Sarah's Reviews > Reflections: On the Magic of Writing

As a general rule, I don't read nonfiction- essays in particular- outside of school. However, this book came highly recommended by a friend, and is also by one of my favorite authors, so I decided I might as well get it out from the library. So I did, and it sat in my stack of to-be-read library books until my mother warned me that it was going to be due in a week and if I wanted to read it, I'd better do so soon.

So, I read it. And, to my (foolish) surprise, I loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I nearly forgot to stop reading and actually write my own story- not the best situation when it's nearly the end of Camp NaNoWriMo (as far as my schedule was concerned) and I have a quarter of the book left to write in a very busy week. Thankfully, I managed, and I rather hope the flavor of Diana Wynne Jones's words crept into what I wrote in between reading her essays.

The reason I left this book sit so long is that whenever I hear "essay," I think "something I or someone else had to write for school or another academic program, which is probably dry and boring and, if it's written by an adult, filled with large, professional-sounding terms that fly right over my head." (This is despite the fact that, for the past two years, I've had a chapter each year in Literature dedicated to essays and enjoyed it both years.) However, Diana Wynne Jones's style is anything but dry or boring, and certainly does not go right over my head. Reading these essays feels like listening to her talk to me in a friendly, conversational way, whether she's talking about writing or her life or "The Narrative Shape of the Lord of the Rings" (which sounds terribly imposing but is actually fascinating, if you like Tolkien). It's lovely.

Most of the essays in this book focus on Jones's thoughts on writing- both her own and writing in general. These I find fascinating; while some bits are similar to advice I've heard before, most is new and interesting and makes me say "Hmm, I never thought of that before." A few are specificially about other peoples's writing, notably that of Tolkien and Lewis (both of whom she studied under at Oxford). Of these, "The Narrative Shape of the Lord of the Rings" is the best- though I may be a bit biased because I don't agree with several of her opinions about and interpretations of Narnia. I rather wish I'd started this book a great deal sooner, so that I could've paused after reading "The Narrative Shape" and reread The Lord of the Rings, just so I could see again for myself the things she pointed out as interesting.

And, of course, many of the essays deal with her own life, especially her childhood- two specifically are about it, but it comes up in nearly every selection. These parts fascinate me as much as (or possibly more than) the rest, but also make me sad. Jones certainly did not have an easy life- which, I suppose, makes her all the more inspiring.

If you have never read anything by Diana Wynne Jones before, I probably wouldn't give this book to you as an introduction. It's a splendid book, and well-representative of her style, but I feel like you need at least a fair acquaintance with her fantasy books before you read this. (The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Fire and Hemlock, and possibly Black Maria are the ones that seem to get referenced the most- which means I probably didn't get quite as much out of this book as I could've, since, of those three, I've only read The Chronicles of Chrestomanci. The other two are on my to-be-read list.) However, if you've read at least some of Diana Wynne Jones's books and loved them, then yes, yes, yes, read this book. You definitely won't regret it.