 The most powerful
writing often
comes from confronting taboos.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All those subjects relate to
many people who have no outlet.
As a writer, if one can face
the darkest elements in oneself
and the things that
are secret, you
have such a feeling of power.
In this class,
you're going to be
exploring your own
imagination deep within you.
And we're going to begin
with shorter forms,
because short stories, short
monologues, poetry, things
that you can finish
and show other people--
that's very satisfying and
necessary for a writer.
What we all need
is the satisfaction
of this little uplift that
we get psychologically
from finishing something.
There are two ways of
looking at writing.
One way is that you're telling
a story very transparently.
The other is that you're
telling a story with language,
and-- and language
is the point.
How fast do you want
your story to read?
If it reads too fast, then
it might be superficial.
A person reads it in
five minutes, it's all over.
So we're also going to be
exploring a writing workshop.
Writers are like cooks that--
they keep everything
in the refrigerator
and put it all
in the casserole.
Like, what doesn't go
in for dinner tonight,
well, it's going to
show up next Sunday.
So your story has a few
too many bits in it.
I've always felt that
art is the highest
expression of the human spirit.
Art is the way that we
communicate with one another.
So if anyone who's
listening to me
feels that he or she is a
writer, you probably are.
Everybody has at least
one story to tell.
Writing should be pleasurable.
It should be fun.
It should be exploratory.
You should be writing about
things that surprise you.
I think that is the instinct
for all kinds of art.
All you need to do, really,
is to take that instinct
and transform it into a craft.
I'm Joyce Carol Oates, and
this is my MasterClass.
