Full name: Reflections: On the Magic of Writing

Author: Diana Wynne Jones Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Non Fiction, Essays Purchase/reserch links: Barns&Noble Amazon Google Books Goodreads eBooks.com LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780062219893 9780385654036 0062219898 0385654030

Diana Wynne Jones is best-known for her novels and stories - of magical fantasy - written mainly for children. She received a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007, as well as two Mythopoeic Awards and the Guardian Fiction Award for Charmed Life. But she was also a witty, entertaining speaker, a popular guest at science fiction and fantasy conventions and an engaged, scholarly critic of writing that interested her. This collection of more than twenty-five papers, chosen by Diana herself, includes fascinating literary criticism (such as a study of narrative structure in The Lord of the Rings and a ringing endorsement of the value of learning Anglo Saxon) alongside autobiographical anecdotes about reading tours (including an account of her famous travel jinx), revelations about the origins of her books, and thoughts in general about the life of an author and the value of writing. The longest autobiographical piece, 'Something About the Author', details Diana's extraordinary childhood and is illustrated with family photographs. Reflections is essential reading for anyone interested in Diana's works, fantasy or creative writing. The collection features a foreword by Neil Gaiman and an introduction and interview by Charlie Butler, a respected expert on fantasy writing. Similar books: Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman Burning Down the House by Charles Baxter The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman My Heart Is an Idiot by Davy Rothbart Living by Fiction by Annie Dillard The Unspeakable by Meghan Daum Still Writing by Dani Shapiro This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett To Show and to Tell by Phillip Lopate Reality Hunger by David Shields Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood For Love and Money by Jonathan Raban The Great Movies by Roger Ebert A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera Awake in the Dark by Roger Ebert The Cross of Redemption by James Baldwin The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit The Journey Home by Edward Abbey