The Art of Fiction No. 93
“Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.”
Novelist John Irving, né John Wallace Blunt Jr., was born in 1942 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Irving was nominated for the National Book Award three times, winning in 1980 for his novel The World According to Garp (1978). He also received an O. Henry Award for the short story “Interior Space” in 1981, an Oscar for the film adaptation of The Cider House Rules (1985) in 1999, and a Lambda Literary Award for In One Person (2012) in 2013. Irving is known for his darkly humorous, complex story lines, through which he explores his own life experiences as well as universal themes of history and fate. Irving has authored fourteen novels, including A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), A Widow for One Year (1998), Until I Find You (2005), and Avenue of Mysteries (2015). He currently resides in Toronto.
“Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.”
What follows are the authors’ discussions on the first stirrings, the germination of a poem, or a work of fiction. Any number of headings would be appropriate: Beginnings, The Starting Point, etc. Inspiration would be as good as any.