In this episode of Writer's Workshop, Irving analyzes his methods as a writer, including his unusual technique of writing last things first. "I have to write last sentences," he explains, "in order to get a viewpoint or voice for the rest of the work. How do you know how to begin a story if you don't know who's dead at the end of it?" Family relationships are the most important, and even a small town becomes a family. He talks about fueling the writing - success, wealth and anger are all types of fuel.
As regards a writing career, Irving noted that there was no serious evidence that he could do anything else but write. Considering The World According to Garp, he observed that your books are like your children and you have to face the fact that some of them are going to be more likeable, more successful than others. Even so, you love them all and have a hard time figuring out why ones are more appreciated than the others. Irving noted that vivid and precise language makes the text memorable. Irving finds it irritating that if something came out of his imagination and seemed so real, some might think that it hadn’t been made up. “Our imagination is our best tool, we are fiction writers.” Irving talks about first novel syndrome, where you can eke out that first novel, but that second novel is more difficult. He describes meditating and concentrating on one character and one scene. His credo is that he has the prose for the story, as to how it is going to end before he writes it. Words instruct the reader, voice, tone and point of view.
Side Notes:
- John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
- Setting Free the Bears (Random House, 1968)
- The Water-Method Man (Random House, 1972)
- The 158-Pound Marriage (Random House 1974)
- The Hotel New Hampshire (Dutton, 1981)
- The World According to Garp (Dutton, 1978)
- July 23: 1982 release of Robin Williams movie The World According To Garp, based off the novel.
- The Cider House Rules (William Morrow, 1985)
- A Prayer for Owen Meany (William Morrow, 1989)
- A Son of the Circus (Random House, 1994)
- A Widow for One Year (Random House, 1994)
- September 7, 1999 release of The Cider House Rules (Venice)
- December 10, 1999 release of The Cider House Rules (in the US)
- The Fourth Hand (Random House, 2001)
- Until I Find You (Random House, 2001)
- July 14: 2004 release of The Door in the Floor, based off A Widow for One Year.
- Last Night in a Twisted River (Random House 2009)
- In One Person (Simon & Schuster, 2012)
- The Avenue of Mysteries (Simon & Schuster, 2015)
- The Last Chairlift (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
