Writing is solitary. And if you’re anything like me, you like to dip into some writing inspiration from time to time for a creative boost or deeper insight into the craft. So much of our progress comes from how we feel about our work. So today, I’m going to pull some of my favorite quotes from Hemingway, Tolstoy, and Sondheim, then riff on them for the wisdom and creative fuel they offer on writing technique and the writing life.
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Here’s a glance at this episode:
[1:52] Notes on character
As Hemingway said, our task as writers is to try to understand. Not judge. Learn how to move past your own preconceived notions about your characters to create rich, complex, believable people.
[4:09] How to connect with your most troublesome characters
Actors are trained to identify with their characters by tapping into their own shadow side. Learn the actor’s technique to playing characters completely out of your ken.
[8:58] Think big. Write small
We writers deal with big ideas. War. Death. Betrayal. We write about big emotions. Grief, fear, love, exhilaration, rage. But if we write a story about something as ethereal as love without anchoring it in the physical world, we have a really hard time writing the story. And we don’t create this vivid, fictional dream that plays across the readers mind.
[13:42] How to move past imposter syndrome
Every writer feels fraudulent in some way and at various times. And I mean every writer, from the novice to the widely published. There is always a point where we reach an impasse. And we think, ” If I was a real writer, I’d be able to write this book easily.” Learn how to keep writing even when you feel like a fraud.