The Secret Miracle: The Novelist's Handbook

by Daniel Alarcón (Editor)

The world's best contemporary writers―from Michael Chabon and Claire Messud to Jonathan Lethem and Amy Tan―engage in a wide-ranging, insightful, and oft- surprising roundtable discussion on the art of writing fiction

Drawing back the curtain on the mysterious process of writing novels, The Secret Miracle brings together the foremost practitioners of the craft to discuss how they write. Paul Auster, Roddy Doyle, Allegra Goodman, Aleksandar Hemon, Mario Vargas Llosa, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, Daniel Alarcón, and others take us step by step through the alchemy of writing fiction, answering everything from nuts-and-bolts queries―"Do you outline?"―to perennial questions posed by writers and readers alike: "What makes a character compelling?"

From Stephen King's deadpan distinction between novels and short stories ("Novels are longer and have more s**t in them") to Colm Toibin's anti-romanticized take on his characters ("They are just words") to José Manuel Prieto's mature perspective on the anxieties of influence ("Influences are felt or weigh you down more when young"), every page contains insights found nowhere else.

With honesty, humor, and elegance, The Secret Miracle gives both aspiring writers and lovers of literature a master class in the art of writing.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts, Essays

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Daniel Alarcón’s fiction and nonfiction have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, Virginia Quarterly Review, Salon, Eyeshot and elsewhere. He is Associate Editor of Etiqueta Negra, an award-winning monthly magazine based in his native Lima, Peru. His story collection, War by Candlelight, was a finalist for the 2006 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award, and the British journal Granta recently named him one of the Best Young American Novelists. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Fulbright Scholarship (2001), a Whiting Award (2004), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2007). He lives in Oakland, California, and his first novel Lost City Radio was published in February 2007.

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine that you’re given the opportunity to ask God one question. You spend months trying to come up with the perfect one then finally decide to ask, “Hey, what’s your favorite color?” That’s how stupid this book is.

All they had to do was ask 50 writers a bunch of interesting questions about their process, type up their answers, and sew it all together. That’s not rocket science. In fact, a book about rocket science would be ten times more readable.

One of the supposedly fascinating questions in this book was “Do you write your novels in sequence?” That “question” was followed by fives pages of “Yes,” “No,” and “Sometimes.” That’s some scintillating conversation there.

The sad part is that I was actually interested in most of these writers, particularly Daniel Handler, Michael Chabon, Jennifer Egan, A.M. Homes, Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, Haruki Murakami, and Gary Shteyngart.

Unfortunately, the inane interview questions actually made most of them sound pretty boring. I mean, it’s hard to be charming or even useful when you’re answering stupid questions like:

“How conscious of influence are you when you’re writing?”
Possible answer: “Two? What? I don’t know.”
Actual answer from Colm Toibin: “You must be joking. I am conscious only of the sentence I am working on.”

“How important is humor?”
Possible answer: “Very?”
Actual answer from A.M. Homes: “It’s essential, the funnier you are, the more serious you can be.”

“Do you borrow dialogue from conversations you’ve overheard?”
Possible answer: “Sometimes.”
Actual answer from Haruki Murakami: “Never. Real-life conversation is boring.”

The only question that was truly interesting to me was, “What one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you before you began writing your first novel?” That inspired some thought-provoking answers, a few of which I wrote down.

I also liked, “Is there a novel you go back to again and again? If so, why? What does it teach you?” and “How do you measure a successful writing day?” The answers to those questions were so varied and enlightening.

The rest of this book was shit.

[Sam]

interviewer: henlo :3 how do you structure a novel :)

rick moody: oh you just figure it out as you go!

claire messud: sometimes I plan it, sometimes I don’t.

susan choi: I mean, what even is structure anyway?

colm tóibín: IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IMMEDIATELY AND INSTINCTIVELY THEN FUCK YOU. QUIT WRITING. GO TO LAW SCHOOL AND STOP TRYING TO MAKE ART. FUCK YOU FOR ASKING

[Celeste Ng]

This was recommended by a writer friend who picked it up on a whim! It does a great job of dispelling the notion that there's a secret method or formula for writing--each of these authors goes about things in a different way, for different reasons. Helpful to be reminded that there's no one way to write a novel, especially when you're in the middle of things. I plan to filch quotes shamelessly next time I teach The Novel In Progress--it's a great resource for teaching.

