In Ann Patchett’s book, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, she has a part about writing. I think that has always been my go-to; I reread that essay over and over. There are three main takeaways. The first is don’t be precious with your work. It’s about how freelance writing really helped her get over herself. When an editor cuts your best lines, it’s very painful, but I’ve also been in the daily news industry, and they always cut your best lines, so I’m very used to that. It still stings, but I get over it faster.
That applies in fiction, too. I’m not precious about cutting. I cut an entire narrator [from If I Had Your Face]; there are four narrators now, who have equal weight in the book, and there were five. I cut out a fifth of the book with my editor after reading Ann Patchett.
Her second piece of advice that I love to follow is not to jump around in time when you’re writing. Just write it in the order that the book will be read. When I jump around, I always mess up. I’ve already set out my plot, and I’m going to mess it up if I try to change it as I go along. Finally, the third is: time applied equals work completed. So much of writing is actually just being in despair about writing, not actually writing. Just write your crap and accept it!
Meet the author: Frances Cha [Penguin Books UK, 15 July 2020]
Use the link below to read an July 2020 interview with North American writer FRANCES CHA:
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