29th June 2016 | for Creatives | create for YOURSELF, language, write what you know, writing, artists must EXPERIENCE, E. Anne Proulx |
"What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence 'Write what you know,' ...It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write simply about what we know, we never grow. We don't develop any facility for languages, or an interest in others, or a desire to travel and explore and face experience head on. We just coil tighter and tighter into our boring little selves. What one should write about is what interests one."
"The reader is free to stop reading, to close the book, to not buy the book. That reader's frustrations are entirely valid, and that reader should read something else. I just put it out there, and it is what it is."
"Sometimes the reason to write something is because it's cool. Because you enjoy it. Because you're having fun. Because you just think, 'Hey, why not?' Those are reasons that sometimes get lost in the more schematic ways we approach writing. Sometimes if you get excited, guess what? The reader's going to get excited, too."
"I'm a big fan of telling young writers to take all the detours they possibly can, both in life and in writing. Those detours are going to lead you to where you need to be. If someone says, 'How would you like to spend two years working in the Czech Republic for the state department?,' you should do that. You can always get back to your novel. You need to have as many experiences as possible."
"When you're writing, you have to get really close to your subject and see the weird and unexpected 'colors' there. Even a character who's supposed to be incredibly sexy should have flaws. Even a tragic scene should have those weird moments of humor or joy. Those little details are the rich part of your writing, and the only thing language should be doing is translating what you 'see' as cleanly as possible to readers."
"The joy of writing has propelled me from day to day and year to year."
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