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Stewart O’Nan Visits Ivy Hall
February 1, 2016 | Leave a Comment
Stewart O’Nan, award-winning author and Ivy Hall’s first guest of 2016 —in partnership with A Cappella Books— opened his lecture by asking the audience, “How’s it feel to be you?” Whether fiction or nonfiction, O’Nan emphasized that no one else can ever perfect your own feelings, so start writing for yourself …and keep writing.
After reading excerpts from his latest novel, West of Sunset, O’Nan shared a few insights on writing:
- Be inspired. Look around and observe people and situations around you and tackle things you don’t understand in the world.
- Be optimistic. Consider the “inevitabilities, probabilities and possibilities” of a story. The promise of a great story is always there.
- Be willing to change. Allow characters, situations or settings to take your story in a new direction. Ask yourself, “Can I do this better or differently?”
- Be silent. Avoid the compulsion to tell the reader everything. Use sensory details to allow the reader to experience the story.
- Be a “grinder.” Have the patience to keep “grinding,” going back to the page, looking for what’s not said.
- Be ready to “sling some ink.” First drafts allow you to discover what the story can become; revisions allow you to sharpen the story. This is where the real work gets done.
“I like to write the impossible book …anything way outside of myself that tries to answer the ‘why’ of something,” O’Nan said. “A story has to do two or three jobs. Everything has to count.”
Many thanks to Stewart O’Nan for visiting and to M.F.A. writing student Shelley Danzy for writing this post.