kora, thank you for your question. my last piece "I, NPC" talks a little bit about how terrible i am at writing memoir. my terrible-ness more or less disqualifies me from giving much advice. but i do sense that there is much more hunger for our stories, whether they are "interesting" or not, than many of us are aware of it. as always: i suggest you write what you can, gather your resources (workshops, writing circles, mentors, fellow writers) and let the reader decide whether the work is interesting or not. all you can do is the work.
How much of the story do you have fleshed out before you start writing it? In THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS for example, do you already have the last scene hanging upside down with the change flying out of his pockets before you even venture into the story? Or does it start with Magda and you let it take you there as you write into it? Curious!
kia, thank you for your question. sometimes i have only the slightest idea, an impression and i have to discover the story as i go (Monstro). sometimes i have a story that's a lot more elaborated (Oscar Wao novela). im guessing this is pretty normal. but what i dont do well is when i know a story from beginning to end. if there's no mystery, no process of discovery, find it very hard to write.
Hi Junot! I'm not sure if you've talked about this elsewhere before, but I'm curious as to your thoughts about the relationship between writing and RPGs like D&D. You mention in your latest post that you were very into RPGs, and you were almost always the DM. Did any of that influence your later experience as a writer?
As a late 90s teenager I was really into D&D and RPGs, but mostly computer RPGs as there were very few tabletop players where I'm from. Recently, I've had a certain realization that when I played RPGs, I was actually exercising the "writerly" part of myself: I made decisions in the game (whether dialogue or combat) that made the most satisfying narrative. This was a bit different from my friends who would be more focused on optimizing say damage done, or gold obtained. So I'd be the weird person that would go out of his way to make sure a particular character landed the final killing blow on the big bad that they particularly hated. Now that I'm starting to write more seriously, I'm finding myself in the same mental space: what should this character be doing? What makes the most sense and tells the best story?
(Wasn't sure to comment here or in the newer "I, NPC" post, where it would be somewhat on topic, but since this is Office Hours I decided to put it here.)
do you have any advice for writing memoir, and/or how to gauge whether your memoir story is ‘interesting’ enough to engage readers?
stemming from the idea that we’re all the main characters in our lives and think we’re much more interesting that we may be
kora, thank you for your question. my last piece "I, NPC" talks a little bit about how terrible i am at writing memoir. my terrible-ness more or less disqualifies me from giving much advice. but i do sense that there is much more hunger for our stories, whether they are "interesting" or not, than many of us are aware of it. as always: i suggest you write what you can, gather your resources (workshops, writing circles, mentors, fellow writers) and let the reader decide whether the work is interesting or not. all you can do is the work.
After reading your recent piece on autofiction would also love to know your thoughts on this!
How much of the story do you have fleshed out before you start writing it? In THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS for example, do you already have the last scene hanging upside down with the change flying out of his pockets before you even venture into the story? Or does it start with Magda and you let it take you there as you write into it? Curious!
kia, thank you for your question. sometimes i have only the slightest idea, an impression and i have to discover the story as i go (Monstro). sometimes i have a story that's a lot more elaborated (Oscar Wao novela). im guessing this is pretty normal. but what i dont do well is when i know a story from beginning to end. if there's no mystery, no process of discovery, find it very hard to write.
fascinating. learning about people's creative process is one of those things i don't think I'll ever get tired of. thanks for sharing 🙏
Hi Junot! I'm not sure if you've talked about this elsewhere before, but I'm curious as to your thoughts about the relationship between writing and RPGs like D&D. You mention in your latest post that you were very into RPGs, and you were almost always the DM. Did any of that influence your later experience as a writer?
As a late 90s teenager I was really into D&D and RPGs, but mostly computer RPGs as there were very few tabletop players where I'm from. Recently, I've had a certain realization that when I played RPGs, I was actually exercising the "writerly" part of myself: I made decisions in the game (whether dialogue or combat) that made the most satisfying narrative. This was a bit different from my friends who would be more focused on optimizing say damage done, or gold obtained. So I'd be the weird person that would go out of his way to make sure a particular character landed the final killing blow on the big bad that they particularly hated. Now that I'm starting to write more seriously, I'm finding myself in the same mental space: what should this character be doing? What makes the most sense and tells the best story?
(Wasn't sure to comment here or in the newer "I, NPC" post, where it would be somewhat on topic, but since this is Office Hours I decided to put it here.)