James Baldwin, via @parisreview
1. How to become a writer?
“Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say. If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you.”
1. How to become a writer?
“Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say. If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you.”
2. Role of talent
“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.”
“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.”
3. Importance of reading
“read everything…It is true that the more one learns the less one knows. I’m still learning how to write. I don’t know what technique is. All I know is that you have to make the reader see it. This I learned from Dostoyevsky, from Balzac.”
“read everything…It is true that the more one learns the less one knows. I’m still learning how to write. I don’t know what technique is. All I know is that you have to make the reader see it. This I learned from Dostoyevsky, from Balzac.”
4. Writing and solitude
“I had to go through a time of isolation in order to come to terms with who and what I was, as distinguished from all the things I’d been told I was…And then I was able to write.”
“I had to go through a time of isolation in order to come to terms with who and what I was, as distinguished from all the things I’d been told I was…And then I was able to write.”
5. How to write a book?
“No one knows how he writes his book…You never get the book you wanted, you settle for the book you get.”
“No one knows how he writes his book…You never get the book you wanted, you settle for the book you get.”
6. Writing routine
“I write at night. After the day is over, and supper is over, I begin, and work until about three or four a.m….I start working when everyone has gone to bed..I do it because I’m alone at night ”
“I write at night. After the day is over, and supper is over, I begin, and work until about three or four a.m….I start working when everyone has gone to bed..I do it because I’m alone at night ”
7. Dealing with criticism
“I would say that one cannot possibly react to any of it. Things may be said which hurt, and you don’t like it, but what are you to do? Write a White Paper, or a Black Paper, defending yourself? You can’t do that.”
“I would say that one cannot possibly react to any of it. Things may be said which hurt, and you don’t like it, but what are you to do? Write a White Paper, or a Black Paper, defending yourself? You can’t do that.”
8. Word of caution
“It’s a terrible way to make a living. I find writing gets harder as time goes on. I’m speaking of the working process, which demands a certain amount of energy and courage and a certain amount of recklessness.”
“It’s a terrible way to make a living. I find writing gets harder as time goes on. I’m speaking of the working process, which demands a certain amount of energy and courage and a certain amount of recklessness.”
9. On craft #1
“Don’t describe it, show it. That’s what I try to teach all young writers—take it out! Don’t describe a purple sunset, make me see that it is purple.”
“Don’t describe it, show it. That’s what I try to teach all young writers—take it out! Don’t describe a purple sunset, make me see that it is purple.”
10. On craft #2
“simplicity…strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.”
“simplicity…strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.”
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