Zainab Abdul Aziz
asked
Richard Russo:
Hello Mr Russo. As an aspiring writer, I always find writing is harder than what people always think. However, brilliant writer like you make it seem easier. I always wonder what and how you keep the idea flow. Would you share with us your writing routine and any advise or tips to aspiring writers like me? -zaa
Richard Russo
Hi, Zaina (if I'm intuiting your first name correctly). Flow, as you call it, derives (I suspect) from concentrating on small things and ignoring big ones. Novels (and even most short stories) are just too big to hold in your head at once. And even the biggest novels are a series of small, true moments. Concentrate on those and the whole will take care of itself. In other words: small bites, chew thoroughly before swallowing, repeat. To that end, write every day, but only a couple hours. Seven days times two hours is fourteen hours a week. That's much better than binge-writing for fourteen hours on the weekend. All that does is make you dread weekends.
More Answered Questions
Diane
asked
Richard Russo:
Dear Mr. Russo, So excited to read this! I had written in a previous review that I love your writing so muchI would even read your grocery lists. Do you have a favorite among your own novels? I still laugh out loud when I read Straight Man...especially the part about getting the dog. Hilarious! Thank you for enriching my life. Diane
Joe D M-H
asked
Richard Russo:
I loved Empire Falls and Straight Man; you capture so much in the way of the humor and humanity of your characters' inner thoughts and the closeness (and intense, familiar realness) of the towns/communities they inhabit. What do you do, if anything, to prepare yourself for writing? Any habits? Do you outline or discovery-write your plots and characterizations? Do you do world-building beforehand or as you go along?
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