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How to be a writer: Leaving a legacy

"I'd like to give people feelings -- of possibility, of happiness and recognition." -- Mona Simpson, author of the new novel "Casebook"

“I’d like to give people feelings -- of possibility, of happiness and recognition.” -- Mona Simpson, author of the new novel “Casebook”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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We asked authors coming to the L.A. Times Festival of Books this weekend about their lives as writers. Their answers provide some intriguing insights about what it’s like to write books. About 200 responded to our survey; these are some of the most interesting responses we got when we asked, “What would you most like to accomplish as a writer?”

Lee Goldberg

“To entertain as many people as I can with a memorable story.” -- Lee Goldberg, co-author, with Janet Evanovich, of “The Chase.” (Goldberg, left, shown with author Joseph Wambaugh)  (Stefano Paltera / For the Times)

Meghan Daum

“Immortality.” --Meghan Daum, author of the memoir “Life Would Be Perfect if I Lived in That House” [and also Richard Reeves, author of “Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June 1948-May 1949”]  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Carol Muske-Dukes

“I’d like to save the imagination from death, where it’s headed - along with empathy, its twin.” --Carol Muske-Dukes, author of the poetry collection “Twin Cities”  (Luis Sinco / AP)

Marisa Silver

“To keep expanding my idea of what a narrative can look like. To move ever further away from the reducible.” --Marisa Silver, author of “Mary Coin”  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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