What is "Doom Eager"?

Lorrie Moore, from "Better and Sicker"
"Martha Graham speaks of the Icelandic term "doom eager" to denote that ordeal of isolation, restlessness, caughtness and artistic experiences when he or she is sick with an idea. When a writer is doom eager, the writing won't be sludge on the page; it will give readers -- and the writer, of course, is the very first reader -- an experience they've never had before, or perhaps a little and at last the words for an experience they have."

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Thought for the Day

Trust your writer's instinct. If a passage, a story, an element of your fiction seems unnatural or forced. It probably is. But, keep the faith, that writing is a craft, not magic, and everything can be fixed - even if that means throwing it in the trash and starting over.

The wastepaper basket is the writer's best friend. - Issac B. Singer

The same can be said for the backspace and the delete keys.
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