I like visceral writing that people can't help but respond to, even if they respond, and they're shocked, or they're angry, or they're offended. I think that's the only way to reach people.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't like getting people upset, so that's not my goal. But I like putting people in situations where how they respond says a lot about them.
I don't want to walk in the middle. I want people to read what I write and feel strongly about it. If, at some point, whatever I am doing is failing to elicit a response, whether it's very positive or very negative, then I am going to stop doing it.
My purpose as a writer is to communicate in such a way as to challenge the thinking of readers and touch their hearts.
Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people.
Mostly I have to try to censor myself so as not to write things that will hurt other people, or that will go too far.
I don't like writing - it's so difficult to say what you mean. It's much easier to edit other people's writing and help them say what they mean.
Writers sometimes give up what is most strange and wonderful about their writing - soften their roughest edges - to accommodate themselves toward a group response.
I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.
I can't write; I don't think I'm even particularly good at telling a writer what's good or what's missing. So, actually having someone who can do that is a godsend.
I've never felt a need to really respond to someone else's writing.