What about the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction

A collection of essays, lectures, and observations on the art of writing fiction from Alice McDermott, winner of the National Book Award and unmatched ＂virtuoso of language and image＂ (Rebecca Steinitz, The Boston Globe).

Laying bare the intricate process of storytelling, McDermott shares her invaluable advice on the subtleties of writing, blending the practical with the profound in What About the Baby?

McDermott also serves throughout as the artful conductor of a literary chorus, quoting generously from the work of other great writers (including Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Nabokov, Morrison, and Woolf ), beautifully joining her voice with theirs. These stories of lessons learned and books read, and of the terrors and the joys of what she calls ＂this mad pursuit,＂ form a rich and valuable sourcebook for readers and writers alike: a deeply charming meditation on the unique gift that is literature.

Enshrouded in a layer of wisdom, humor, and an undying passion for literature, What About the Baby? is an engaging exploration of the art of literary creation. This book’s insightful narrative is a not-to-be-missed journey for anyone enticed by the magic of the written word.

Alice McDermott is the author of several novels, including The Ninth Hour; Someone; After This; Child of My Heart; Charming Billy, winner of the 1998 National Book Award; and At Weddings and Wakes--all published by FSG. That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This were all finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and elsewhere. For more than two decades she was the Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the faculty at the Sewanee Writers Conference. McDermott lives with her family outside Washington, D.C.