Category: words

Scottish crime writer Denise Mina says it’s not possible. “I think a lot of people are wanting to run, to get the fuck out of here, so I wanted to write a really engaging world for them to be in.” – The Guardian (UK)

Otherwise, everything else collapses – and you don’t need to be writing science fiction to use science. “Science provides a clear and pragmatic framework with which to view the murkier and less-than-perfect world of humans, giving resonance and beauty to a fictional story while also being a metaphor for its larger theme. Science also asks questions about the world, as do characters in a novel.” – LitHub

The author of The Trust Exercise was doing research about cults, Scientology, and some of the power of repetition in molding disparate people into one focused group. But, she says, that wasn’t her intention in writing her book: “I never outline in advance and most of the time I have no idea, in advance, how something is going to end.” – The Millions

Tayari Jones had several well-reviewed books before American Marriage too off last year. She remembers, “I published my first book in 2002 and I remember that I was at Bread Loaf [Writers’ Conference]. A lot of [other emerging writers] had been on NPR and other things and I hadn’t done any of these things. I remember I sat on my bed in my little Bread Loaf dorm room and I just cried. How will I ever catch up?” – Shondaland

Bernardine Evaristo co-founded Britain’s Theatre of Black Women in the 1980s, and she’s not shy about using her experience in a new novel – or the experiences and lives of other Black British women through history. “It’s very important to know the alternatives to mainstream history, as we’re not represented in it. To discover how deep our roots are is important. Those of us who are older are living history, and I feel we have a duty to share it.” – The Guardian (UK)

And yes, it was an inside job: “The Bible was among hundreds of rare books, maps and other items, worth about $8 million in total, that the authorities have said were stolen by the archivist in charge of the collection over nearly 20 years.” – The New York Times

A woman who keeps only 5-10 physical books in her personal library at any time wonders, “Why are we so attached to our books? As I held and decided the fate of each book, I kept coming back to this question. Why was I attached to these physical objects? Paper, binding glue, a cover. Fairly simple and commonplace. I knew I could easily find replacements for my discarded books, and that … the true connection I felt was to the stories themselves. The books were mere vessels. So why didn’t I want to part with them?” – The Millions

First, don’t think too much about writing a book. Second, cheat. – LitHub

“What if the critic doesn’t need more audacity, or more ruthlessness; what if there isn’t one “tone of the time” waiting for their elucidation – indeed, what if nothing but mass popularity is missing? Relinquish the assumption that the mainstream is the critic’s rightful inheritance, and the anxiety might start falling away.” – Times Literary Supplement