In recent weeks, the enormous and enormously moving Black Lives Matter protests have triggered an overdue reckoning in every facet of American life, including the worlds of publishing, Hollywood, and journalism about barriers that keep writers of color from telling their stories, and how those barriers can be torn down.
Before and After
Write a description of a lake as seen through the eyes of someone who has just committed a murder. Do not mention the murder.
That exercise—made famous by the novelist John Gardner in his writing book The Art of Fiction and a favorite of many Gotham teachers—has been on my mind a lot this week, as more and more writers ponder out loud what it means to write in the time of coronavirus. Continue reading “Before and After”
Taking Care
Maybe you heard about how writers like Isaac Newton and Ernest Hemingway and Boccaccio were super productive when they lived under quarantine.
Maybe you heard that Shakespeare allegedly wrote King Lear while quarantined during an outbreak of the bubonic plague.