Little Red Riding Hood.
Let's start the story
a different way.
It was dark inside the wolf.
Human beings are creative
storytelling beings.
They make art because
that's what human beings do.
As a writer, your goal is to
keep your reader believing
in your story even though
both of you know it's fiction.
When I wrote The
Handmaid's Tale,
nothing went into it that
had not happened in real life
somewhere at sometime.
The reason I made that rule
is that I didn't want anybody
saying you certainly
have an evil imagination,
you made up all
these bad things.
I didn't make them up.
If you really do want
to write and you're
struggling to get started,
you're afraid of something.
Remember, it's only
you and the page.
The waste paper
basket is your friend.
It was invented for you by God.
People are always coming up
with new theories of the novel,
but the main rule is
hold my attention.
Any form of human
creativity is a process
of doing it and
getting better at it.
You become a writer by writing.
There is no other way.
So do it, do it more.
Do it better.
Fail.
Fail better.
Somewhere out there, there are
the readers for your book.
I'm Margaret Atwood, and
this is my MasterClass.
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