Novelist Ann Patchett on 鈥淭he Dutch House鈥�
When Ann Patchett read through her first draft of "The Dutch House", she realised she'd made a terrible mistake on page 36. So what did she do? Deleted it and started over.
When Ann Patchett sat down to read through her first draft of The Dutch House, she realised she had made a terrible mistake. A wrong turn, on page 36, sent the entire rest of the novel careening down the wrong path. So what did she do? Deleted it and started over. Sometimes, committing to doing your very best work means destroying it and going again. In her own words, novelist Ann Patchett shares the story of writing her award-winning novel, from the prolonged period of preparation, and the active defense against distractions, to the advice from friends that she took without a second thought.
Novelist Ann Patchett is the author of "The Patron Saint of Liars", "Taft", "The Magician鈥檚 Assistant", "Bel Canto", "Run, State of Wonder", "Commonwealth" and "The Dutch House". She has written three books of nonfiction: "Truth & Beauty", "What Now?" and, most recently, "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage", and children鈥檚 books too. She has won numerous prizes, including the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction, and her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee.
Get the transcript and lots of images at sparkandfire.com/annpatchett
