for over a decade.)

Speaking of Epigraphs

Our last Royal Novelist Adventure focused on the importance of research. And as we just talked about how McCann used quotes from other authors to support his claims, I thought I would share one from McCann on the topic of research:

"We must give ourselves access to more than one voice. And we must do so honesty and fairly. But how do we write about lives that are, at least on the surface, very different from our own? How can we create experiences that are imagined but true? How do we get outside of ourselves?

Some of the answer lies in proper deep, moral research." (Pages 66-67) 

While this is a Royal-themed writing blog, I'm sure most of us live very different lives than the Royals. Part of the reason I have this blog is to share my research with you so you can use it in your own writing. We do, after all, hope our writing can be, in the eyes of the readers at least, "imagined, but true."

He vs. She

As a bit of the feminist, I have to take a moment to point out one of McCann's writing choices. Historically, the gender-neutral third-person pronoun has been "he." But, there has been a growing movement over the last century to use other pronouns (he/she, she, they, zhe, E, etc.) so that the gender-neutral third-person pronoun isn't male by default. In this book, McCann alternates between using "he" and "she" as a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. For example:

McCann describes "the writer" as a "she" throughout his book: 

"A writer is an explorer. She knows she wants to get somewhere, but she doesn't know if the somewhere even exists yet. It is still to be created. A Galápagos of the imagination. A whole new theory of who we are." (Page 11)

McCann then uses "he/his/him" to describe a (literary) agent:

"Your agent should be on your side. If he is not, then remember that you are his employer and fire him. Excuse me? Fire him, I said, fire him. (But not untill you've found another agent.)" (Page 104)

Wheather you decide to alternate between "he" and "she," use "they," or some other pronoun, be conscious about what you do. 

HSH Princess Grace of Monaco 
(AKA Grace Kelly)

Photo Credit: By Hans Peters / Anefo

While I wasn't expecting to find a book on writing with a royal connection, McCann actually has a connection to the Monaco Royal Family. In 2002, McCann received the inaugural Ireland Fund of Monaco Literary Award. The award was created in Princess Grace's memory to mark the 20th Anniversary of Her Serene Highness's death. The award includes a month-long residency at The Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco.

McCann was presented the award by HSH Prince Albert II (the monarch of Monaco and Princess Grace's only son) at a special gala dinner. 

Princess Grace's paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants. And Princess Grace had a strong love of Ireland. McCann was born in Ireland, and definitely has an Irish influence in his book if you look closely. 

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