Author as spy.
Are you the type?
Interesting read from The Economist’s Prospero blog.
Some takeaways:
“In a sense, all writers function like spies—observing the people around them, studying character types, becoming flies-on-the-wall for the purpose of their art.”
“Writing is a means of decoding experience, of piercing through the surface of things to get at the truths beneath. Hemingway, in particular, was obsessed with the idea of concealment—so much so that he embedded it in his very style of writing.”
Here are a few other noted authors who crossed over from spydom.
And for the time being, keep your eyes and ears open.
Word Inventions 