Richard Russo: Advice to Writers

Richard Russo finds that short stories pose a lesser risk ("If short stories fail, it's a month out of your life-damage control"), but they are much more difficult for him to write. "They are all about control, which I've never had a lot of. I'm a creature of digression. You can't allow yourself to be distracted."

Yet distraction is exactly what Russo goes after in his writing environment. He prefers to write in diners or busy places, where his mind can wander and make connections. "You can end up where you didn't mean to go, but it's probably more interesting than where you meant to go in the first place:'

Russo's advice to novelists in particular is this: "Whatever you're working on, take small bites. A few pages at a time. Whatever you're working on should be the most exciting thing. The task will not be overwhelming if you can reduce it to its smallest component:'

Also: "Don't keep a journal because you'll think what you remembered to write down was important when it's actually not:'

From WRITER'S DIGEST February 2003
"Master of the Tragicomedy: Richard Russo" by Jane Friedman