Writing Compelling Stories: 5 Questions for Chaitali Sen
Emma Conatser September 23, 2023
“Time is a like a container for a short story. How much time you want to represent will guide how you tell the story.” -Chaitali Sen
“Time is a like a container for a short story. How much time you want to represent will guide how you tell the story.” -Chaitali Sen
“My new novel, Fortinbras Versus Hamlet, is a funny book to be enjoyed by both Shakespeare lovers and haters.”
— Chuck Taylor
“Send your work out, and send persistently–even to places that reject you five, ten times. I wouldn’t be where I am now if amazing people didn’t encourage and mentor me along the way. Don’t be afraid of mistakes, and don’t be afraid to declare what you have done.” -Meg Eden Kuyatt
“Liberate yourself from the idea of quality. I have to tell myself this every day I work on a first draft. That perfectionism is hard to shake!.” -Stacey Swann
“I was shaped by early leaders, overcoming odds to go from a long-haired punk kid to the top enlisted rank in the Army.”
— Bradley Jones
“Dig deeply and convey what you find with objectivity. Be Chekhov, who said his only job was to know what questions to ask.” -Nan Cuba
“[I’m from] West (little town north of Waco). Most people know it as a good place to stop for kolaches when traveling south on 35.”
— Jeffree Wyn Itrich
by WLT Board Member Heather Barboza How do you tell a story larger than any one person? Larger than any one generation? How can telling a multigenerational story be approached? Fittingly, the WLT tackles these questions and more from multiple perspectives in this discussion featuring three Texas authors – Justin
“I want to share my stories with the world and hope they love them as much as I do.”
— Margaret Izard
“I started writing when I was a kid, mostly because I loved books. But it took many years of dabbling with short stories before I decided to devote myself to writing, which meant taking the time, making the space, and learning the tools to tackle every form.” -Sherri L. Smith
