Understand People
3rd July 2016 | for Creatives | writing, artists must EXPERIENCE, Aaron Sorkin |
"How can you understand people if you're sitting in your room all day writing?"
Similar for Creatives
Have as Many Experiences as Possible
"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."
Run with the Bulls
"Eudora Welty said something to the effect of: 'All a writer has to do is sit on her own front porch.' But I was thinking: 'I'll go run with the bulls; I'm going to dance in fountains."
More Alive
"Writing makes you more alive to your surroundings and, since the main ingredient of living—though you might not think so to look at most human beings—is to be alive, this is quite a worthwhile by-product of writing."
Explore and Face Experience Head On
"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."
Get Back at People
"The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people. I've gotten back at lawyers, judges, law professors and politicians. I just line 'em up and shoot 'em."