#573: Margaret Atwood — A Living Legend on Creative Process, The Handmaid’s Tale, Being a Mercenary Child, Resisting Labels, the Poet Rug Exchange, Liminal Beings, Burning Questions, Practical Utopias, and More
The Tim Ferriss Show
Writing Poetry vs. Novels
Writing novels requires dedication and hard work, while inspiration for poetry can strike at any time. Poets annoy others with their unpredictable behavior, inspired by a different part of the brain. Novels focus on narrative and storytelling, akin to epic poetry. The Odyssey is likened to a Western, with tension and disguise playing key roles in the narrative.
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Margaret Atwood (@margaretatwood) is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Dearly, her first collection of poetry in over a decade, was published November 2020. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. It is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include Cat’s Eye, finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; the MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Retold.
Margaret’s work has been published in more than 45 countries, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Innovator’s Award.
Burning Questions, a collection of essays from 2004–2021 will be published in March of this year. Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible, an eight-week live online learning experience, will run later this year.
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When jumping into a new writing project, does Margaret know if it’s going to be expressed as poetry or prose? From her perspective, is there a difference in where they originate? How do these two sometimes act in synergy? [07:59]
How does Margaret maintain her vital life energy at 82 years young? [16:55]
In what way does astrology — particularly Gemini rising — explain Margaret’s tendency to “stick [her] nose into things?” [18:45]
The Gift vs. Trickster Makes This World. [24:24]
What drives Margaret’s ability to craft engaging speculative fiction? [26:51]
What are the downsides of raising a family in the woods, blissfully isolated from the world? Margaret shares a glimpse into her own childhood. [33:07]
How crossing a football field in a pink princess line dress nudged Margaret toward writing poetry for the first time. [38:03]
How the limited number of career options from which a young woman was expected to choose guided Margaret toward her current profession — and how long it took to start paying off. [44:17]
What benefit did Margaret get from writing during the time before being paid to do so? [49:44]
As someone who’s often found herself in the teaching profession, what type of teaching has Margaret enjoyed most? [52:59]
Why Margaret considers The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson to be required reading for young adults. [55:28]
Why Margaret resists the act of labeling that humans tend toward. [58:24]
What explains Margaret’s ongoing interest in dystopian — as well as utopian — literature, and what can people expect from “Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible,” her eight-week online learning experience? [1:02:58]
Comparing and contrasting major revolutions and political upheavals of recent centuries, and what Margaret learned by visiting Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. [1:08:31]
How is the DISCO online learning platform that will host “Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible” different from other such platforms, and what kind of problems will participants be solving? [1:12:01]
What readers can expect from Burning Questions. [1:14:42]
How has Margaret’s writing process changed over the course of her life? What does it look like these days? [1:19:24]
A tangent about shows we binge when our writing quotas for the day are fulfilled, an H.G. Wells story about perspective, and a Twilight Zone episode that (surprise!) doesn’t end well for its protagonist. [1:22:04]
Tezos NFTs, illustrated utopias, and inventions fitting unexpected functions. [1:24:22]
A spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t yet read The Testaments and doesn’t want to know what happens to a character from The Handmaid’s Tale: skip ahead to the next timestamp! [1:31:48]
Does Margaret do research for her characters? [1:33:27]
Margaret turns the tables and asks me what prompted my podcasting endeavors. [1:35:36]
Dictation apps, the three Henry Jameses, and confessional stenographers. [1:37:48]
Undertaking winter adventures at high elevations and other parting thoughts. [1:41:25]
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