Donna Tartt rarely gives interviews, but when she talks about craft the same idea keeps coming back: take your time and get the sentence right. This is the advice she actually stands behind.
Write As If You Have All Eternity
The line Tartt quotes most is one she got from the novelist John Gardner: write as if you have all eternity. She's called it the last thing a publisher or an agent would ever tell you, and also the best advice going if you want to make beautiful, well-built books. That patience is why a decade between novels doesn't rattle her.
I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones.
Donna Tartt
Skip 'Write What You Know'
Tartt pushes back on the most common piece of writing advice out there. In her view, sticking only to what you already know makes it hard to see anything fresh. She'd rather inhabit a life that isn't hers and build a world from the ground up, which is part of why her research and imagination run so deep.
Focus on Concrete Detail
When she's actually drafting, Tartt concentrates on the physical: the exact color a room is painted, the way a drop of water rolls off a leaf after rain. Then she works on the sound, the rhythm of a sentence or a line of dialogue, until it reads the way she wants. For how that plays out day to day, see the full Donna Tartt writing routine.
What You Can Steal
- Give the work more time than feels reasonable. Quality outlasts the deadline.
- Question 'write what you know.' Curiosity can beat familiarity.
- Anchor scenes in concrete detail. Specific beats abstract every time.
- Read your sentences for sound. Rhythm is part of the meaning.