57 POETS & WRITERS^T
HERE is no precise method
for writing a compelling
work of fiction, of course,
but author Téa Obreht does
have one question she tries to answer
for herself during the process. “What
is the difference between the truth and
what the characters are telling them-
selves? If I can figure that out, then
things really start to crack open,” she
say s. It is a que st ion t hat a lso get s at t he
heart of why we are drawn to a good
novel, because it affords us an objectiv-
ity and clarity about the lives of oth-
ers that we rarely have about our own.
But the road between a question and its
answer can be a long one, and this was
certainly true for Obreht, whose sec-
ond novel, Inland, took eight years and
many bouts of self-doubt and writer’s
block to complete.
The arduous process was a sur-
prise to the author in part because she
wrote her debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife,
relatively quickly during her time in
Cornell University’s MFA program.
Published by Random House in 2011,
when Obreht was only twenty-five,
the book became a breakout success,
selling more than a million copies.
Obreht was nominated for a NationalA G I F T
BY AMY GALL
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID STUBBSIN THE FOLLOW-UP TO HER BEST-SELLING
DEBUT NOVEL, THE TIGER’S WIFE, WHICH DREW FROM
HER EARLY CHILDHOOD IN BELGRADE,
TÉA OBREHT TAKES READERS TO THE INHOSPITABLE AND
DROUGHT-RIDDEN ARIZONA TERRITORY OF 1893.