EVERY WRITER HAS A THOUSAND FACES

An award-winning poet, memoirist, and critic offers unorthodox advice in this update to his guide for aspiring writers.

Writing teachers generally advise their students to write every day, often in the morning, sometimes for a set period of time or number of words. Biespiel (Poet-in-residence/Oregon State Univ.; Republic Café, 2019, etc.), whose honors have included a Lannan Foundation fellowship, urges young writers to resist that level of regularity. In fact, he advises them to resist writing itself. “Put off the first draft for as long as possible…because as soon as you make the first draft, a certain end is in sight and it may not be the end you want.” Eschew the draft-and-revise method taught in most writing workshops. Replace it with blur-and-get-lost. Confused? That’s part of Biespiel’s point. The author hopes to shake readers out of their entrenched habits and into new and uncomfortable ones—for comfort, like routine, is the way to stagnation. His book is not just about how to write, but how to keep writing: not just for as long as it takes to compose a poem or a novel but for an entire career. The process is the same for all arts, Biespiel says, which should make his book as helpful to painters and musicians as to poets. His prose rattles along in a buoyant patter that seems almost improvised: “To write, to make art, to dance, to make music, is to figure and refigure. You’re after not just the freedom to play, but a path to explore your interests, to probe and burrow, to alter and shuffle, to tack, to waffle, to recalibrate, to turn the corner.” His concept of the “word-palette” (a kind of brainstorming technique that makes connections between disparate elements) is particularly intriguing. Biespiel’s methods won’t feel right for everyone—they might suit woolgathering poets better than page-counting novelists—but his approach differs markedly from that of most writing guides. In a spirited foreword, Fight Club author Palahniuk, describes his own approach: “God bless interruptions. Any time my dog or my accountant takes me away from the task of writing, I feel irked, but I know I’ll return to work with a renewed passion for what might too easily become just a job.”

A provocative and anti-intuitive manual for making fresh art.