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.

Recorded adrienne maree brown said elsewhere, not written here
what is the seed? What is this that's been given to me?

Emily Race-Newmark, This Is How We Care, September 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Derek Sivers Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want
I have talkative friends. The core of my friendships are curious people. We talk about life. "What do you think of this? Why do people do that? What do you think is the underlying motivation behind the reason that people do this thing?" Just constantly analyzing life.
Recorded Stephan Spencer, podcast transcript, Get Yourself Optimized, 13 August 2025 source ↗
Alan Cumming Scottish actor, producer, director, writer and presenter
No, I would never say that. I would never say that I do something just in order to put a fresh spin on it or do something different with it. I am drawn to certain plays because I think there’s something about them in the story that I want to tell, or that I think is relevant—something that strikes me. With Macbeth, I’m not doing this because I want to do a crazy interpretation or production.
Recorded Gerry Visco, Interview Magazine, 19 April 2013 source ↗
Norman Mailer American writer
No doubt. I’ve written at times about the spooky element in writing. You go in each morning, and there’s a blank page. Maybe it takes five minutes, maybe it takes an hour. Sooner or later you start writing, and then the words begin to flow. Where does that come from? You can’t pinpoint it. You always wonder, “Will it all stop tomorrow?” In that sense it’s spooky. In other words, you’re relying on a phenomenon that’s not necessarily dependable. That’s a particular kind of fear but there are other fears in writing of an altogether different sort.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2004 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 ↗

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