On Writing and Failure cover art

On Writing and Failure

Or, the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

On Writing and Failure

By: Stephen Marche
Narrated by: Stephen Marche
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Writing is, and always will be, an act defined by failure. The best plan is to just get used to it.

Failure is a topic discussed in every creative writing department in the world, but this is the book every beginning writer should have on their shelf to prepare them. Less a guide to writing and more a guide to what you need to continue existing as a writer, On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer describes the defining role played by rejection in literary endeavors and contemplates failure as the essence of the writer’s life. Along with his own history of rejection, Marche offers stories from the history of writerly failure, from Ovid’s exile and Dostoevsky’s mock execution to James Baldwin's advice just to endure, where living with the struggle and the pointlessness of writing is the point.

©2023 Stephen Marche (P)2023 Field Notes
Consciousness & Thought Journalists, Editors & Publishers Literary History & Criticism Movements Words, Language & Grammar Writing & Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Men in My Life cover art
The Quest for Corvo cover art
Signals of Transcendence cover art
Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoyevsky to His Family and Friends cover art
Thirty Seven cover art
Arthur Miller cover art
The Curtain cover art
I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t) cover art
In His Own Words: Conversations with Leo Tolstoy cover art
Mind of an Outlaw cover art
The Unknown Henry Miller cover art
Incidental Inventions cover art
Henry Miller on Writing cover art
The Spooky Art cover art
If You Should Fail cover art
The Terror of Existence cover art

Critic reviews

“The Canadian novelist and essayist describes the defining role rejection has played in his career and reflects on its importance in the lives of notable writers, from Ovid to Dostoyevsky and Baldwin.” — New York Times

“[Marche's] writing style is buoyant and funny. [...] When the stars are aligned, someone writes a work as provocative, informed and droll as On Writing and Failure.” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR

On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer must be considered essential reading for anyone seeking to write for a living, be it as a novelist, essayist, poet, columnist, or any other writing genre. Itself exceptionally well written.” — Midwest Book Review

What listeners say about On Writing and Failure

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant writing talk

I loved all the words for this. I’m a writer; a playwright mostly also a teacher of plays. But all of this has been fresh and clever and unique in telling. Listened once now and will tear again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!