Hello.
This is Start with this, a podcast by me, Jeffrey Cranor, co creator of welcome to Night Vale.
Each episode, I and a writerly guest discuss a topic and then give you two assignments.
Something to consume and something to create.
Start with this.
Minimal art is hard.
Starting is hard.
If you want to start somewhere, you can start with this.
You can start with this.
Playwright August Wilson famously wrote long plays, and his first drafts were even longer.
He had a lot to say and a lot to pare down later.
I love writing too much.
I don't mean my love of writing is over the top.
I mean that I like writing more than I need to write.
Run on sentences, excessive adjectives, lots of descriptions of characters, feelings over explaining the mechanics of the plot.
It's thrilling to create people and worlds.
It's less fun to whittle it all down into a coherent and smooth narrative.
You know what's fun?
Apartment shopping.
You know what's not fun?