On Writing Well
Here I sit in my cubicle, eager to practice some of the principles I learned at yesterday’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA. As with last year, the panels by both established and emerging authors provided a much-needed shot in the arm for this weary writer, whose reading list just lengthened threefold. Since many people who read blogs also write one (or more), I thought I’d share some pearls and paraphrases from panelists.
From Yannick Murphy, author of Signed, Mata Hari: Next time you want to describe the anger, excitement or misery that you or another character in your story experience, try to show it through imagery. Chances are the reader will experience that same emotion, rather than view it from a distance.
Lydia Millet, author of How the Dead Dream, offered this ditty about Googling ourselves: “We all do it. It’s like masturbation.”
Alex Espinoza, author of the novel Still Water Saints: The best lessons we learn as human beings come not from the times we succeed but when it is we fail.
Along the same lines, Kathleen Flinn, who published the memoir The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, told an audience, “People may like winners, but they really can relate to losers.”
Best-selling author Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic and 25 other titles) once had a professor tell her, “The writer isn’t the person you want to meet, it’s the person you want to believe.”
Aimee Bender, whose quirky fiction can be found in Unwillful Creatures and The Girl with the Flammable Skirt, noted that her “dreamlike” writing might come from the fact she writes first thing in the morning, before daily life kicks in. This made me think about when I tend to have my most imaginative thoughts: during my early morning runs. Perhaps there’s a connection for you, too?
Tobias Wolff, best known for his book/movie This Boy’s Life, stated that “when we write, we’re trying to understand something about each other by writing something that someone else will recognize in themselves as well.”
Jane Smiley, one of our most acclaimed writers because of books like A Thousand Acres, describes herself as an author: “I see it as a river of literature that flows past, and I volunteer to let it flow through me.”
On the way home, we got a little lost and ended up in Beverly Hills, where I happen to be heading on my own tomorrow for a business trip. I’ll be back to posting by week’s end. Until then, write the good write.
From Yannick Murphy, author of Signed, Mata Hari: Next time you want to describe the anger, excitement or misery that you or another character in your story experience, try to show it through imagery. Chances are the reader will experience that same emotion, rather than view it from a distance.
Lydia Millet, author of How the Dead Dream, offered this ditty about Googling ourselves: “We all do it. It’s like masturbation.”
Alex Espinoza, author of the novel Still Water Saints: The best lessons we learn as human beings come not from the times we succeed but when it is we fail.
Along the same lines, Kathleen Flinn, who published the memoir The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, told an audience, “People may like winners, but they really can relate to losers.”
Best-selling author Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic and 25 other titles) once had a professor tell her, “The writer isn’t the person you want to meet, it’s the person you want to believe.”
Aimee Bender, whose quirky fiction can be found in Unwillful Creatures and The Girl with the Flammable Skirt, noted that her “dreamlike” writing might come from the fact she writes first thing in the morning, before daily life kicks in. This made me think about when I tend to have my most imaginative thoughts: during my early morning runs. Perhaps there’s a connection for you, too?
Tobias Wolff, best known for his book/movie This Boy’s Life, stated that “when we write, we’re trying to understand something about each other by writing something that someone else will recognize in themselves as well.”
Jane Smiley, one of our most acclaimed writers because of books like A Thousand Acres, describes herself as an author: “I see it as a river of literature that flows past, and I volunteer to let it flow through me.”
On the way home, we got a little lost and ended up in Beverly Hills, where I happen to be heading on my own tomorrow for a business trip. I’ll be back to posting by week’s end. Until then, write the good write.
