Brandon Taylor: ‘Writing is the most fun I’m capable of having’

The American author talks about growing up queer in a family of ‘wolves’, poverty and class in the US, and the 19th-century writers who inspired his latest novelBrandon Taylor writes quickly. “I can type almost as fast as I can think,” he says. The first draft of his debut novel, the Booker-shortlisted Real Life, took him five weeks; last June he challenged a writer friend to a race. The friend had been 30,000 words ahead on his book, with Taylor going from a standing start, but by August, Taylor had finished, while his friend was still ploughing on.Since Taylor says that “everybody in my family dies young”, one might assume that this is a rush to seize the day. But writing, he says, is also “the most fun I’m capable of having”. When he discovered the internet aged 12, via his parents’ dial-up modem in rural Alabama (the web being “this beautiful land that I could only visit temporarily because somebody wouldn’t pay the phone bill”), Taylor used to produce 8,000 words a day, writing five collaborative stories at once on roleplay forums. “That was good training for having stamina as a writer,” he explains, a genial 34-year-old in a blue denim shirt sitting at a table in the Guardian’s London offices. “As long as I have a good sense of scene or character, when I get a good first line there is nothing standing between me and the end.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-03 10:00:28 UTC ]
News tagged with: #brandon taylor #standing start #good sense #beautiful land #london offices #american author

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John le Carré’s son to write new George Smiley novel

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[ The New York Times | 2023-11-09 10:02:26 UTC ]
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Stephanie Land on the Routine That Helped Her Write Her New Book in a Month

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Writing Discipline Envy: Tracy K. Smith Wakes Early and Meditates

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‘Roughing the Princess’: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Fanfic Angers Fans

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To Write Her Debut Novel, Molly McGhee Had to Leave Publishing

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Lauren Groff on Writing Her Own Robinson Crusoe

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Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books Open Submissions for the 2024 Creative Writing Awards

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Obituary: Janet Taylor Lisle

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Salman Rushdie to Write Memoir About Stabbing Attack

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[ The New York Times | 2023-10-11 14:10:29 UTC ]
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How to Write a Memoir While Dying

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Claire Keegan: ‘I can’t explain my work. I just write stories’

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