[Paula Cappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does a novel happen? Did you ever want to crawl inside a novelist's head and explore what that creative and technical process is like? I found this book at my local library and what a find it is. Because I am a novelist and short story writer, a quick page through the book hooked me. The author asked over 50 novelists a series of questions about their novel writing and their answers are incredibly insightful about their doubts, fears, strategies and experiences. How much research do novelists do? Stephen King and Haruki Murakami claim they do no research. Amy Tan says she does too much from fear of being inaccurate. Anne Enright advises to do the bulk of the research AFTER you've written the novel, not before. How much do novelists know about the plot before they begin? Shelley Jackson says "not a thing." Rick Moody knows "the beginning and something about the end ... discovery is the fun part." Anne Enright "doesn't do plot." Haruki Murakami says he knows "almost nothing" about plot before he begins. And it's not just about writing; it's about how novelists read fiction too. Michael Chabon reads "carefully and with an eye toward theft; always thinking, 'I'd like to try something like that." Want to know about structure and outlines? Colm Toibin only outlines in his head; he finds that making notes about his novel is a way of "wrecking its sanctity." Jonathan Lethem never outlines and avoid putting them into "any kind of sensible order." Cristina Garcia, Stephen King, Susan Choi, Nell Freudenberger, Roddy Doyle, and others do NOT outline either. I can admire these writers who break all the writing rules and still write successful novels. Want to hear how these 50 authors discover and develop characters? Get this book. It's a wealth of thought on the variations of how writers create novels and the personal paths they take to get there.

[Hayden Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. Helps to know some of the authors that are quoted here: it's like reading twelve interviews at once. The questions are useful for dispelling any one-size-fits-all approach to novel writing, and that's the main takeaway: no two writers have the same process. (Which makes the title funny: there is no "secret miracle." Except, I guess, maybe the act of writing.)

I certainly had a great time knowing some to most of the authors included. Not sure I'd have gotten as much out of it if I weren't familiar with the people.

[Jordan Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was love at first sight when I saw the following Borges quote prefacing the introduction:

…like every writer, he measured other men’s virtues by what they had accomplished, yet asked that other men measure him by what he planned someday to do.

Yeah, Jorge had my number on that one.

In a perfect world, all I would do with my life is work with 826 National, a miracle of a nonprofit organization that tutors students from 6-18 in expository and creative writing. To help finance their operations, they build superhero supply stores and Bigfoot Research Institutes. Love.

One of the things they do is gather our favourite authors in a room to have their brains picked by the students, and the folks at 826 realized that folks like you and me might want to see what they had to say. So they made a book, collecting replies from just over fifty authors, organized into what reads like the ultimate roundtable of contemporary novelists. Like who? Like Michael Chabon. And Jonathan Lethem. And Stephen King. And Rick Moody. And Anne Enright. And Haruki f**king Murakami.

Come one, people, when Murakami attaches himself to a project, you know it’s worth your money. He hates talking about process. This book is my new ‘warm-up’, the thing I read for 20 minutes or so before the work starts.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book benefits 826 National (where I work!)

54 authors from all over the world share the details of their writing process in what feels like an intimate conversation together. Authors inside include: Haruki Murakami, Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Ann Enright, Stephen King and so, so many more.

Completely engaging and fun, with an incredibly thoughtful and funny foreword by Daniel Alarcón, pick this one up!

[Stacy Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love borrowing older craft books from the library; it's so interesting to see what what advice stands the test of time. This book, a collection of curated quotes from famous authors answering such questions as "What do you look for in a novel?", and "How do you get to know your characters?" is only from 2010, but is still seems rather dated in an unnamable way. When asked about distractions to their process, the authors mention the internet, but make it sound like a fresh, exciting thing, rather than a toxic hellhole. In short, they're not yet jaded.

