Thoughts on: Writing (2)

From Lidia Yuknavitch to Hamish McKenzie, here is more wisdom on the art and craft of writing

Photo by Nicolas Messifet on Unsplash

Welcome to Thoughts On, a series of bite-sized, soul-nourishing insights from our time’s greatest heart-centered minds. Culled from my interview series, these are the can’t-miss excerpts on the deeply personal craft of writing.

1. Kick away the ladder.

“The difference between a good Substack and a great Substack is courage. The more you lean into courage, the more meaningful your Substack can be and the more you can connect with people.

As far as a craft tip goes: One thing that’s stuck with me is to kick away the ladder. You write into a piece—you spend a lot of time working on an introduction of a scene, a lot of throat clearing before you eventually launch into the meat of it. And most of the time, that throat clearing can just be swept away.”

—

Hamish McKenzie

[read Hamish’s full interview]

***

2. Structure in other parts of life can yield space for more experimental, playful writing.

“Having lots of constants in my life allows the variables [of writing] to feel really comfortable. If my life was just 100% variables, it might be hard for me to approach that with a lot of joy in my writing. But having a lot of constants in my life gives me a really firm foundation from which to play and experiment and have no idea how it's going turn out and trust myself.”

—

Maggie Smith

[read Maggie’s full interview]

***

3. Structure in form can yield surprising writing, too!

“Limitations can create a liberating situation in an ironic way because when you have a form, there's a safety in that and then you can be free within those spaces. For instance, I wanted to write about my dad's time in assisted living and this weird coincidence of all these room 205s that he lived in in the last years of life. I tried to write about it in a traditional essay and it didn't feel right. Then I wrote it in a more collagey way, and it wasn't quite coming together. Then I had an epiphany! I thought, Oh, there's a constraint right within the title, Room 205. If I write these sections in 205 word chunks, it would marry form and content. That's what opened the door for me and I was able to write it in the way I needed to.

Constraint allows your brain to work in a certain way. I find this with formal poetry too, such as sestinas or sonnets: your brain is so focused on the guidelines and constraints of the form, that it can allow the subconscious to bubble out in surprising ways. It leads to a lot of surprise and discovery.”

—

Gayle Brandeis

[read Gayle’s full interview]

***

4. Create writing that leaves a crack for whoever’s coming next. That’s the reason to do it.

“It’s been true my whole adult literary career, I have noticed that more often male authors are given that navigational freedom on the page. It doesn't do a lot of good to just go wah or say, “that's not fair.” We have to write our way there. We have to blow it open as we can, even though that's a sort of gross way to put it. But women get through. And non-binary people and queer people, they get through. So we just keep kind of eroding the wall with the help of worms and the help of animals and the help of rain. It’s my hope that it's not for me that I get through on occasion. It's that it leaves a crack for whoever's coming next. That's the importance. That's the reason to do it.”

— Lidia Yuknavitch [read Lidia’s full interview]

***

Want more writing wisdom? Check out Part I of Thoughts on: Writing.