The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker Tessa Hadley on Her Years of Learning to Write
Aug 28, 2023
Tessa Hadley, a prolific fiction writer with thirtieth story published in The New Yorker, discusses her journey as a writer, including the challenges she faced. They explore the connection between imagination and character development, observations from the window, and creating tension in a mother-daughter scene during the pandemic.
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Years Of Trying Before Breakthrough
- Tessa Hadley describes years of writing and failing before her forties, producing work she felt was wrong.
- She eventually reached a moment where writing felt like coming home to her own voice.
Finding Your Own Writing Voice
- Hadley suggests self-deception is common in writing and that distinguishing false hope from genuine progress is hard.
- Finding your own voice feels like recognising rooms in your own house after wandering in other people's wildernesses.
Persist By Imagining The Next Book
- Persist even when work feels wrong because desire to write can drive you back to trying new projects.
- When you think of quitting, imagine the one book you haven't yet written and start again.