PROCESS

Though there are dozens of books on the craft of writing, this will be the first book to focus solely on writer’s processes: how they motivate themselves, seek out inspiration, and balance writing, editing, and rewriting within the course of a novel or even a day. Most established writers will tell you that once the craft is down, it’s these habits and routines that ultimately determine a writer’s long-term success.

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.

Sarah Stodola is a writer and journalist who has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Nation, Daily Beast, and Awl, as well as Condé Nast Traveler and Slate, among others publications. She founded the literary journal Me Three and served as an adjunct scholar for Lapham’s Quarterly. She is currently the editorial director of Strolby.