If she feels blocked on one project, she switches to another one. Gay’s tip is simple: have multiple creative projects going at the same time.
Creatively multitaskĮvery writer has different advice for how to brainstorm ideas and defeat writer’s block. Transport them to another body, another mind, another location. Envelop them in the world of your story - fiction or nonfiction. Regardless of the type of story you’re writing, your goal is to make readers lose track of time. Does it feel boring? Does it feel slow? And so, I want an essay - no matter the length - to move along at a steady pace. “I’m worried about what it feels like to read it. “When I’m writing a personal essay, I’m not worried about length,” says Gay. Focus on propulsionĪs someone who writes everything from short stories to novels, Gay says the length of a piece doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as its speed: How does your story feel to readers? Roxane Gay at a book signing (Image Credit: Berkeley Center for New Media on Flickr) 7. You have to be able to edit yourself and edit those ideas down into one or two ideas that you can examine in depth, because depth and breadth matter, and that’s how you really create substance and meaning in your work.” “Sometimes, when you start to think about what you want to write, you come up with 10 or 15 ideas and you think that they all have to go in one piece cause this is it, this is your moment! But no, they don’t have to go all in one piece,” says Gay. That advice still guides me today, and Gay agrees that prioritization is key for identifying the type of information you should include in your stories. Don’t try to say too much in one article.” I once received the writing advice, “When you’re writing, you will want to say one hundred things, but you need to say just one. Be selective about what to include in your story She says that when you’re thinking about the WHY of the story you’re writing, the answer must be better than, “I just want people to hear this story.” That shallow answer indicates you need to dive deeper into why that issue is so important to you and why you’re the best person to write about it. What do you want to accomplish and what do you want to leave the reader with?” Gay says that it’s imperative to consider the goals of any piece: “Always think about what your purpose is. Decide what you want to accomplishĪs a writer, it’s easy to get distracted and lose sight of the message you’re trying to get across. Bring your perspective to the page to drive discussion and demand change. She encourages other writers to narrate the world they see around them and help others understand it. “And I’m grateful to writing for doing that.”
“There are so many issues I didn’t think I cared about until I read about them,” says Gay. If she hears about a topic that she thinks others should know about, she writes about it.īring your perspective to the page to drive discussion and demand change. Gay uses current events as motivation to inspire her work. She’s able to remove the mental barriers by helping others imagine a world that’s better tomorrow than it is today. She says that when she writes about progressive ideas, she gets to make those ideas seem more feasible. “Writing is a way of contributing to the political climate and saying something meaningful,” says Gay. She’s able to amplify her voice and boldly speak the truth to those who need to hear it. On the page, she has the freedom to be whoever she wants to be. Gay says she’s always been shy and quiet, but that doesn’t mean she needs to observe that same tone in her writing.
Choose who you want to become on the page She tries to select the right medium to tell each specific story. To her, the medium matters less than the message.
Roxane Gay has leveraged her storytelling ability to write short stories, nonfiction, novels, and graphic novels, and she’s even working on a screenplay. And there are different rules for every genre, but what makes a good story is pretty much the same.” She says, “I love learning new genres, but the reality is that storytelling is storytelling. People say that if you stay in your lane, you’ll teach your readers what to expect with your writing and you’ll (maybe) become popular in that niche topic. There’s a common writing myth that you need to choose one or two topics and only write about those topics. (All quotes are from her MasterClass.) 1. If you haven’t yet spent the $180/year for a MasterClass subscription, you can find Gay’s top 13 writing tips below. She recently shared her top tips in a MasterClass on writing for social change. Roxane Gay is a social commentator, author, and professor who has developed a reputation for being candid, vulnerable, and courageous. You may know her from her essays in the New York Times and Salon, her memoir Hunger, or her countless other books and publications. Image Credit: Eva Blue on Wikimedia Commons