Sarah Stodola

Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Franz Kafka, David Foster Wallace, and more. In Process, acclaimed journalist Sarah Stodola examines the creative methods of literature's most transformative figures. Each chapter contains a mini biography of one of the world's most lauded authors, focused solely on his or her writing process. Unlike how-to books that preach writing techniques or rules, Process puts the true methods of writers on display in their most captivating incarnation: within the context of the lives from which they sprang. Drawn from both existing material and original research and interviews, Stodola brings to light the fascinating, unique, and illuminating techniques behind these literary behemoths.

The Writing Lives of Great Authors

Process

It's a lot like Mason Currey's wonderful Daily Ritual books, but specific to writers. This focuses on a handful and it's a quick, interesting read. It doesn't go deep, but it gives you a sense of how these writers worked. It was perfect for me, and just what I wanted.

Steven Ovadia

elif sinem

3.5 - some of these can get really dry. but I love knowing that writers are just collectively unhinged and every weird habit of yours has been done by others or worse

Caellum

This is super cozy. This whole book gives you a luscious little window into the writing lives of a range of well known authors. It's exactly what it says on the label. It is also very easy and enjoyable to read. It does not overstay it's welcome. And, if you write, it's very comforting on some level to hear about the struggles of great authors. Seemingly no one really knows what they're doing or how to get it right and I really enjoyed that. 

Nico J

Due to having an abundance of time in the brave but terrifying new quarantine world, I've had more time than ever before to sit down and put words to the page; in the course of that, the other side of the coin, it means more time to read. This book presents exactly what it purports to and it was fascinating, well-paced, and a great diversion to indulge in to deflect working on projects of my own. Not unlike some of the authors detailed throughout, needing a tangential activity to loosen the formed cobwebs.

Process The Writing Lives of Great Authors

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