Writers on Memory, Language & the Power of the Unconscious

How can we use negative spaces in fiction to engage with readers’ imaginations? How are memory and trauma passed onto us through language? How do we become more than the stories we tell ourselves?

KATIE KITAMURA (Author, Audition) emphasizes that a book is created in collaboration with the reader and how negative spaces in the narrative allow for reader interpretation.

PAUL LYNCH (Booker Prize-winning Novelist, Prophet Song) on the richness of the English language in Ireland, shaped by the overlay of English onto Irish.

DANIEL PEARLE (Screenwriter The Beast in Me) on how audiences are fascinated by characters with an unfettered, uncensored ID who act without consequences.

HALA ALYAN (I’ll Tell You When I’m Home: A Memoir) describes her work as an excavation of the darkest hours and intergenerational trauma, which has endured repeated exile.

T.C. BOYLE shares that the creative process involves a magic in reaching for the unconscious and the surprise of the creative process. He emphasizes that art and nature are our salvations, over money.

ADAM ALTER (Anatomy of a Breakthrough) discusses the axioms of creativity, noting that being around more people is generally beneficial for creativity by providing diversity of opinion.

SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA (The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida) explains his decision to write in the second person as a way of exploring the spiritual dimension of the internal voice.

DANIEL HANDLER A.K.A LEMONY SNICKET (A Series of Unfortunate Events) argues that his books for children and adults are not fundamentally different and says everyone's childhood is full of powerful emotions which shape us.

ADA LIMÓN (24th U.S. Poet Laureate, Startlement) talks about her responsibility as a writer to honor her ancestors who had to sublimate their creative spirit for safety and belonging.

To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews.

Episode Website

www.creativeprocess.info/pod

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