Tag: plays

Writer’s Desk: Let Yourself Go

On By chrisbarsantiIn Books, Writing1 Comment

Even though the late, great playwright and script doctor Tom Stoppard was known for dense, gorgeously ornate works that tangled with politics, philosophy, physics, and eternity, he did not go in for self-examination or navel-gazing.

Instead, he once told The Guardian, he preferred just letting himself rip on the page:

A writer ought to be the best possible source about their work, but the writing instinct doesn’t come out of self-examination. That part of yourself in your work is expressed willy-nilly, without your cooperation, motivation or collusion. You can’t help being what you write and writing what you are…

Writer’s Desk: Make Friends With Other Writers

On By chrisbarsantiIn Books, WritingLeave a comment

Patti Smith, remembering her friend Sam Shepard after his recent passing:

We had our routine: Awake. Prepare for the day. Have coffee, a little grub. Set to work, writing. Then a break, outside, to sit in the Adirondack chairs and look at the land. We didn’t have to talk then, and that is real friendship. Never uncomfortable with silence, which, in its welcome form, is yet an extension of conversation. We knew each other for such a long time. Our ways could not be defined or dismissed with a few words describing a careless youth. We were friends; good or bad, we were just ourselves. The passing of time did nothing but strengthen that. Challenges escalated, but we kept going and he finished his work on the manuscript. It was sitting on the table. Nothing was left unsaid. When I departed, Sam was reading Proust…

Writers should never just socialize with their own kind. The effect would be initially instructive and eventually destructive.

But writers should always make sure to have writer friends. They understand silence.