you've found your voice
5th July 2016 | for Creatives | artist integrity, writing, artist's voice, Susan Shapiro |
"The first piece you write that your family hates means you've found your voice."
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Protect Your Voice and Your Vision
"You've got to protect your voice and your vision from everybody, really. Even the best-intentioned editors. And I mean, I love my editor; I've been with Vicky Wilson for over 35 years. She's wonderful, and her remarks on the finished manuscript are always terrific. But I don't go to her to discuss a germinating idea."
Create Something Brand New
"Know what you're trying to make; know it; practice it. Just write, and write seriously, and don't worry about genre too much. Create something brand new."
live your life
"What will elevate your work and make it your own is to live your life. Learn from your existence and borrow things from your day to day. Have adventures. Take risks. Put yourself into your fiction. Because life offers a kind of writing advice you just can't read about—it's something only you can experience."
Trust Your Instincts
"The most important thing I've learned is to trust my instincts. My professor Kathryn Harrison had this interesting way of putting it, that it's like walking a tightrope, and you're doing it but, the minute you start having doubts or second-guessing yourself—that's when you start to lose your balance. It took me a while to get to a place where I finally did trust my instincts, and it was very liberating. From then on, I felt more confident to take risks in the writing and break the rules, if you will."