“When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it – rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.”
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Gary William Murning Online
"Literature, not scripture, sustains the mind and – since there is no other metaphor – also the soul." – Christopher Hitchens.
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Now available—THE LEGACY OF LORNA LOVELOST Click here to buy THE LEGACY OF LORNA LOVELOST
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THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS is now available through Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
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CHILDREN OF THE RESOLUTION is now available from Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy CHILDREN OF THE RESOLUTION
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IF I NEVER is published by Legend Press and is now available from Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy IF I NEVER
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- © 2007-2013 Gary William Murning except for reader comments and where stated otherwise. Limited, non-commercial use of blog posts permitted -- as long as I am credited as the author and a link back to this site is included. Work samples may not be redistributed in any form.
Recent Comments
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I love John Irving! My favorite quote of his is:
“Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.”
It seems to sum up what I love about his books. Like no other author, he always satisfies my curiosity about every single character in a novel, even the most minor.
I was trying to figure out what to read next, now I’m inspired to go read “A Prayer for Owen Meany” again. Thanks, Gary!
A man who speaks to my own heart. I’m exactly the same, but boy does it cause problems.
I see he studied with Kurt Vonnegut, which is interesting because they both had the same philosophy of writing, in that Vonnegut considered writers to be either a “swooper (i.e. people who “write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn’t work”), or a “Basher” (i.e. someone who “while ostensibly making sentence after sentence as efficient as possible, may actually be breaking down seeming doors and fences… in search of answers to the eternal questions: ‘What are we doing here? What is the meaning of all this?'”)
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Irving, now, actually, jimsmuse. When he’s on form, he’s inspirational, but his tendency towards excess is getting a little off-putting — that and his alarmingly recurrent themes. His characters are always wonderfully drawn, though, yes, and Cider House, Owen Meany, Hotel will always have a special place in my heart.
Incidentally, if you like Owen Meany, you might want to check out the samples of my current semi-autobiographical work-in-progress (in the Samples section) Children of the Resolution. 🙂
I’d never heard Vonnegut’s theories on writers (those you mention, at least), Katherine. Interesting. I’ve always been a seat-of-the-pants writer, myself, working with very little preparation… until my latest project. With Children I decided I simply couldn’t work that way. I took a leaf out of Irving’s book and spent about three months planning and outlining. I like this way best. It allows me to focus on the language, something else Irving says, I believe.
Irving sounds like a real nerd!! You know how I feel about those! 😀
Never read him? Try A Prayer for Owen Meany. Think you’ll get a kick out of that one.
What’s it about? Sounds interesting by the title.
There’s a synopsis here, Selena.
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