Ask the Author: Roxane Gay
Answered Questions (133)
Roxane Gay
It helps to specifically identify what, about your writing, needs improvement. Reading is always the best teacher but I'd also recommend taking classes. There are all kinds of organizations offering writing classes, both in local communities and also remotely. UCLA Extension, Gotham Writers Workshop, Grub Street, and the Lighthouse in Denver come to mind but there are many others. And yes, you absolutely can improve your writing at any age and at any stage of your writing journey. I wish you the very best. And also, don't only think about your writing in terms of what needs improvement. What do you do well?
Roxane Gay
My books can, really, be read in any order though I do think reading them chronologically shows how I've evolved as a writer. Book 1 is Ayiti.
Roxane Gay
I go where I am invited!
Roxane Gay
I would question that the only way to write what you want is to tap into a vulnerable and painful place. Is that true? Or is that what you think you need to do to write something compelling? There is some distance between those two things. Vulnerability is scary which is why you need firm boundaries about how much of yourself you are willing to surrender to the page, to the reader. When you respect your own boundaries, you protect yourself.
Roxane Gay
Teaching always keeps me learning new things and the way my students take risks in their work encourages me to do so in my own.
Roxane Gay
I develop my vocabulary through reading. There is no other secret to it. When I am reading and there's a word I am not familiar with, I look it up in the dictionary. It's actually a lot of fun.
Roxane Gay
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graces and the poem, I can't remember the name but I think it was by Ellen Bass
Roxane Gay
I prefer to write excellent stories. What happens after that is always nice but beyond my control and not the goal.
Roxane Gay
I have never been but I would love to visit someday. I go where I am invited.
Roxane Gay
I don't care what people write. I care how they write it. White authors can write outside of their subject position but they need to do so well, authentically, without relying on stereotypes. For whatever reason, they struggle to do this. But that's for them to figure out.
Roxane Gay
Yes, maybe some day.
Roxane Gay
I don't actually have to choose. I am both.
Roxane Gay
I am looking forward to reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Roxane Gay
My book Bad Feminist answers this question.
Roxane Gay
Yes, I have experienced healing and change, not necessarily because of writing my story but because writing my story allowed me to take a hard look at myself, return to therapy, and do the hard work of dealing with my stuff.
Roxane Gay
Donald Trump is president of the United States. One time, he suggested people inject themselves with disinfecting household cleaners.
Roxane Gay
The world of John Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire.
Roxane Gay
It is only heterosexual white men who are proponents of identity politics. They also ask really stupid questions as you have evidenced here.
Roxane Gay
Read a lot. Write a lot. Be willing to learn and grow as a writer.
Roxane Gay
I work out 5-6 times a week and have a personal trainer. I am working on the rest of the work/life balance.
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