What writers say

Who can say if the thoughts you have in your mind as you read these words are the same thoughts I had in my mind as I typed them? We are different, you and I, and the qualia of our consciousnesses are as divergent as two stars at the ends of the universe.
And yet, whatever has been lost in translation in the long journey of my thoughts through the

When I first started to write, I was alone. My first husband had left me, I was homesick, my parents had disowned me because I had married so young and divorced. I just wrote to—to go home. It was like a place to be where I felt I was safe. And so I write to fix a reality.

Adrian Zupp • Lucia Berlin: Writing Advice and More in This Never-Before Published Interview

Once I write a story, it’s gone, it’s like it’s not mine anymore. And I’m not tempted to edit it or change it.

Adrian Zupp • Lucia Berlin: Writing Advice and More in This Never-Before Published Interview

I just write what seems to me to feel true. To feel emotionally true. When there’s emotional truth, there follows a rhythm, and I think a beauty of image, because you’re seeing clearly. Because of the simplicity of what you see.

Adrian Zupp • Lucia Berlin: Writing Advice and More in This Never-Before Published Interview

Take what you can of criticism, but stick with your own gut feelings. That’s really, really important. I was discouraged for a long time before I came to that point, where I realized, “Hey, I’m writing for me,” and I didn’t care about [the rest]. I think that’s the most important—especially with all these workshops and all these people telling you... See more

Adrian Zupp • Lucia Berlin: Writing Advice and More in This Never-Before Published Interview

I want to believe that life has more to offer than other people’s empty daydreams, and I don’t want to spend my time sapping time from others. I have to have my grandiose ideals about storytelling, even if I’m not sure I’ll create stories that are really worth telling, because I can’t be excited about anything less. I don’t want to be in the... See more

I want to love fiction

when you write you want someone to hear it. You do. I mean I don’t write thinking, “Oh Adrian and Kellie are going to love this.” But it’s just that the act of writing comes from a feeling, for me, of connectedness, usually. Or figuring why do I feel at one with this place or with these people or in this job or in this situation. And so just the... See more

Adrian Zupp • Lucia Berlin: Writing Advice and More in This Never-Before Published Interview

Steven Pressfield on determination:

"I’ve seen a million writers with talent. It means nothing. You need guts, you need stick-to-it-iveness. It’s work, you gotta work, do the freakin’ work. That’s why you’re gonna make it, son. You work. No one can take that away from you."

For me, all fiction is about prizing the logic of metaphors - which is the logic of narratives in general - over reality, which is irreducibly random and senseless.
Ken Liu