“I feel like the reason I ended up becoming a playwright is because I never choose the right word. As a kid, my fantasy profession was to be a novelist. But the thing about writing prose - and maybe great prose writers don't feel this way - but I always felt it was about choosing words. I was always like, "I have to choose the perfect word." And then it would kill me, and I would choose the wrong word or I would choose too many perfect words - I wrote really purple prose.” WayFeelsWritingReasonKidsFeltPerfectFantasyBecomingProfessionNovelistsProsePurpleKill MePlaywrightRight WordsWrong Words Author:Annie Baker
“I feel with writing, so much of the time, I don't know how to tap in and be spontaneous and alive on a daily basis. So I don't write every day. I'm just not disciplined, and I can't be in the groove most of the time. I feel like I'm in the groove ten days a year or something. But with reading and research, I feel like I have this incredibly instinctive pleasure-driven process that ends up working out for me and inspiring me. It's almost like a maze, like I know eventually I'll hit the heart of my play if I read enough books.” IfsKnowsFeelsWritingYearsHeartI CanBookEndsEnoughPlayReadingProcessPleasureKnow HowAliveTenResearchBasesWork OutDrivenSpontaneousGrooveMazesBe Spontaneous Author:Annie Baker
“For me, being a good creative writing teacher is actually kind of being a good therapist. The line is very porous - you can also be a creepy guru/abusive therapist, too, so you have to be very careful. But it feels really important to me.” FeelsWritingKindImportantLinesCreativeTeacherCarefulCreative WritingGuruCreepyTherapistsAbusive Author:Annie Baker
“Being sad and going out on terrible dates and having horrible breakups and then having a shitty job and then quitting the shitty job and then wondering if you shouldn't have quit the shitty job and then getting a new shitty job that you get fired off of after six weeks, it's all so good for your writing.” IfsWritingJobsWonderWeekTerribleSixQuittingHorribleBreakupGoing OutBeing Sad Author:Annie Baker
“Yeah, I have the detail-obsessed, controlling personality of a novelist, but I somehow ended up writing plays.” WritingPlayPersonalityYeahDetailsNovelistsObsessed Author:Annie Baker
“I think growing up in a small town, the kind of people I met in my small town, they still haunt me. I find myself writing about them over and over again.” PeopleThinkingWritingKindStillsGrowing UpGrowingMetsTownsSmall TownGrowing Up In A Small Town Author:Annie Baker
“I was 22 and stopped writing plays, and I didn't start again until I was 25. I was writing badly. In college, I attempted to write these more conventional plays, but the theater I loved was downtown experimental theater. I didn't feel like I could do that either. It didn't occur to me to do my own thing.” FeelsWritingPlayMy OwnCollegeTheaterConventionalDowntown Author:Annie Baker