As a separate note, a lot of the advice blends together. I respect each author answering in earnest about their craft, but when all these answers are put together, they come off as a little pretentious, which has the unfortunate side effect of making the act of novel writing feel inaccessible to average folk. And it shouldn't. For this reason, quotes from Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Haruki Murakami were the standouts for me, because they were the least precious. Favourite quote from Mr. King, after he was asked what he learns from other art forms: "It's not about learning, except by accident. Art makes me joyful." And so it should.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually abhor those books with quotations from famous people, especially in reference to writing. Sometimes, the quotes are assembled from previously printed materials; other times, they simply don't address the needs of writers.

Alarcon's The Secret Miracle benefits from his well-worded and insightful questions on the process of writing, which come from his own perspective as a writer. Not only did I get some wise advice from me, but the book effectively provided balm when I was having a little moment of frustration and insecurity. It gave me a nice push towards completing my current manuscript just when I needed it most.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a book. This is a collection of opinions from famous authors, fragments of information not yet formed into a coherent whole -- this is the research you do before you write a book. This is not a book.

Some of the authors included are informative and helpful, like Stephen King and Michael Chabon. Some are no help at all, like Haruki Murakami. Some are hilariously pretentious. But the work of wading through all these disparate opinions is not worth anybody's time. Skip this one.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved reading Stephen King, Michael, Chabon, and Haruki Murakami’s insights on writing. There’s some solid wisdom from them in this book. But there’s a lot of other stuff to skim over, too.

[Riversue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to get a view of how so many different novelists do thee magic.

[Chris Blocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a round table discussion with 54 well-known and fabulous writers: Aleksandar Hemon, Claire Messud, Rick Moody, Stephen King, Gary Shteyngart, Daniel Handler, Haruki Murakami, and so forth. A question is presented to the group about the process of writing a novel, and writers chime in with honest and thoughtful answers. This is The Secret Miracle.

What I found most appealing about this book was the variation in answers. From Writing 101, aspiring authors are told to do this or that--i.e. find a quite place, stick with a routine, keep a journal, etc. Many books on the subject repeat these tips, telling the reader the most conducive way to write. And when it doesn't work for the reader, the newbie author is to assume they are doing something wrong. The Secret Miracle destroys any hope that there is one method to write. "Absolutely," answers one writer, while the next replies to the same question, "No. Never. Wouldn't dream of it."

A little way into the book, I decided to keep a score sheet. I tallied answers I found to be good (1 point) and those which were right-on (2 points). It would be a way to discover my next favorite author, I hoped. The results: Aleksander Hemon scored the highest with 21, Jennifer Egan had 12 points, and Andrew Sean Greer, Tayari Jones, and Chris Abani tied with 5 each. Most authors scored at least one point, although a few did not. Murakami should have received a negative score for his highly evasive answers. Although entertaining, Murakami seemed to be dodging half the questions and giving snotty answers to the other half. My favorite, the Eeyore response, occurs when Murakami is asked if he has ever used a fictional character to draw a portrait of a real person (p. 183)? Murakami: "Sometimes I do. Nobody notices it anyway."

Well, at least I learned something from the other 53 novelist.

[Marco Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of craft books can be a slog to get through. Luckily, this isn’t really a craft book and it's not a slog at all; it’s more like a roundtable discussion with some of the today’s best writers, including Jennifer Egan, Stephen King, and even recent Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa. The chapters are divided into aspects of writing, “Getting Started,” “Structure and Plot,” etc. It pertains mostly to the novel, but there is also lots of advice on writing short stories.

Not all writers always commented on each question, and I found this was one of the reasons it was such a page turner. I began to look forwards to what a particular writer might say, particularly the shy ones, such as Llosa. The Studs Terkel, “oral history” style of the book really worked in its favor. It was fun that Haruki Murakami would always have four or five word answers, whereas Jonathan Lethem’s answers would be much longer.

Both the weakness and strength of this book was in the repetition of certain themes. Claire Messud, for example, always referred to “the music” of sentences. I found it interesting that a lot of problems of the novel, according to her, can be worked out through the music. On the other hand, there were some repetitive answers where the author usually said something like the way you know good dialogue is that it’s innate, you just know. Of course, this might be truthful but isn’t very helpful, and some of these answers could have been edited out.

