Michelle Van Loon
I remember being shocked the first time I read these words more than three decades ago: Don't be afraid to murder your babies.
As a beginning writer, I soaked up "how to" advice from The Writer and Writer's Digest magazines. Most of the advice was mildly helpful, and not especially memorable. But those words about murdering my babies have guided me through many a painful revision process. If I get too enchanted with a particular phrase or idea, I then bend my writing around it in order to preserve it. Sometimes, murdering those precious babies is precisely what's needed in order for something better to be birthed on the page.
As a beginning writer, I soaked up "how to" advice from The Writer and Writer's Digest magazines. Most of the advice was mildly helpful, and not especially memorable. But those words about murdering my babies have guided me through many a painful revision process. If I get too enchanted with a particular phrase or idea, I then bend my writing around it in order to preserve it. Sometimes, murdering those precious babies is precisely what's needed in order for something better to be birthed on the page.
More Answered Questions
Jeffrey L
asked
Michelle Van Loon:
Hi Michelle. The chapter in your book that deals with Jesus's genealogy is provocative to me, because I think the two different genealogies (Luke and Matthew) are "both Joseph's," and simply contradictory. So if I were to teach a class using your book, I would talk about how our personal genealogies often are put to apologetic ends--wanting to prove a Mayflower descendant, etc., then later prove to be partly invented?
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