'Evoking sensation through your words'

 

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”  -- E.L. Doctorow

Born in New York City in 1931, Doctorow was one of our greatest crafters of historical fiction.  His 12 novels, 3 collections of short fiction and stage play – led by his multiple award-winning novel Ragtime – won every major writing award over a nearly 7-decade career (he died in 2015).

Doctorow said that while it is the historian's place to tell us about a time or era in history, it is the historical novelist's role to tell us how we would act and feel if we lived in that time.  His characters exemplified Ernest Hemingway's admonition that when writing a novel, the writer should create living people – “people, not characters.  A character is a caricature.”

It is not acceptable to be “mostly right,” Doctorow admonished.  Writers must be completely right in what we share if we are to remain true to our craft.

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader,” Doctorow said.  “Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”