The question

How does a new work begin for you?

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.

T.C. Boyle

American novelist and short-story writer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Good question. The novel began with Sten and his story, which then suggested the rest. I always follow that first line and always write organically, in sequence. This allows me to make the discoveries I need to as I progress. I don’t really concern myself with questions of which character takes precedence—again, that lies outside my purview. I see this as a kind of ensemble piece, I suppose, like the novel that precedes it, San Miguel , told from the perspective of three women.

Catherine LaSota, The Brooklyn Rail, In Conversation, 1 March 2015 source ↗

Others on this question

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Gore Vidal Novelist, essayist and playwright
I remember being present when a Jesuit priest in Rome asked Tennessee Williams, “How do you write a play?” and Tennessee said, “Well, I start with a sentence.” Well, I start with a sentence, and that’s how you write a book.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗
Ron Gorchov American artist
It’s completely spatial. I follow Graham on that a lot. I really think that painting is about space and proportions and where things go; it’s what painting is. Form, if it isn’t the right color, it is not in the right place. And you know you can actually change the relationships a lot by changing the color a little. Yesterday, something happened in my studio. I realized that new things come to you all the time when you work in art. I had forgotten that if Graham wanted to make something slightly off-white, he used violet instead of greying it, and it’s really good. So, last night I remembered that, and the painting worked out.
Recorded Nathlie Provosty, The Brooklyn Rail, In Conversation, 1 April 2014 source ↗
Alan Titchmarsh Gardener and broadcaster
Foolhardiness. I wrote two chapters and a synopsis, sent it off to a publisher, and it sold. That's what emboldened me to continue.
Recorded Emine Saner, Question time, The Guardian, 23 September 2009 source ↗

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