When writers talk about where their ideas come from, the answers are as varied as wildflowers: they write about what keeps them up at night, or they ask “what if?” or they explore topics that leave them full of questions without answers.
In the case of Erin Rose Belair, she writes about the ghosts she’s made peace with. She describes this feeling in her essay for Glimmer Train:
I used to think stories had to come from some higher order, some grand tale. But I only started writing stories when I learned how to make peace with those ghosts, when I learned how to listen to what I was already telling myself.
Read Belair’s full essay, and also take a look at these other features this month at Glimmer Train:
- The SNCF by Karen Malley
- Accidental Bonsai by Lisa Graley
Jane Friedman has spent nearly 25 years working in the book publishing industry, with a focus on author education and trend reporting. She is the editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2023. Her latest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal. In addition to serving on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, she works with organizations such as The Authors Guild to bring transparency to the business of publishing.
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My writing has to come from the ideas that won’t leave me alone, the stuff that I must write simply because I can’t NOT write it. This is especially true in the case of a novel, where I’m going to spend at least a year living with the thing. If it’s easy to dismiss, I probably will, and my readers should probably be grateful.
Great post Jane, I agree with you Michael LaRocca about writing things that never leave you, i write about them too, it’s very powerful. The piece of work shines, it’s as if it’s happy to be out there and I was feel much better after it. Soul soothing!