One question · 6 of 32 answers to it
Originally asked
The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series
A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Novelist, poet and critic; twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Right. It saves you from giving up. This present novel that will be out — Villages — I several times thought it might be a bad idea and kind of abandoned it.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2004
It's just, I would say, faith. I had very clear visions of me being a champion.
Recorded · NPR · 2012
Physicist; Nobel laureate in physics for the invention of the maser and laser
People tell me that I work hard. I never feel that I do particularly, because it’s fun. I always say, “Well, I’ve never worked hard in my life.” I’m busy, but most of what I do is enjoyable.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1991
Businessman and investor; chairman of Grupo Carso and América Móvil
It takes a combination of ways to do these things, more than discipline. It’s a way of life. It’s like diet or gymnastics. You can know all the gymnastic things, all the exercises.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2007
Singer-songwriter and poet; Mercury Prize winner
I do, but I never force it out of myself.
Recorded · The Talks · 2021
Novelist, essayist and playwright
It’s best to start writing when you wake up in the morning, or afternoon, or whenever it is you wake up.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2006
Answers marked Recorded were said elsewhere and are quoted with the publication and date they came from. Those people have not joined — nobody here answers on anyone else's behalf.
Originally asked
The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series
A repeated process question in The Creative Independent, asked across visual art, music, writing, performance, and mixed media.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
American artist
When I look at a piece and I feel like it’s done. Usually I feel like everything is sitting where it should be, and nothing’s out of place.
Recorded · The Creative Independent
Installation artist and sculptor
The quote of “unfinished, but complete” was first introduced to my lexicon when I was studying the drawings of Michelangelo.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2024
Chef and chocolatier
I’ll taste it, taste it, taste it, taste it. I ask myself, “How can I make it better?
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2026
Originally asked
The Paris Review, to novelists and poets, The Art of Fiction
A recurrent craft question in The Paris Review's Art of Fiction interviews; wording varies between character, theme, first sentence, image, and idea.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
writer
At first I’ll think of stuff in my head for a while. The more I think of an idea, the more promising it is— it just naturally occupies space in my brain.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2025
Musician
No.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2021
Film and television composer
I’m very much like Hans, yes!
Recorded · The Talks · 2025
Originally asked
The Paris Review, to novelists and poets, The Art of Fiction
A recurring Art of Fiction craft question, sometimes asked about daily rewriting and sometimes about the number of drafts.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Playwright and screenwriter
When I’m ready I’ll transfer what I have to the computer and rewrite.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
Author
I print every draft out even if it’s like seven things I want to change and then I type it all back into the computer sentence by sentence so that every single one is good and I’ll mumble…
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2024
writer
I did a round of edits on my own, a round of edits with my agents before we sent it out, and then there’s obviously the round of edits with my editor.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2023
Recorded for public figures, from the source their answers were taken from. Browse by era too.
Every question the bank can deal, in the order it was written. See all 126.
Alex Honnold, Andre Russell, Angélica Negrón, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arthur Ashkin, Bozoma Saint John, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, David Chang, David Harewood, Dawn O'Porter, Denton Cooley, Edwina Currie, Elaine May, Gemma Whelan, Hans Zimmer, Harold Kroto, Helena Bonham Carter, James Norton, John Cleese, Johnny Flynn, Judy Blume, Judy Murray, June Brown, Keith Black, Lemn Sissay, Loraine James, Marie Kondo, Marissa Nadler, Meghann Fahy, Melissa McCarthy, Paula Wilcox, Peter Sarsgaard, Rita Dove, Rob da Bank, Rory Bremner, Sally Bercow, Stephen K Amos, Stéphane Lambiel, Timothy Spall, Yayoi Kusama
You are dealt a few questions at a time and answer the ones you want to. What you write gets a permanent address and keeps it. Rewrite it whenever you like and say why — the new version goes up beside the old one rather than over it, so changing your mind reads as thinking rather than as a reversal.
You write before you read. Other members' answers to a question stay shut until you have answered it or passed on it, because reading first changes what you would have said. Passing is free and it is permanent.
Most of what is here so far was said somewhere else and recorded with its source — a named person, a publication and a date, on every line. Nothing has been deleted.