Essay on "Letters to a Young Novelist" by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Primer for the Aspiring Novel Writer

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…readers. This one message, true wisdom in my opinion, is worth the whole book. It's changed the way I critique my own writing. It will, no doubt, flavor the way I judge all novels in the future. If I were able to engrave a single idea from Letters to a Young Novelist on the granite of my brain, it would be this: Hypnotize your reader. And be careful, always, not to break the spell.