What impulse drives people to create? And who chooses such an (often) unappreciated, solitary voyage in the first place? These are two of the central questions explored over a 12-year period by essayist and author Tom Bissell, whose new nonfiction collection, Magic Hours: Essays On Creators and Creation (Believer Books, $14), highlights a cross-section of writers, artists and filmmakers —from the relatively obscure to the relatively famous—all connected by their ability to produce something from nothing.
