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What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction by Alice McDermott

For almost four decades, award-winning fiction author, essayist and teacher Alice McDermott has impressed readers with novels about loss, resilience and nostalgia that bind strong-knit communities. What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is her newest work, a collection of essays about writing and the writer’s life. Based on her distinguished career, they offer personal musings, university lectures and excellent insight for both beginning and veteran writers as well as her loyal readers. The 14 essays vary in length, ranging from two to 20 pages. 

ESSENTIAL ADVICE

Essays offer technical advice for improving one’s writing, and they are interspersed with personal anecdotes. To illustrate her points, McDermott curates riveting passages from America’s best authors, such as Toni Morrison and William Faulkner. These excerpts in tandem with her commentary result in a lively conversation between McDermott and these greats.

The opening essay, “What I Expect,” establishes McDermott’s views on what fiction requires to qualify as sublime: clear language, fine images and poignancy. Going forward, she incorporates some basic rules of writing along with more nuanced guidelines. “Story” and “Sentencing” analyze the roles of certain elements in serving the greater narrative. “Only Connect (Eventually)” recommends rereading one’s work again and again. In so doing, the writer must tie seemingly unimportant aspects of a story — even objects mentioned in passing — to a significant theme. These connections can generate an unforgettable novel. 

Of special note, McDermott takes on the perennial debate of “show versus tell.” In her essay “All Drama is Family Drama,” she argues that “telling” — using exposition to summarize a scene or situation — should not always be cut in favor of “showing” — dramatizing a plot point with action and dialogue — as many instructors nowadays insist. She proves that beautifully written and cautiously chosen exposition provides a necessary foundation for drama. Moreover, it is a key element that distinguishes literature from cinema and indeed makes novels superior to their filmed versions.

A GEM OF OUR TIME

A conversational tone characterizes most of her essays so that the reader feels as if they drink coffee with McDermott while mulling over the trials and joys of the writing life. The author grew up in an Irish Catholic community in Brooklyn, New York, an environment that consistently colors her fiction. Her heritage, religious identity and womanhood pervade her stories. She frequently refers to Irish authors, talks frankly about what it is to be a “woman writer” and teases herself for Catholic prudishness when reading about disturbing topics. In the eponymous essay “What About the Baby?” McDermott grapples with how readers sometimes react to novels in ways the authors did not intend and why writers should not change their style or subject based on trends or uninformed feedback. She encourages writers to embrace humility: “I’ve said that the creative process — like the process of faith — begins in doubt. But I have come to understand that the creative process is also, continually, sustained by doubt.” Doubt is a healthy part of the writing process that should not cow one’s passion.

AN ANTHEM FOR WRITERS

What About the Baby? belongs to a phenomenal category of memoir-guidance books such as Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird and Stephen King’s On Writing. McDermott helps writers understand their limits but also buoys them to persevere. She gives voice to the desire that keeps writers at their craft despite industry challenges. “We strive, we are driven, as the creative artist is driven, to remake the world as we find it into something more reasonable, more sensible, more just.” 

Writing students, well-published authors and fans of McDermott’s novels alike will benefit from the advice and celebration of fiction that she presents in this wonderful collection.

What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction by Alice McDermott
Publish Date: 8/17/2021
Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Alice McDermott
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374130630
Gisèle Lewis

Gisèle writes about Florida life, art, and volunteering with the local refugee community. She loves synchronized swimming, wine consumption, and teaching her daughters to curse in French. To learn about her publications and interviews with women readers, visit her website.

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