Mary Gaitskill on Writing

Writing is technologically primitive—it’s black-and-white words on a page. But if somebody is good at it, these black-and-white symbols can shock or anger or bring a reader to tears. And all this comes from some person sitting alone in a room. Something written a hundred years ago can be instantly alive in the reader right now...

Writing is less physical than dancing, say, but nonetheless comes from the body and not only the mind. A lot of modern fiction feels grossly disembodied. It’s important to connect to the physical, bodily energy of telling a story.