Literary Birthday – 25 May – Liz Moore

Happy Birthday, Liz Moore, born on 25 May 1983.

Liz Moore Quotes

1. I definitely always wrote. At first, it was mainly poems, and it was mainly in a journal. I actually didn’t discover how much I wanted to write fiction until well into college. (WritersBone)
2. I take four or five years to write a novel. (WritersBone)
3. I don’t have an outline of the story; rather, I begin with characters and really get to know them over the course of dozens of false starts. Once I’ve found the beginning of a problem or a plot for them, I move forward, slowly, with lots of backtracking and starting over. (WritersBone)
4. I usually turn off all technology when I write, and try to set aside at least four consecutive hours for a writing session. (WritersBone)
5. In my opinion, having particular themes in mind when one begins writing results in flat characters that act in unnatural ways. At the end of a strong first draft, I might look back and ask myself what themes happen to be in it, and then try to pull them out in certain ways, but that’s about it. (WritersBone)
6. A plot to me at the end of all of this, is a big unanswered question that has to be answered by the end of the book. (EmmaCopelyEisenberg)
7. The way that I construct my books begins with place and then people and then problems. I first have to imagine a place that I know well enough to set a book there. And out of that place comes a particular set of issues that the people in the place might be contending with. (EmmaCopelyEisenberg)
8. I try to get to know the people via lots and lots of character sketches, writing their backstory, writing their youth even if the action isn’t set in the moment of their youth, writing scenes from their present, and what they’re contending with now. (EmmaCopelyEisenberg)
9. Write towards the place you think you’re writing towards but be open to surprises even for yourself. (EmmaCopelyEisenberg)
10. I actually live in fear of anyone ever discovering my drafts or all the documents leading up to the final document because they look like mad ravings. It’s in all caps, “And then make sure not to forget to do this,” and in red Microsoft Word font, just reminders to myself. It works. (Zibby)
11. The best advice I’ve ever heard is there’s not really such a thing as writer’s block. If you show up to a blank screen, whether it’s computer or paper, for a designated amount of time every day or however many days a week you want, you will produce something. (Zibby)
12. Just the act of producing words, accumulating words, is something that I think most writers never actually do. It’s not fun to write, but it is certainly cathartic and therapeutic for me. That’s why I do it. (Zibby)

Liz Moore is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer. Her novels include The Words of Every Song, Heft, The Unseen World, Long Bright River, and The God of the Woods. Moore primarily writes literary fiction, but she blends in elements of thrillers and crime fiction. Her immersive fiction is filled with psychological depth and subtle suspense. She deals with family, class, addiction, identity, and the hidden tensions that shape people’s lives. Moore’s short fiction and creative non-fiction have appeared in Tin House, The New York Times, and Narrative Magazine. She was a winner of the 2014-2015 Rome Prize in Literature. She is the Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Temple University. Follow her on Instagram.

Source for image: Author’s website, Photograph by Laura Stevens

by Amanda Patterson

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