Writers end up writing stories-or rather, stories' shadows-and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough
Interpretation
Writers create narratives that often feel incomplete, and they struggle with the dissatisfaction of never fully capturing their intentions.
This quote by Joy Williams expresses the profound sense of inadequacy that writers often experience. Despite their efforts to bring stories to life, they often feel that what they produce falls short of their vision. The phrase 'stories' shadows' suggests that the tales told are merely reflections or echoes of the deeper narratives the writers wish to convey, highlighting a continual pursuit of fulfillment in their craft that often remains elusive.
In practice
A writer could use this quote in a workshop to discuss the struggles of the creative process.
What a story is, is devious. It pretends transparency, forthrightness. It engages with ordinary people, ordinary matters, recognizable stuff. But this is all a masquerade. What good stories deal with is the horror and incomprehensibility of time, the dark encroachment of old catastrophes...
Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader's face.
I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.
A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. It was hardly a tune. But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
I'm always aware of writing around things I can't do, and I've come to think that that's actually what 'style' is - an avoidance of your deficiencies.
The actor has to develop his body. The actor has to work on his voice. But the most important thing the actor has to work on is his mind.
I am often asked why I started to write poetry. The answer is that my motivation sprang from a visceral need to creatively articulate the experiences of the black youth of my generation, coming of age in a racist society.
It is not a torment to be an artist. It is a privilege.
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