“That Cleary eventually ended up writing children’s books feels the way the paths of a great many talented people feel: both inevitable and magical, the result of a lot of hard work mixed with a certain amount of luck.”
Writing
Posted inArts & Culture, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Anatomy of a TV Show: How ‘The Americans’ Is Made
Caroline Framke shadowed the crew of FX’s Cold War spy drama The Americans during the production of season four episode “Clark’s Place” and explained how the show was made.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘Smoking freebase has pretty much been my job for the past year.’
In the New Yorker, Naomi Fry writes about Cat Marnell’s new memoir in a piece that’s part review, part analysis of women’s addiction stories.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Memoirs of Addiction and Ambition
Cat Marnell’s new memoir How to Murder Your Life, like Julia Phillips’ famous You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, is an extreme spectacle of women in capitalism.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Literature by the Numbers
Data journalist Ben Blatt takes his a mathematical approach to the writers of fiction.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
Literature by the Numbers
Data journalist Ben Blatt takes his a mathematical approach to the writers of fiction.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes
How a Story Becomes a ‘Hopeful Thing’: George Saunders on His Writing Process
At the Guardian, the author recounts how it takes “hundreds of drafts” and “thousands of incremental adjustments” to form a story into a “hopeful thing.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
George Saunders: What Writers Really Do When They Write
George Saunders reflects on his writing process, suggesting that the magical, romantic notion where fully formed art leaps from the author’s brain on to the page does the writer, the reader, and the work a disservice. In reality, it takes “hundreds of drafts” and “thousands of incremental adjustments” to form a story into a “hopeful […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
A Conversation With Ariel Levy About Writing a Memoir That Avoids ‘Invoking Emotional Tropes’
The New Yorker staff writer on her new memoir, ‘The Rules Do Not Apply.’
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes
Screw You, and the Icelandic Pony You Rode In On
Novelist Nell Zink, in n+1, takes readers on a rambling but sharp journey through writers and novels of the 20th century in the name of exploring realism, compassion, and justice in fiction.