Author Archives: virginiazimmerman

In an essay called “Children and Fairy Stories”, J. R. R. Tolkien writes about how important it is for authors to create secondary worlds that readers absolutely believe in. He says that if the reader has to “suspend disbelief,” then the secondary … Continue reading →

I always like to read what other writers have to say about writing. It is comforting to discover that I use the same strategies or struggle with the same problems as people I admire, and I often get ideas for new … Continue reading →

In a recent post about Kindred Readers, I wrote about how profoundly important some books are to our senses of self, to our ability to know and make our worlds. I described characters or images or well-chosen words that “thrum … Continue reading →

I am in the midst of a writing retreat at my university—four days in a quiet, comfortable place, working alongside other people who are thinking and creating and writing. It is a luxury. A gift of space and time (and … Continue reading →

During this season of giving, I have been doing my very favorite kind of matchmaking—matching readers to books I hope they will love. Sometimes people ask me to recommend books for people I don’t know, and this can be a … Continue reading →

I am very fortunate to be on a two-week trip to England and Greece for the purpose of gathering ideas. I’ve spent time in the British Library, which is a massive institution that houses 170 million books, and I’ve spent … Continue reading →

Before I started writing, I knew authors drew on their personal experiences to create realistic fictions. I learned this lesson in the 5th grade when I first met Jo March in Little Women: in a famous example of the write-what-you-know doctrine, Jo is … Continue reading →

In recent years, I have marked the launch of a new semester with a photo of the books that I will be teaching. The row of titles reminds me of what I must accomplish in the coming weeks, but, more … Continue reading →

“The idea hovered and shimmered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking … Continue reading →

How do you know when your book is finished? I asked this question last month at the wonderful Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop, and answers ranged from the practical, such as a deadline imposed by a publisher, to the abstract–an … Continue reading →