Since we’re sharing advice from veteran authors this week at The Ball, I reached out to one of my favorite writers, Aimee Bender. I’ve always been in awe of her work; the way she blends the real with the fantastical and makes poetry out of simple, powerful truths leaves me struck by her stories long after I’ve finished reading them. It’s such an honor to welcome her to the blog today. Thank you, Aimee, for sharing with us.
Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Harper’s, Tin House, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, and many more places, as well as heard on PRI’s This American Life and Selected Shorts. She has received two Pushcart prizes, was nominated for the TipTree award in 2005, and the Shirley Jackson short story award in 2010. Her fiction has been translated into sixteen languages.
She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches creative writing at USC.
Natalia Sylvester
Latest posts by Natalia Sylvester (see all)
- What It Really All Meant, In the End - Tuesday, August 26, 2014
- Book 2 Is Coming Soon, Eventually, Someday… - Tuesday, August 19, 2014
- Renee Swindle on Letting Go of the Rules + GIVEAWAY of A Pinch of Ooh La La! - Saturday, August 16, 2014
- The One Thing I Hope to Do Differently for the Next Book - Tuesday, August 12, 2014
- Anish Majumdar on Writing About Mental Illness, Fiction as Truth + Giveaway of THE ISOLATION DOOR - Saturday, August 9, 2014
Be your own person, ringing loud and clear! I adore your books, Aimee. Thank you for sharing with us today.
Welcome, Amy! I think #1 is so true. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the process of writing and publishing my debut novel, it’s that there’s no single, surefire path.
Really needed #4 today, so thank you, Aimee. And thank you Natalia for reaching out to her!
I love the honesty of both #1 and #4. As writers we tend to think others have it all together, that they have all the answers, and since we don’t, we feel we’re doing it wrong. This advice was so refreshing, and much-needed. Thanks for commenting, Julia! And of course, to Aimee, for taking the time to share with us.
Number 4 resonates with me too. I spent so many years taking critiques, and conference and workshop lessons to heart, feeling bad much of the time, like I was trying to fit my square writing in a round hole of acceptability.
Thank you for joining us today!
I think a lot of my favorite books would not fit in any specific category, which is why #4 makes so much sense.
I. Love. Aimee. Bender. Great advice!
Smart woman. 😉 It takes a brave soul to march to the beat of ones own drum. But I think it’s personal experience, and the wise advice of writers like Aimee, that reinforce our motivation to do so. These five pieces of advice resonant more with me now than they would have several years ago when I started writing seriously and applied everything I heard (or read). What a mess that was. Lol.
Thanks for sharing this, Natalia (and Debs)! It’s good to be reminded of good advice.