Here are a few observations on writing by David Sedaris. To check out other resources and learn more about MasterClass, please click please here.
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How does one of America’s preeminent humor writers approach the writing process? With tenacity, and professionalism.
o “People write for different reasons. For me, it’s a compulsion.”
o “You have to be on fire with the idea of words.”
o “You need to be in the world and you need to be engaged with the world. It’s my job to collect jokes. It’s my job to collect startling images. And so when I’m out in the world, I’m at work. And I’m a professional.”
o “You don’t want to end [a moment in a juicy conversation.] I was in London and I was in a taxidermy shop. And the owner of the shop showed me these owls that he had for sale. And then he showed me a pygmy skeleton. And then he showed me an amputated arm. And then he showed me a girl’s head. So he had some human things that were for sale. And by that time my life really felt like a story. But I knew that if I pulled out my notebook, everything would have ended.”
o “You can’t write unless you read.”
o “As a writer, you’re sort of exploiting everybody you come into contact with.”
o “Writing gives you the illusion that you’re in control. But it’s just that: an illusion.”
o “When I’m writing about people I know, I’m trying to celebrate them to the best of my ability.”
o “You need to do the best that you can do, and then you need to take the best that you can do and you need to rewrite it, and rewrite it, and rewrite it.”
o “When the audience laughs, I make notes. And when the audience coughs, it’s like they’re throwing skulls at you. They’re telling you that if this was on the page, they would be skimming now. At the end of the night I’ll lay my story out on the hotel bed and look at my notes, and I’ll notice the flow of the laughter. I want there to be a rhythm to it. I want it to be like a roller coaster that the audience is strapped into.”
o “Most of what I know I learned by going to people’s readings and by taking part in readings.”
o “The danger is writing something that just stops, instead of something that ends.”
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