Jane Smiley, Edith Wharton, Jose Saramago

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20081221_An_author_pondering__not_fearing__death.html
In her book about writing fiction (still a good guide, I think), Edith Wharton says a novelist's main job is to think about his or her subject thoroughly. If she had said unexpectedly, charmingly, profoundly, imaginatively and simply, too, she would have been describing José Saramago in Death With Interruptions.