That said, this is a great one for all writers, and even people interested in any kind of creative act. Plus, it benefits 826 National, which is a very worthy cause.

[Djrmel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is as much a book for fans of writing as it is a book for aspiring authors. A series of questions are posed to a large (unwieldy if you don't recognize most of the names) of published authors and their answers are are given. Either some of the authors didn't answer all the questions or their answers didn't make the cut, bccause every author doesn't answer every question. That must be were the editing came in, I guess. This is a book about the personal habits and opinions of some writers - that's it. They all have different approaches to their craft, so in the end, this is a book that reassures that there is more than one way to finish a book.
As a reader, I found it interesting to learn a little something about authors whose work I have admired and those I haven't. Strangely enough, there were no surprises. Chabon is an arrogant word slinger and Colm Tóibín is a man who works for a living.

If you're looking for a book about the grind of writing, I'd recommend Steven King's "On Writing". King is in this book, but his nuts and bolts "put your butt in the chair" method is lost among all the artistic self-hype.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully repetitive. That's all I could think about when I was done with this. At first, I thought it was an incredibly useful tool for actual novelists or aspiring writers, but over time even that got to be a little too ambitious. It doesn't really help anyone who wants to write. The authors just repeat everything, in a different way, for every question that's posed to them.

But I liked it. I just didn't know how much of a handbook something can be if you come away with a few repeated sentences: Write regularly. Keep doing it. Have a routine. If you're blocked, keep going. If you don't feel the urge to do it, don't do it - it's not worth it if it doesn't pour from you. Henry Miller and Henry James and Nabokov and Flaubert and Proust are the ultimates. And... find Virginia Woolf's room of one's own, and write.

I summed this book up in seven sentences. I wonder if I should drop it down another star for that.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book to get you in an authorly mood.
It was a good tool to get my mind set for National Novel Writing Month. It was nice to see that I think like some authors in regards to how they write and how my thoughts differ from others.

This book is set up with a question at each heading and then the various authors answer the question. It very much reads like the authors were given a big packet of questions and filled them out. Unfortunately, they'll use phrases like: "As I wrote in the above answer..." Well, there is not above answer unless you flip back to the previous section and search for their name. (No help from the compiler here)

Another drawback, is that you can tell when their patience runs thin with answering these often tedious questions.

All in all, this is a book to flip through, jump to different parts or only read a bit at a time. I did enjoy what I read.

[Kristen Haynie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is made up of interviews of well-known novelists. It's written in Q/A format. For example: Daniel Alarcon sent a questionnaire to several novelists. In the book, he indicated the question he asked, then provides the answers from all of the novelists. Then moves on to the next question.

There is a lot of insight to be gained from reading this book, especially if you're new to the world of writing. It really shows that there is not one correct way of doing it. Everyone has their own styles, methods, and thoughts on how to write a novel.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who is interested in writing a novel, is currently writing a novel, has ever written a novel, or is just interested in learning about the process of writing a novel and how the authors manage to get it done.

[Marissa]

Saw this on the shelf in the library and checked it out on a whim, and it really reinforces the notion that there is no cure-all prescription for good writing. Writers give short (or sometimes lengthy) responses to a range of questions about the process, from routines to word counts to drafts, and it's fun to see how wide-ranging their practices are. If nothing else, it's an encouraging reminder to be open to new methods until you find something that works for you. My whole life I refused to ever write in the morning, because I was not "a morning person," and then for the first time this year I decided to try it for a week (bitching the whole time beforehand), and now I've become a devoted morning writer and more productive than I've ever been.

[Ally Armistead · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Secret Miracle: The Novelist's Guide" is a FIVE out of FIVE stars for this reader. Wow. The voices of 50 writers commenting on the entire process of creating a novel come together into a cacaphony of solace and wisdom, leaving the aspiring novelist with the sense that she is not alone in her st...umbles and false starts and impatience and the messy process that is writing. I'd recommend this for any writer, but particularly those in the midst of revising a novel draft. Hint: Reading this helped me solve TWO huge problems in my own current revision, and I'm a new and better writer because of it.

