# Books with writers in them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478 "2002-08-31T20:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/1 "2002-08-31T20:45:45Z")
No doubt there are Millions of them. Most are probably about how the writer struggles with his writers block, or overcomes the obstacles of getting established, etc. I am currently reading a book by the name of _Gideon_. A novelist takes a job to ghost write a novel of supposed earth shaking proportions. (I.e it is about somebody important and something they did that was very bad, I am guessing) Reading it is pretty entertaining, and I started to wonder if there are any other good books out there with an Author as a main character. Without the primary plot being said Author struggling with the desertion of his muse. I can think of many movies that have writers of some sort as the MC. (many more if you count journalists: sticking to screenwriters, novelists and such, not columists) Yet I cannot think of too many books that have a writer as the protagonist, or even more interestingly, the antagonist. The only one I can think of offhand is a book I don’t even remember the name of. It was about a successful author and survivalist that was a bit of a recluse. He lived in some huge house he had built, and owned quite a little arsenal. It was a horror novel I believe. (I also read it about 15 years ago, hence the lack of details). However, that is the only one that comes to mind. Hmm, wasn’t Thomas Covenant a writer? What are some other good novels with the protagonist being a (non-journalism) writer? ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/2 "2002-08-31T21:19:40Z")
Novelist is the standard profession of protagonists in Stephen King’s novels. His best novelist protagonists are, in order of the quality of the book, _The Shining_, _Misery_, _Bag of Bones_. _The Tommyknockers_ and _The Dark Half_ also have novelists for lead characters, but aren’t as highly regarded as those others. ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/3 "2002-09-01T00:20:47Z")
_Breakfast of Champions_ (among several) w/ the fictional, writer, by Kurt Vonnegut. Fictional, yet he is supposed to be Vonnegut in some way or another, isn’t he. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/4 "2002-09-01T00:33:55Z")
John Barth shows up in a lot of his novels – _Chimera, Letters, The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, Tidewater Tales_ and _Coming Soon!!!_ all have versions of himself in them, though he never refers to himself by name. Vonnegut also has Kilgore Trout; at least one of his books used Trout as the protagonist. Mark Frost’s “The List of Seven” and “The Six Messiahs,” both have Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a protagonist (sort of Watson to the book’s Sherlock Holmes). In the short story field, there’s Cyril Kornbluth’s “MS Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie.” ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/5 "2002-09-01T03:27:37Z")
I just started reading _You Can’t Go Home Again_ by Thomas Wolfe. The main character is an novelist and the conflict is from the success of his work as opposed to the lack of success (or at least this is what the book jacket indicates). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/6 "2002-09-01T05:44:47Z")
How about a book about someone writing a book about a person’s poem? **Pale Fire** by Vladimir Navokov fits that bill… ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/7 "2002-09-01T05:52:54Z")
The Plague, by Albert Camus The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien in which Bilbo Baggins one of the protagonists writes There and Back Again, and starts The Red Book of Westmarch ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/8 "2002-09-01T05:56:53Z")
The World According to Garp by John Irving is a great book about a creative writer (short story & novelist), although he (Garp) is not a writer until a bit into the story. His mother Jenny Fields also wrote something (quite popular, as you’ll see), though it would be hard to call her a writer… Hehe, I tried not to reveal anything significant; I apologize for the vagueness… It’s a great book, just read it already 🙂 - Wind ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/9 "2002-09-01T18:54:39Z")
E.L. Doctorow’s _Loon Lake_ is about the writing of a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/10 "2002-09-01T19:35:38Z")
Asimov’s done a few. _Murder at the ABA_ takes place at the meeting of the American Bookseller’s Association, and the fellow who solves the mystery and the victim are both writers (supposedly, the main character was based on Harlan Ellison). Asimov himself also makes an appearence. He also has a short story or novella called, I believe, _Author, Author_ where a mystery writer is horrified to find that his main character has come to life, and doesn’t need him anymore. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/11 "2002-09-01T20:43:00Z")
