Is there a right way to write? - Harvard Gazette

"Lauren Groff: If you want to write something that's going to affect people emotionally, you have to do it emotionally. Nick White: And it has to cost you more than the time you're spending writing. It pushes me to my emotional and intellectual capabilities. I feel like when something is working it is because all cylinders are firing, and I am working at the very bleeding edge of what I am capable of."

"Samantha Laine Perfas: Storytelling is a huge part of the human experience. But how do you tell a good story? There's the cliche of a writer sitting at a desk, wrestling with a page, trying to find their ever-evasive muse. There are elements of craft to consider for sure, but for many authors, creativity comes from a place deep within themselves, and it looks different from writer to writer."

Emotional investment and personal cost are central to creating stories that move readers; storytelling must engage the creator's emotions and demand more than mere time. Effective story-craft pushes creators to their emotional and intellectual limits, requiring all faculties to align so a piece reaches its fullest effect. Storytelling blends craft techniques with deep, individual wells of creativity, which differ across storytellers. The human impulse to tell stories relies on both learned elements of craft and distinctive inner sources of imagination, and unforgettable stories result when emotional commitment and craft converge at the edge of a creator's abilities.

Read at Harvard Gazette