Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette

Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette

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Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette
Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette
[T]here is something so unspeakably thrilling in uncovering the other version of our life that given a few days, a few weeks, a few years, this version will be the only one worth writing ~Andre Aciman

[T]here is something so unspeakably thrilling in uncovering the other version of our life that given a few days, a few weeks, a few years, this version will be the only one worth writing ~Andre Aciman

The moment we write into darkness rather than around it & the lanterns we clutch to light our way + Annie Erneaux's "flat writing" + the magic of defamiliarization + the absolute necessity of mistakes

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Jeannine Ouellette
Jan 04, 2024
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Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette
Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette
[T]here is something so unspeakably thrilling in uncovering the other version of our life that given a few days, a few weeks, a few years, this version will be the only one worth writing ~Andre Aciman
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image: Jeannine in Provincetown, circa 1997

Good morning, friends!

I’m happy to share with you this beautiful episode of The Book I Had to Write podcast, hosted by

Paul Zakrzewski
, who writes
The Book I Want to Write
on Substack. The episode dropped yesterday, and in it, I had the pleasure of discussing how to write into the thing that hurts instead of around it, how constraints in narration (like a child narrator, but there are many other constraints!) can make the material more gripping, more potent, and the utterly transformative magic of defamiliarizing language to wake it up and make it electric again, make it true.

I loved speaking with Paul last fall and am so excited to bring you this episode now! You can listen below, and I’ve also pasted in Paul’s entire recap of the show from his post yesterday, which includes a complete transcript as well as all the ways you can listen and subscribe to his podcast and a generous resource section including links to further reading on child narration, Annie Erneaux’s “flat writing…

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