The author of the National Book Award winner Sing, Unburied, Sing is not only an inspiration to writers everywhere, but does not mince words when discussing her art. Get to know Jesmyn Ward a little better before attending her She Writes University class.
Acceptance and Persistence
Want to know what it takes to be an author? In an interview with PBS News Hour, Jesmyn Ward revealed some of her favorite writing advice.
“I worked with several writers at the University of Michigan: Nicholas Delbanco, Peter Ho Davies, Eileen Pollack, Laura Kasischke, and Thomas Lynch, who told me the same thing over and over again: Persist. Read, write, and improve: tell your stories. Accept rejection until you find acceptance, but don’t become disheartened, stop writing, and remove yourself from the conversation.”
The need for writers to be diligent is as powerful now as it has been at any other time in publishing. Even with the emergence of indie publishers and self-publishing, authors have to work as hard today to get their work in front of readers or into a traditional publishing house. Don’t let the first signs of rejection slow you down.
Empowering Fiction with Facts
Some people will tell you “write what you know.” Others will tell you fiction is not the place for personal stories. Ward seems to have found a happy medium. She describes her merging of fact and fiction in a conversation with NPR’s FRESH AIR.
“…the fictional town that I write about is actually, I guess, a fictional twin of my hometown, DeLisle, Miss. I feel like in every book that I commit to telling the truth about the place that I live in, and also about the kind of people who live in my community.”
There are no hard rules for writing, so if you are interested in weaving your personal experiences into fiction, see how Jesmyn Ward does it in her own award-winning novel.
Writing Through Turmoil
Trauma and tumult can have a massive impact on writing. Sometimes it is fuel, other time it’s a wall. If the world around you is making a negative impact on your writing, you’re not alone, nor are you condemned to being stuck there forever.
In a frank conversation with The Guardian, Jesmyn Ward talks about being a fiction author of color in a time of such political uproar.
“Our current horrors haven’t silenced me yet. I don’t know if they will. If anything, the current political atmosphere has made me angrier, and that’s driven me to my desk, to my computer, to my books. I didn’t write for two years after Hurricane Katrina hit, so it will take something like that to silence me again. And even if something like that occurs, I will return. I can’t help telling stories.”
If like Jesmyn you can’t help telling stories trust in your gut and know your ability to write has not left.
The Truth About Memoir
For those considering writing a memoir, Jesmyn Ward’s description of finishing her own, Men We Reaped, shows that writing isn’t always a symphony of magic. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it’s ugly. And sometimes, the writer walks away as injured as they were before.
In a profile with Publishers Weekly, Ward declared the truth she found in finishing her memoir:
“People ask, ‘Was it therapeutic, writing the memoir?’ It was, in a way, because it makes you work through these things, connect the dots and come to these very painful realizations. But it doesn’t change the fact that they happened. So when people ask that question, they want to think that it heals in some way, that it makes everything better. But it doesn’t. It was worthwhile for me to write this book, but it doesn’t heal anything.”
Some may find the process therapeutic, but if you’re considering memoir, you can’t always count on it being healing process, perhaps just a revealing one.
If you want a chance to learn more from the sensational Jesmyn Ward, make sure you sign up for her class by April 5th. She is kicking off an incredible She Writes University line up.
