Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 21
October 1, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Keep Showing Up
According to Isabel Allende, writing is hard work until it’s not. She told The Writer that the process can be a slog at first, but the important thing is to just keep doing it: Showing up and being patient. I can hit my head against the wall, because it’s not happening. But just keep going. …
September 24, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Push Back the Darkness
Here is what Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux) told the New Yorker about writing books which, emotionally if not factually, draw on dark episodes and feelings from her own life, particularly childhood: I can never make my peace with suffering, but holding on to things doesn’t make my stories any better, …
September 17, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Be Happy with Just Creating
Like a lot of celebrities, David Byrne has given a commencement address. Unlike a lot of celebrities, he had a lot to say beyond empty “you can do it!” exhortations. Per Rachel Arons, Byrne’s 2013 address to the graduating class of the Columbia University School of the Arts was in many ways, a downer. He …
September 13, 2023
Screening Room: ‘Radical Wolfe’
My review of the new documentary Radical Wolfe ran at The Playlist: You wouldn’t want a documentary about Tom Wolfe to mimic his style. That could be challenging (just imagine all the on-screen exclamation marks!!!!!!!, idioSYNcratic CAPITALIZATION, and onomatopoeic spelling) not to mention possibly embarrassing. But it would have been gratifying to see Richard Dewey’s ‘Radical Wolfe’ show …
September 10, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Don’t Be an Artist
How seriously can writers take themselves? The answer, clearly, is extremely seriously. Maybe the real question is: How seriously should writers take themselves? The unsatisfying answer? It depends. H.G. Wells had a definitive view on the subject. A spouting font of words, he produced everything from his still-beloved science fiction work to biographies, comedies, essays, …
September 7, 2023
TV Room: ‘The Afterparty’
The second season of The Afterparty ran its last episode this week. I wrote about the show as an example of the maybe-soon-to-disappear peak streaming show for PopMatters: Shows like The Afterparty will probably not even get greenlit in a few years. Once the streaming services start merging and slashing production schedules, things are more likely to …
September 3, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Get into Character
When trying to get into the spirit of the characters from his new novel Crook Manifesto (incredible, by the way), recurring Writer’s Desk source Colson Whitehead decided he needed to learn as much as he could about the setting of Harlem in the early 1970s. Since his main character, Ray Carney (also the star of …
August 27, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Read and Learn
The novels of Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith) have a typical milieu (Victorian, sensual, layered) that require a high degree of research. Her characters are always lively and well-drawn but the worlds they move through have to be very carefully constructed. But according to Waters, learning to write as she does is about more …
August 20, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Be a Collector
Writers like A.S. Byatt are not the kind who simply get an idea and start banging away at the keys. They study, accrue, and consider. In this interview, the elderly Byatt, still recovering from a recent hospitalization but full of ambition about new projects, talked about her process: You collect the things and then you …
August 13, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Be a Fool
The ever-punning fantasy author Piers Anthony has written, oh who knows how many books? A lot. So many that entire shelves at some used bookstores are given over to his well-read work. Not all of it is for the ages. But the man just loves to put words on paper. So who better to give …
