Why Do I Love Novels About Writers so Damn Much?

I have a weakness. Besides white chocolate. My weakness is for novels that are about writers. It could be a romance, it could be a murder mystery (one of my favourite characters of all time is the crime writer Ariadne Oliver, a recurring character in Poirot books - especially the way Zoë Wanamaker played her), it could be satirical, it could even be memoir. But if it has a writer as the protagonist or even as a secondary character, I want to read it.

My favourite film of all time, and is probably the only film where I’ve watched the commentary, is Something’s Gotta Give by Nancy Myers. It stars Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves and Frances McDormand. Diane Keaton plays Erica Barry, a playwright, who is struggling to write her next play. Until Harry (Jack Nicholson) arrives - as her daughter’s boyfriend. Long story short, Harry ends up breaking Erica’s heart and all of a sudden the words start to flow out of her. I absolutely adore the scenes of her at her desk, there’s something very relatable about her frustrations.

My second favourite film of all time is Julie & Julia by the late Nora Ephron. It’s a film told in two different timelines about the cook and recipe writer, Julia Childs and the blogger, Julie Powell (Julie recreated all of Julia Child’s recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking on her blog, The Julie/Julia Project). The film captures how consistency pays off in the online writing world and also demonstrates just how long the writing process can take. I love how writing is shown to save both women at difficult times in their lives. Something I very much relate to.

So if they’re my two favourite films, is it any wonder that I adore books with writers as the main character? As with Somethings Gotta Give a number of them are romance books, but I find this secondary to how the writing process is depicted. Just like in Sex and the City, I’m less interested in the women’s lives and more interested in how Carrie’s writing career progresses.

I’ve been pondering as to why I love them so much. I’ve read in the past that writers in books are a big no-no for many readers. But I find them more inspirational than, say, a non-fiction book specifically on writing. Cathy Rentzenbrink’s book, Write it all Down, has probably been the only book about writing that has ever truly inspired me. In the past, when I’ve struggled, I’ve turned to my two favourite films and novels.

As the writers of these films and books are actual writers (funnily enough), they know exactly what writer’s block feels like. They know the frustration with trying to get published and it just makes me feel not so alone. They give me comfort because I know that if the fictional characters can work through their creative issues - then so can I.

At this point of writing this essay, I stand up and turn to the bookshelf on my left to search for the children’s books I saved from my childhood. Despite the current mess in my office, I find them straight away. Gwen Grant’s Knock and Wait, The Railway Children, the Trebizon series of books by Anne Digby and, of course, Little Women. Like many, I wanted to be Jo March.

Jo was independent, with a fiery personality and strong ambition. She was also a writer. I found Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo’s Boys so enjoyable and comforting as a young girl and would read them over and over. Jo has her own struggles with writing, and pauses whilst raising a family until, eventually, she becomes a published author.

She was my first literary heroine, and perhaps the first inkling I had that I wanted to become a writer. And I strongly believe that my love of writers in novels all comes back to her.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff, are two of my favourite books from the last twelve months. In Romantic Comedy the protagonist is a scriptwriter on a late-night TV comedy show and in the memoir, My Salinger Year, Joanna, who dreams of becoming a poet, gets a job at the literary agency representing J.D Salinger and is in charge of dealing with the fan mail. She’s supposed to use a template response for the fans but soon starts to properly write back.

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[You can read more about My Salinger Year in this post, Down the rabbit hole #1]

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Other books I’ve read about writers recently include Yellowface - a darker examination of the publishing industry, The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan - a murder mystery with the protagonist being a ghostwriter, and romance novels such as Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (Eva is a bestselling erotica writer and Shane is an award-winning novelist), The Book Proposal by KJ Micciche (Gracie is a romance writer with writer’s block), The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center (Emma is a struggling wannabe screenwriter), A Storybook Wedding by KJ Micciche (Cecily is a writer desperate to be published and Nate is a bestselling novelist) and Beach Read by Emily Henry (January is a romance writer and Gus is a literary writer).

So now I need to know - have you read any novels about writers? If yes, please leave their titles in the comments so I can binge read when I’m next struggling with my writing (which, let’s be honest, is pretty much all the time). Just no horror or psychological/tense books. I just can’t handle them :)