“The second book, which was probably more from a professional standpoint - when I read Junot Díaz's Drown, I was like, Oh my god, you can write these stories and people will actually read them beyond your own little community. This guy's book is blowing up and it seems like [he's writing about] the neighborhood that I grew up in. That was a big deal. I read that in graduate school, so that's when I was really taking writing seriously, but I didn't know you could do it. I didn't know you can actually be an author. It was a weird epiphany.” PeopleKnowsWritingLittlesBookStoriesBigsSeemsSchoolGuyCommunityDealsGrewGrew UpNeighborhoodGraduatesThis GuyBig DealStandpointEpiphanyGraduate SchoolBlowing Up Author:Matt de la Pena
“A lot of people think that they are really cool because they don't outline. In my writing group, they would say, "I will never outline. I let the characters take me." C'mon, man - I outline the story, but it's only like one page. It's a list of possible reversals in the story, like things where everything will just change because of this certain reveal or this certain action. Then I start really digging into the character because, to me, I don't care what the story is.” PeopleThinkingMenWritingCharacterStoriesCareActionCertainGroupsPagesDon't CareListsI Don't CareTake MeReally CoolDiggingOutlinesReversal Author:Matt de la Pena
“Once I start writing, I am a huge reviser. To me writing is revising. I probably turn over every sentence that I write, to see if I have the rhythm right. That's why my first drafts take a really long time.” IfsWritingFirstsLongTurnsHugeLong TimeSentencesRhythmReally LongRevising Author:Matt de la Pena
“Whenever I teach writing I tell them to never revise as you go. Finish the first draft. This is my writing advice. I can't do that myself. I'm lying to everybody. I write a paragraph, and then I rewrite that paragraph. I want to feel like I'm standing on firm ground before I move on to the next paragraph. Mentally, I have to do that.” WantFeelsWritingFirstsI CanMovingLyingNextTeachAdviceStandingFirmWriting AdviceParagraph Author:Matt de la Pena
“To me, if the writing doesn't have rhythm, it feels dead. I lose all confidence. The music has to emerge to feel confident enough to move on to the next major chapter.” IfsFeelsWritingEnoughMovingNextLosesMajorsRhythmChapters Author:Matt de la Pena
“When you first quit your regular job and you become a full-time writer, you are paralyzed with free time. You have so much free time. When you are at home, you have a guitar. There's a cat. You got to find ways to create an environment when writing is like going to work. Be efficient with the hours you put into the book. So I go there the same time, every day - like 7:30 am - and I leave around 2 pm, or longer, if I have a deadline.” IfsWayWritingFirstsBookHomeJobsHoursEnvironmentCatGuitarQuittingEfficientGoing To WorkDeadlineParalyzedFree TimePms Author:Matt de la Pena
“When I'm there, it's pure silence. There are other writers there, too, and I get super competitive. I have this weird fear that some guy next to me is writing this amazing novel, so I got to compete.” WritingGuyNextSilenceNovelPure Author:Matt de la Pena
“As an author, you go into the school, it gets written about in the paper. It sucks that your book was banned, but you almost benefit from it. The bummer is all of the incredible educators. Nobody is writing about them. They are on the frontlines still, to this day, fighting to reinstate those programs.” WritingStillsBookSchoolFightingWrittenPaperBenefitsProgramIncrediblesThis DayEducatorBannedBummerFrontline Author:Matt de la Pena
“My fear is you have to be careful as a writer to not get caught up in social media and blogging, because it can start to feed into your writing time. When you are writing a book, it's such a long journey where the payoff is way at the end, sometimes years away. The payoff of the blog post is today. You get the reinforcement, comments or "likes" immediately. It's appealing. You have to be patient with the book.” WayWritingYearsLongBookEndsSometimesTodaySocialJourneyMediaPatientCaughtCarefulSocial MediaLikesPostsCommentBe CarefulCaught UpBe PatientBlogsWriting A BookBloggingPayoffLong JourneyReinforcement Author:Matt de la Pena
“Cormac McCarthy is my favorite author in the world. I love him so much. There's one book that informs me more than The Road - it's called Suttree. That book is a huge influence on me. I'm not smart enough to emulate him, but he inspires me. He never infiltrates my writing directly. He writes incredibly intelligently about people that are marginalized.” PeopleWorldWritingBookEnoughInfluenceInspireHugeSmartMy FavoriteEmulateI Love HimMarginalized Author:Matt de la Pena