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy a peek behind the curtain of creativity. I didn't really read this book from cover-to-cover, but skimmed many of the pages here and there and refer to it every once in a while. I'm not certain how helpful it would be to an aspiring writer, other than to help one to realize that there are no rules. Some of these authors write the same way, but overall there are many different approaches to the various stages of the development of a novel. What I took from it was the permission to do whatever works, as long as it gets the words out. Sometimes, such simple and obvious advice is a helpful kick in the pants.

[Justyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good source of insight on the methods of various authors. Each writer featured was given the same questionnaire and the answers are organized by each "phase" of the writing process. Sure, some of the writers came off as super-pretentious and others as very down-to-earth (Stephen King has to be one of the most straightforward and coolest people out there, in my opinion), but overall it was interesting and inspirational to find out what makes some of these people tick. Is this a how-to guide on writing a novel? No. But it IS some validation that perhaps your desire to write a novel doesn't make you crazy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really can't remember why I picked this up. This is a compilation of answers given by published international authors to questions like "How do you handle interruptions?" and "Do you revise?". I was familiar with about 50% of the authors, and skimming some of the answers was interesting and often funny, but also tedious and boring too. It was interesting that some authors answered the questions about revising as "of course! Every writer revises" to "I never revise, how many authors spend a lot of time revising?". I would only recommend this to writers.

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

After nearly 2 years, I finally got through this whole thing. (!!!) The opening is fairly dull, IMO, but the concept (once you know it) is quite cool: Ask 50-60 authors a series of questions about their reading and writing. It's not, in fact, a handbook at all, nor a secret miracle. But it's interesting, and at times inspiring, at least for aspiring writers. My copy is positively riddled with post-it notes and underlined passages, and I plan to share many of my favorite quotes with friends and fellow writers.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

The format of the book doesn't work well and fails to lend the reader a "whole" picture of each author's thoughts and processes. It's organized by topic or question, with each author's responses listed, thereby creating a disjointed read. The editing left something to be desired as well. Many of the answers boiled down to "Yes" or "No", or something to the effect of "Never considered that". Why waste print space on that; what's the point?
There is a great section on the authors' "favorite" books or titles they've read repeatedly.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't really a handbook. More of a collection of interviews with various writers. Alarcon poses a question, such as "Which authors do you most admire?" and then lists the various responses. It's interesting, for sure, but you certainly won't get a whole lot of information about the craft of writing, and the responses, as you'd expect, are all over the map. Alarcon acknowledges this in his introduction, saying that it's pretty obvious that most writers don't quite know how they do what they do.

If you're looking for a book on craft, go elsewhere.

[Kseniya Melnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed spending time in the company of these writers, hearing them talk about books, writing philosophy etc etc. it made me feel like "I'm not alone" in certain anxieties, difficulties - and that's hugely important. But as far as a novel writing manual or handbook, this book is pretty useless, especially for a beginner. One writer says one thing, the next one totally opposite. But I guess that's the whole point when it comes to writing: everyone must find their own way! We're all just trying not to drown. Approach with caution.

[Jenny Maveety · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this book as a reference when I'm feeling stuck or just to learn some cool and interesting things other writers do. I will agree with a few other reviewers that sometimes the questions and answers are dry or like the "conversation" they are having with the interviewer is not really geared towards having an ACTUAL conversation but more to just check things off a list. It does give some insight into the lives of these writers and I'm glad to keep the book around but keep in mind that you won't always be pleased with the questions and responses!

[Buried In Print]

This review was deleted following Amazon's purchase of GoodReads.

The review can still be viewed via LibraryThing, where my profile can be found here.

I'm also in the process of building a database at Booklikes, where I can be found here.

If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.

[AJ Duric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The secret is to get those word muscles in shape by writing every day. Most of the writers commit to 2000 words every day, and each one has his or her method to accomplishing a particular writing project. The other wonderful "secret" is that there isn't a formula for success, and while there is a pattern to the responses, just as often there is a writer with an opposing point of view or experience.