Would you please tell us a little about your writing process?
I usually start with an image or a phrase. Sometimes I get ideas from a dream that really stuck with me. Then I try to write my first draft as quickly as I can. If I start going back to re-read and edit too much in this creative phase, it ties me up and I have a hard time moving forward to the completion of the story.
If I wrote something pretty corny, and I can feel the corniness as I’m writing it, I highlight it and write in the margins “SFDMBW” for “Sh*tty First Drafts Must Be Written” and then I keep writing. It’s an acknowledgement that this wasn’t my best, and that I’ll get back around to fixing it when the time comes.
Once I get a first draft of a short story, I’ll let it sit for a couple days and come back to it with fresh eyes. After a re-read, I journal about what I think is happening in this story–what themes am I seeing? This zooming out helps me see what I’ve got. It becomes clearer what’s missing and what elements in the story are outside of the scope and can be cut. Then I add more interiority and description on the scaffolding I have.
At first there’s too much frantic typing and moving paragraphs around to do anything by hand, but once I’m zeroing in on a draft I feel pretty happy with, it’s time for a printed manuscript and a red pen. It helps me read it in a different way.
Then I tinker with it until it feels right.
How do you believe a writer improves? Practice? Mentors? Reading everything? Attending festivals?
I read a lot and always have, but I think that while reading can develop taste, it can’t improve your writing on its own. It would be like listening to jazz every day without ever picking up an instrument. In order to improve your writing, you must write.
I believe that one of the best ways a writer can improve is by joining a regular writing group where you both receive and give thoughtful critiques on full drafts. Not only do you get to see your writing in the eyes of another, but (I’d argue more importantly) you get into the habit of thinking critically about a piece of fiction in its early stages.
When you take the time to look at another’s piece and note, “What’s working here?”, “Where is the author losing me?”, “What excited me about this story?”, “What do I want to know more about?” you sharpen that editorial eye that you can then turn towards your own work.
So often we only see the polished pieces that are published, but there’s something really important about seeing how the sausage is made, so to speak. First (and even second and third) drafts are really shaky, with lots of plot holes, flat dialogue, and cliches. Seeing more of that and then seeing how those drafts evolve into something great helps you realize that your kind-of-crummy first draft is not where it ends! It’s just the beginning.
My advice is to get in community with other writers who are looking for feedback and practice honing your own editorial eye. This will help you elevate your own writing. And it will help you see that in the sometimes lonely world of writing, there are others just like you, who feel compelled to put words on paper.
Do you enjoy writing?
When I am in the flow and the words come rushing out faster than I can type them, there is nothing like it. It’s like running downhill with the wind at your back.
But far more often, there are times where I second guess myself as I reread very cringy sentences I’ve written, and I step away wondering why I even bother.
So yes, I enjoy writing as much as one “enjoys” life. Both writing and life have their moments of joyful elation and heartbreaking sorrow, and a lot of mundane “blah” moments in between.
What is the best piece of advice you have received? Or, what is the best piece of advice you would offer an aspiring writer?
My writing teacher in my early twenties, David Schweidel, would remind us to “notice, notice, notice.” This is still advice I return to. So much of writing is about mining your own lived experience for details to ground your stories.
Notice the way people speak. Notice the way the light falls through scraggily trees on a clear winter morning. Notice what irritates you. Notice how the receptionist at the dentist’s office has her nails done. The world is rich with details you can harvest.
When I’m writing, I sometimes feel like I’m scrapbooking together pieces of life that I’ve experienced onto something I’ve imagined. And this blend of the imaginary rooted with real-life detail is not only fun to write, but it also provides such a rich reading experience. On a personal level, reminding myself to “notice, notice, notice” also helps me approach the world with an open curiosity.
Which books is it most important for an aspiring writer to read?
A Swim in A Pond in the Rain by George Saunders delighted me as a writer and a reader. He gives excellent, accessible advice.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, of course. I return to that one all the time.
Are there any downsides to being a writer?
There were years where I didn’t write and there was always a tap-tap-tapping in the back of my mind, urging me to pick it back up again. I once heard someone say, “You know, not everyone feels like they need to write a book,” and that blew my mind! I thought everyone walked around with this nagging feeling that there was something inside them that had to get out.
For me, the downside of being a writer is that even if you write, that “tap-tap-tapping” never really goes away. If I write 1,000 words one day, I feel like I need to write another 1,000 the next 100 days to be worth my salt. I sometimes feel like my own lack of discipline is the bottle neck to getting these stories inside me out in the world and this puts enormous pressure on myself. So that’s rough.
Casey Shapack was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young sons. Her work has appeared in Feminine Collective.