How to Write Like Tolstoy

March 14, 2016
Cohen (Chasing the Sun) writes an elegant, chatty how-to book on writing well, using the lessons of many of the world’s best writers. He draws on plentiful advice from past and present literary titans, including Stephen King, Virginia Woolf, Salman Rushdie, D.H. Lawrence, and the titular Tolstoy. How does a great author grab a reader, give a character life, or handle sex scenes? Cohen relates how many notable writers have grappled with character, point of view, and dialogue, as well as the element of rhythm. Using William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and other classic books as examples, he shows the many ways in which revision is useful and editors are indispensable. The process of gathering advice from prominent contemporary authors such as Francine Prose, Jonathan Franzen, and Nick Hornby gives Cohen the opportunity to tell any number of amusing, often discursive stories about great literature and authors, mixed with the writers’ own observations, which he hopes will further inspire readers and would-be writers. The advice is pleasant, and sometimes wise. Agent: Kathy Robbins, Robbins Office.

April 1, 2016
A veteran editor, teacher, and author assembles some advice for aspiring writers of fiction. Cohen (Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star that Gives Us Life, 2010, etc.) tells us that his new volume began "as an outflow of my university teaching," and in some ways, the lecturer's tone remains. For each of his points, the author mines his own vast reading, with names like Tolstoy, Twain, Updike, Dickens, Eliot, and other notables appearing continually, and he has a fondness for occasionally declaring what is the best: James Wood is the best book critic today (difficult to argue with that); F.L. Lucas' Style is the best book about rhythm and writing. Cohen's myriads of examples are lush and instructive though sometimes quite elementary. He takes a little time, for example, to explain what iambic pentameter is; it's hard to imagine that the readers of this book would not know such a thing. Organized topically--beginnings, point of view, dialogue, rhythm, sex, endings--the book generally surveys the literary history of the topic, offers some prescriptions and proscriptions, and concludes with some advice for the novice--e.g., "simple clear prose is not the only way to write, but it is the best." Along the way, Cohen delivers a few sharp jabs at some writers--Michael Holroyd's writing, he writes, has grown "slipshod"--but for the most part, he is a generous tour guide through his literary world and generally favors positive over negative examples--though there are plenty of the latter. Perhaps most engaging are Cohen's occasional anecdotes about his own experiences as a writer and editor and--in one extensive case--literary friend: he tells a fine story about how Richard Holmes developed the idea for his Footsteps (1985). Mostly standard writing advice, minus the bullet points, plus the gleanings from a lifetime of reading and thought.

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Starred review from May 1, 2016

These 12 essays are like 12 perfect university lectures on the craft of writing fiction. The professor--or, in this case, author--succeeds in being not only knowledgeable but also interesting, charming, and engaging. Cohen (By the Sword) inspires us to read what he has read and to write...like Tolstoy. Each essay takes up a particular technique, including, not surprisingly, character, dialog, and point of view. He also considers topics that have received comparatively less study: plagiarism and issues of originality, irony, and writing about sex. These chapters are what set this book apart from other classic guides such as John Gardner's The Art of Fiction and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. Cohen doesn't suggest one "right" approach, but instead poses crucial questions, which he reflects upon and responds to with caution. For every example, the author presents a counterexample, an exception to the rule. Through this comparative exercise, he shows why there can be no hard and fast rules when it comes to crafting fiction. VERDICT Cohen reveals the possibilities that lie in wait when authors practice selection and intention, sparking the literary imagination. He doesn't teach writers how to write so much as he instructs them how to think.--Meagan Lacy, Guttman Community Coll., CUNY

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope believed a writer should end a novel with sweetmeats and sugar-plums. But no writer ends a novel with these treats without starting it in their absence and then laboriously developing a narrative that generates them. Cohen here offers insightful advice on how to perform these difficult authorial tasks, advice accumulated during years spent teaching aspiring young creative writers and drawn from both his own voracious reading of literary masters and his extensive experience editing works by successful writers, including John le Carre, Kingsley Amis, and Studs Terkel. Cohen thus escorts his readers to Iris Murdoch for sage counsel on launching a novel, to Salmon Rushdie for shrewd guidance on developing an unreliable narrator, to Rudyard Kipling for a cagey hint on creating memorable minor characters, and to Leo Tolstoy for a master's help in transforming personal experience into fictional art. Even readers with no intentions of writing a novel will relish the opportunity to join their favorite authors at the workbench.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)