At one time if you were a black writer you had to be one of the best writers in the world to be published. You had to be great. Now you can be good. Mediocre. And that's good.
Walter MosleyRead
The job of the writer is to take a close and uncomfortable look at the world they inhabit, the world we all inhabit, and the job of the novel is to make the corpse stink.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers must explore uncomfortable truths about our existence to provoke thought and reflection.
Walter Mosley emphasizes the responsibility of writers to confront and expose the uncomfortable aspects of the world we live in. He suggests that the role of literature, particularly novels, is to reveal harsh realities, prompting readers to critically engage with their environment rather than shy away from difficult truths.
Themes
WriterTruthLiteratureNovelRealityExpose
In practice
Example use cases
During a literary discussion on how fiction can reflect societal issues.
More from Walter Mosley
All quotes →My father cared about the world he lived in, and so he admitted his confusion about his place in America because he didn't want me to make the same mistake in my life.
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Many & most moments go by with us hardly aware of their passage. But love & hate & fear cause time to snag you, to drag you down like a spider's web holding fast to a doomed fly's wings. And when you're caught like that you're aware of every moment & movement & nuance.
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We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky.
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All writing is that structure of revelation. There's something you want to find out. If you know everything up front in the beginning, you really don't need to read further if there's nothing else to find out.
Walter MosleyRead
The process of writing a novel is like taking a journey by boat. You have to continually set yourself on course. If you get distracted or allow yourself to drift, you will never make it to the destination. It's not like highly defined train tracks or a highway; this is a path that you are creating discovering. The journey is your narrative. Keep to it and there will be a tale told.
Walter MosleyRead
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