Thoughts on: Writing (3)

From George Saunders to Sari Botton, here is a batch of bite-sized wisdom on the art and craft of writing

Photo by Eugene Chystiakov 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. When words lose meaning, go back to the body.

“You can only say I was heartbroken or devastated or even grieving so often before those words start to lose meaning. I try to remember how certain experiences felt in my body. Did I feel my heart beating fast? Was there a lump in my throat? Was my stomach upset? Did I feel hot or cold? Was I shaky?

It’s getting easier to write in this way as I get older and feel less of a sharp division between my brain and my body.”

— Nicole Chung [read Nicole’s full interview]

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2. Anything that can go, should go.

“The first thing [about editing] is anything that can go should go, whether it's a word or a sentence or a paragraph or an entire character. If it's not load bearing, let's get rid of it. It’s also places where we can be more specific. So the line where someone said, ‘he looked around at all the junk,’ Well, let's pick some junk. Perhaps a deflated basketball. So we're cutting dead weight, and then we're getting specifics in there. And we're cutting dialogue that’s basically just small talk but taking the dialogue that matters and helping it drip with subtext.”

—

Rebecca Makkai

[read Rebecca’s full interview]

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3. Center people who understand you.

“Something that took me a long time to realize is that if you try to center people who don't understand what you're writing about, the writing is going to come out stilted. The strain falls on the act of explaining.

Think about someone who will get what you're writing about, and write to them through the whole narrative. After, you can reread, or give the manuscript to someone who’s an outsider to what you’re writing about. You can use their feedback to add contextual sentences here and there wherever they're confused.

We tend to not to trust that people will understand but audiences are very able to meet you where you are.”

— Ingrid Rojas Contreras [read Ingrid’s full interview]

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4. Find compassion for your characters, including yourself.

“One of the things I had to do in writing this book was to find compassion for myself. And for some of the people in the book, especially the worst people.

I had to find compassion for everyone, including myself—which is hard to do especially when you’re disappointed with yourself for so many of your choices. After several rounds of revision, I came to a place where I had so much empathy for the earlier versions of me who were misdirected and made so many stupid choices. When I revised the book to reflect that, it felt better; I could present her in a way that didn't feel harsh. Even though it's very bald, I don't sugarcoat some of the bad choices that I made, I do so with love for her, for little Sari.”

—

Sari Botton

[read Sari’s full interview]

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5. When your story outfoxes you, look at the text.

“If you're writing a story and you get to an obstruction, a natural response is, ‘Oh, no, I'm no good. My story has outfoxed me.’ But to say, ‘Okay, I am having an obstruction. I acknowledge it.’ That alone will sometimes break it open.

If you say, ‘I've been writing this thing for eight years and I just noticed that some of the animals talk and some don't. Shit. I quit. My book is illogical.’ That's one approach. But you could also say, ‘Oh, interesting. I acknowledge that's a problem. I can't leave it like that.’ Then you'll lean into it. ‘Alright, let me look at the text.’ That’s always my mantra: Look at the text.”

—

George Saunders

[read George’s full interview on craft]

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Ending tomorrow: 25% off a year of all Beyond has to offer—heart-centered interviews (next up: Elizabeth Gilbert, Rene Denfeld, and Suleika Jaouad), weekly questionnaires with your favorite Substackers (like Emma Gannon, Austin Kleon, and Sari Botton), my own personal essays, incredible contributions from guest writers, craft advice from the best writers alive today, and so much more. Please consider upgrading your subscription today.

Tell me your thoughts on writing!

What are your thoughts on writing this week? Do any of the thoughts listed above resonate with you?