Just as we can tire of anything overly familiar—our bedrooms, our commutes, our (sorry) friends and family—so too can we tire of our writing. When I’m stuck it’s because I’ve grown weary of my own particular architecture: The syntax goes slack, the images pale. Not only do I feel burdened with what I have, but also by what I will have. Another description of the desert at night? Another abandonment? The course of creativity looks predetermined, which is another way of saying doomed. The palace of the mind, stared at long enough, becomes dull as a suburb.
And so I go to the wilderness. Out there is a band of trusted writers who remind me, through their sheer originality of vision, language, and form(lessness), that any confined feeling about the page is just that—a feeling. They are jolters, resuscitators, oddballs ready to slingshot you to space. I suspect they can save anyone’s life, creative or otherwise. Walk among them, read their books, and track some of their muddy bewilderment back into your home. They are: Caren Beilin, Claire-Louise Bennett, Anne Carson, Victoria Chang, Renee Gladman, Garielle Lutz, Sabrina Orah Mark, Mary Ruefle, Solmaz Sharif, and Joy Williams.
—Scott Broker, author of The Disappointment (Catapult, 2026)
Photo credit: Martha Tesema