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A novelist describes her exposure to a multitude of scientific disciplines as the writer-in-residence at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and shares how exploring something completely new has lent fresh energy to her work.
“I was playing, trying to make something I liked, something no one else had already made for me.” —Rachel Trousdale, author of Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem
When you venture to inhabit identities and communities beyond your experience, seek people and places to ground your work. A journalist and novelist explains how research skills help fortify one’s imagined realities.
“Take your time. And indulge in the messiness, the privacy, the anxieties of the writing process.” —Aria Aber, author of Good Girl
“I studied with Gordon Lish and he once said: ‘Never explain, never complain.’” —Lily Tuck, author of The Rest Is Memory
“Do a lot of people feel this monogamous guilt in their writing lives?”—Sharon Wahl, author of Everything Flirts: Philosophical Romances
“Take a year, pursue it, and see what happens.” —Afabwaje Kurian, author of Before the Mango Ripens
The author of Freedom Is a Feast examines the inspirational power of real-life events.
“Just tell the truth.” —Kiran Bath, author of Instructions for Banno
