Sometimes useful, always charming ... It can sound as though she believes most things that are recognizably fiction-writing can’t be taught at all. The advice she gives is either highly specific or quite vague ... Where A Long Game falls short in giving clear structure to a writing practice, it says more about creative work in general.
She’s skeptical of anything resembling a work routine and has little patience for write-every-day prescriptivists. Indeed, almost all prescriptions are hard for her to endorse ... It works because her brand of inspiration isn’t cheap uplift, just clear reports from the trenches about the sorts of things that can waylay a writer, both on the page and in life ... Relatively gentle proscriptions like these may grate on the writer who wants a firmer lifeline.
McCracken’s is the naughty older sister view of writing. And I agree with it. Writing isn’t about compiling a list of rules and then obeying them ... Not your usual piece of creative writing workshop advice, but true to the particular insanity of this scribbled life.
A charming book that will have great appeal not only for aspiring writers but for all lovers of fiction and anyone interested in the complicated art of being human.
A former faculty member at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the current chair in fiction at the University of Texas at Austin, the acclaimed novelist and author of eight books has written a craft book on fiction. Even the author herself isn’t quite sure what that means — and, besides, she thinks a lot of writing advice is 'hogwash.' This is classic McCracken — sage and opinionated, quirky, droll ... Over the course of 280 vignettes — some as brief as a sentence, most a few paragraphs — the book finds McCracken in a genial, contrarian mood, avowing one thing, then blithely contradicting herself as she goes. She firmly believes that what works for her as a writer may, or may not, work for others. She insists that writers shouldn’t follow her lead but find their own path. And once they’ve staked their terrain, they should fiercely defend it ... In the end, A Long Game is a must-read as much for its heart and humor as for its guidance.
