Jonathan Franzen offers up a big picture MFA in Creative Writing via a press conference at the world-famous Hay Festival in Great Britain. Lots of good stuff, like:
A big problem for the novel is that the world doesn’t stop, it’s moving so fast and here you are slowly struggling. You have to be aware of that, keep it in mind and think about how to write a book that will not already be out of date at the time it’s published. You have to have a lot of patience, you have to have faith that it will matter when you’re finally done with it. If you are writing a novel, that can be a faith in God but it can also exercise the same faith muscles without having a religion attached.
As a practical matter, I think it’s very important not to have an internet connection when you’re working. You have to turn down the noise. The thing about the media is that they say the same thing thousands of times a day. You can cut out 99.9 per cent of that and still get what you need. Because what the culture is telling you is important isn’t necessarily what’s really important. The novel’s job nowadays is to listen carefully, cut the noises down and pay attention when the culture is not paying attention.
The most inspiring thing anyone ever said to me about writing was Don DeLillo, and it was simply: ‘The writer leads, he doesn't follow.’
No comments:
Post a Comment