The Generation Of Women Who Came Before

The Lessons Learned In Journalism Also Apply. Writing For Npr Has Taught Me To Cut A Piece In Half And Then In Half Again - Without Losing The Essence. Apply That To The Swollen Prose Of A Bulky Novel And You Might Reveal A Beautiful Work.

I Always Think I Know The Way A Novel Will Go. I Write Maps On Oversized Art Pads Like The Kind I Carried Around In College When I Was Earnest About Drawing. I Need To Have Some Idea Of The Shape Of The Novel, Where Its Headed, So That I Can Proceed With Confidence. But The Truth Is My Characters Start Doing And Saying Things I Don't Expect.

I Don't Know When I'm Writing Dark. I Don't Know When I'm Writing Funny Or Even Heartbreaking. I'm Always Just Trying To Write It True.

As A Writer, My Main Objective Is To Tell The Story Urgently - As If Whispering It Into One Ear - And To Know The Characters Intimately.

She Glances Back Before Stepping Into The Alley, And She Catches Her Grandfather Looking At Her The Way He Does Sometimes--as If She's Already Gone, As If He's Practicing Sorrow.