This makes ideas more accessible, in a way, than pushing a thinly disguised message via political screed. Wolitzer’s words touch on an important juggling act: Balancing writing true to your passions or beliefs with telling a good story that shows through character, connection, and story development. Meg Wolitzer, interviewed by Lisa O’Kelly in ‘I feel I’m a feminist, so I write like a feminist’, available here. In this book, those stories happen to be about female power, making meaning in the world, mentorship, misogyny, a lot of things that remain compelling to me. But I am interested primarily in following and exploring the stories of people who feel like real people, as opposed to writing a polemic. Grace said: “If a horse could write a book it would write like a horse I’m a woman so I write like a woman.” And I feel I’m a feminist so I write like a feminist. Someone once asked the great writer Grace Paley if she wrote like a woman. When asked whether she considers herself mainly a ‘feminist writer’, Meg Wolitzer (author of The Wife, The Uncoupling and other novels) says: Use story craft to deliver your viewsĪuthors are often questioned about where they find interesting writing ideas or what beliefs they hold. It gives me great pleasure’, available here. Stephen King, interviewed by Xan Brooks in ‘Stephen King: ‘I have outlived most of my critics. Here’s another thing – creative life is absurdly short. I feel that a first draft should take about four months, but that’s me. Some writers take years James Patterson takes a weekend. When asked about how prolific he is and whether he envies authors who take years between releases: King conveys the subjective nature of how long a book takes to write. Others, as Stephen King says, write a book ‘in a weekend’ (which is probably an understatement). Some writers rehash their work constantly, taking years over a manuscript. The more varied places and people we experience, the more we have to draw on in storytelling. Available here.Įven if you’re unable to date different cities, have flirtations where you can. Helen Oyeyemi, interviewed by Arifa Akbar in ‘Helen Oyeyemi: ‘I had such a lovely time dating different cities’. I had such a lovely time dating different cities before moving to the Czech Republic. Maybe I’m one of the last of a generation to be able to live in Europe. Now I know what a privilege it was to have the passport. When asked where she has lived, she says: Yet she also describes diverse, interesting lived experiences in her background, such as ‘dating’ different cities. Nigerian-born author Helen Oyeyemi baked all kinds of gingerbread recipes (including Emily Dickinson’s) researching her book about an inherited family gingerbread recipe. We often read pithy sayings such as ‘write what you know’ that suggest you have to experience everything you turn into fiction. What might the implications of a seemingly innocuous or benevolent act (such as building a road) be beyond the original intention? Fiction asks and answers such questions of cause and effect. Dave Eggers, interviewed by Lisa O’Kelly in ‘Dave Eggers: ‘Being around young people is the balm to all psychic wounds’, available here.Įggers’ story shows the value of questioning and maintaining curiosity as a writer. That stuck in my mind a bit, the oddity of this Scandinavian crew building a road in a post-conflict zone – a road that might some day be used to facilitate military incursions.Īfter that, whenever I saw foreign contractors in post-conflict zones, I was fascinated by their role and what kind of awareness or sense of responsibility they might have toward the implications of their projects. We were surprised to see it was being built by a Swedish company. He says:īack in 2006, I was in South Sudan with Valentino Achak Deng and we were near Aweil, driving on some pretty rough dirt roads, when we came upon a giant six-lane highway being built, connecting Aweil to Khartoum. In Lisa O’ Kelly’s interview with author Dave Eggers, the author discusses inspirations for his novel The Parade (2019), about two foreigners who must face their roles in a nation’s politics and peace. ‘What would happen if…?’ or ‘Why is this thing there?’ Many interesting writing ideas begin with simple questions and observations. Read 10 interesting ideas from The Guardian‘s ‘The New Review Q&A’ series: 1. Talking and thinking about writing is a great way to get new ideas flowing. Interviews with authors are a great source of interesting writing ideas – both ideas about writing and ideas for stories themselves.
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