Misery is the one I love the most. ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/12 "2002-09-01T22:15:34Z")
I’d have to say that _The Dark Half_ is one of my favorite books about an author. And the writer is (or would it be “writers are” – those who know the plot will know why I ask) both protagonist and antagonist. Another S King book featuring not just a writer, but a horror writer, is _It_ (William “Stuttering Bill” Denbrough). Although…_Misery_ is way up there, too. The _Green Mile_ series isn’t exactly about a “writer” exactly, but it is told as and by the main character writing his memoir. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/13 "2002-09-01T23:23:41Z")
Well, J.D. Salinger himself was a character in W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe.” Not surprisingly, Salinger was furious, and took (or threatened) legal action. That’s why his character was changed for the movie “Field of Dreams.” Beyond that… Stingo, the narrator of “Sophie’s Choice” is a young Southern ex-Marine and aspiring novelist… rather like the young William Styron himself. ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/14 "2002-09-02T04:05:29Z")
_Bag of Bones_ had a weird passage about it’s writer protagonist. He says one of the reasons he gives up writing is because of a horrific murder he witnessed bore similarities to to murders he wrote in his books - specifically, murder simply for the sake of advancing the plot. It seemed like King was sort of maybe talking about himself. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/15 "2002-09-04T04:28:38Z")
Lots of Heinlein characters are writers. So’s Henry Fitzroy, from Tanya Huff’s _Blood_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/16 "2002-09-04T17:56:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Lots of Heinlein characters are writers. Really? I can’t think of any. Offhand, there’s an inventor, a technician, a trajectory plotter, a doctor/lawyer, an art critic, a professional Dirty Old Man, a Hero, a few mathematicians, a slave, a beggar, a soldier or two, and some professors, but I can’t think of any writers in his works. Wait a moment… Hazel Stone was a writer, right? Another one I was reminded of recenty (by re-reading the book). The main character in the second half of Asimov’s _Second Foundation_, Arkady Darell, is an (aspiring) writer, who would eventually go on to become a Galaxy-famous novelist. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/17 "2002-09-04T18:08:17Z")
_At Swim Two Birds_ by Flann O’Brien is a book about a writer writing a book about a writer who gets attacked by his characters. Only, they’re not _his_ characters, as he’s using characters written by other authors. His concept is that there have been so many characters written, originality is on the decline, so you might as well recycle characters (plus, it saves the reader from reading all that boring exposition!). ---
**Author:** ![tritone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@tritone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tritone)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/18 "2002-09-04T18:18:40Z")
Some of AS Byatt’s books involve litearary scholars who struggle to become writers. Roland in _Possession_ becomes a poet. Frederica in her quartet (_The Virgin in the Garden_, _Still Life_, _Babel Tower_ and _A Whistling Woman_) never quite manages a novel, though she does get something published (I hope people won’t mind me giving that away, it’s not a major plot point). There are lots of writers in _Babel Tower_, including Jude Mason, who could be said to be a main character (though not _the_ main character). It’s an interesting issue she explores, that literary scholars are unfitted by their education to become novelists. Of course, Byatt herself is a literary scholar who became a novelist. And, IMO, one of the best novelists writing today, at that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/19 "2002-09-04T19:10:11Z")
One of my favorite books is [The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865272212/qid=1031164273/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-1177161-7266444?v=glance&s=books) by Henri Murger. Much of it is hilarious, though _La Boheme_ was based on one chapter. Grab it! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-writers-in-them/126478/20 "2002-09-04T19:38:54Z")
Windwalker, I opened this thread specifically to recommend The World According to Garp. It’s one of my very favorite books. > [@](#): > > Beyond that… Stingo, the narrator of “Sophie’s Choice” is a young Southern > ex-Marine and aspiring novelist… rather like the young William Styron > himself. Have you read The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron? It is the very book Stingo was thinking about writing in Sophie’s Choice. His father was encouraging him to come down and live on the farm because it was near the location of Nat Turner’s rebellion. Good book, by the way. It won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1968.