Zoom Recording

Writing from Life, a recording of the Zoom Conversation on September 23, 2023

Richard, I, and a group of stack readers spent a joyous and exciting hour plus responding to questions sent ahead and comments during the session. The link for the recording is for PAID subscribers. If you would like to subscribe and watch, please click here. Right now, there’s a 25% discount for new subscribers that ends on October 8.

The first writing clinic for smaller groups of 25 launches on Saturday, October 28 at 3pm EST. This one is full, but I am accepting names for future clinics, where you can speak concretely to the group about your own writing projects. If you would like to attend a future clinic, please RSVP, and I will place you on a list: lauriestone@substack.com

Some questions and comments covered in the recording:

A writer offered the “quilt” analogy of making a lot of small squares of text and then laying them out to see what patterns emerge, just by proximity. I think this is actually a pretty good description of how some pieces begin to form, although, as you keep working, you see that the piece as a whole still needs to move forward in terms of momentum and amplification, with new tensions and angles added. A piece-in-progress generates new prompts for where it needs to go. It tells you the next square to write. This process is alive and organic in the moments of discovery, not something you can plan ahead.

Have you written in the midst of traumatic experience in your life?

How do you deal with writing about real people and their feelings?

How do you determine the placement of jump cuts?

Does memoir writing need to be an argument-based format written from one area of your expertise?

Is coincidence a factor in creating a sense of ‘connection’?

How do you revise after you surprise yourself?

The conversation is reminding me of a quote from Stephen King: "When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story."

How do you sustain the thrill of expressing something new when you work on the draft for a long time?

To watch the recording, clink the link and use the passcode below.