“Even while I was working on the novel I would also write short stories as relief, just to be in a wieldier world that could negotiated more easily and more quickly. In the novel, I even changed the narrator from a man to a woman.” MenWorldWritingStoriesNovelChangedReliefShort StoryNarrators Author:Leni Zumas
“In general, teaching writing makes me a far better reader because there's so many ways to write a good sentence or a good story, and as a teacher I'm obliged to consider them all, rather than staying in the safety of my own tendencies.” WayWritingStoriesMy OwnTeacherTeachingReaderSafetySentencesTendenciesStayingObligedGood StoryTeaching Writing Author:Leni Zumas
“In undergraduate classes, I often see writers who are still simply imitating. I mean, we all imitate - that's how we learn to speak or write in the first place - but they're writing a Dean Koontz novel or something.” WritingFirstsMeanStillsSpeakClassNovelDeanImitatingUndergraduate Author:Leni Zumas
“Even in so-called realist or conventional writing there can be defamiliarization.” WritingConventionalRealist Author:Leni Zumas
“I find myself writing protagonists who do feel pretty cut off from others but who want to make connections and aren't very good at it.” WantFeelsWritingCuttingConnectionsVery GoodProtagonists Author:Leni Zumas
“Whether consciously or unconsciously, I felt myself drawn to writing a female character who was pretty flawed and not very virtuous or wonderful or attractive in these ways that throughout literary history we've come to expect female characters to be.” WayWritingCharacterFeltWonderfulFemaleAttractiveVirtuousFlawedFemale Characters Author:Leni Zumas
