Thanks for resurfacing this beautifully rendered and extremely practical piece, Aimee. One of the most important lessons I learned in corporate, years after leaving academia, was that is okay to say “I don’t know,” or the more camouflaged, “Let me get back to you on that.” In that context, it was, for me, a matter of maturity, being able to admit that I didn’t know something. And it brings me back to my mother telling me, when I was 20 years old, “You can write when you’re older.” Maybe she was right. I’m not saying that you cannot ask these questions when you are younger, but perhaps it’s harder to admit that there are questions to be asked. That’s why this piece is so valuable. Thank you, as always, for the insight.
Thank you, Sheri. There is nothing more authoritarian than the pretense that someone knows it all. In government or business or writing. Maybe that label would discourage people from pretending or thinking they need to know it all?
I loved this Aimee! This is everything, it will lead us to the aboutness of our stories, this concept of the Abiding Question. I am going to apply it right away to my completed novel and WIP. Loved this: ‘The key to great writing is not to know what you have to tell, but to know what you’re asking. In this sense, every good book is a mystery.’ Thank you! Look forward to seeing you May 10!
Wow--I'm glad I stumbled upon your article this morning, Aimee! Not only have you whetted my appetite to read your books, you've also done the same for my own still-born of a novel-in-progress.
I plan to work on this exercise asking "what is my abiding question?" to get back into the revision. I initially was inspired to write my novel modeled after my own dysfunctional family because I wanted to explore the questions of:
How did we turn out the way we did? How did this particular family become dysfunctional? But as I've been working on it so long, before the MFA program, during, and now--long after, I'm finding that my questions are evolving.
Anyhow, thank you for writing this, and for sharing your own abiding questions for each of your books. They all sound like movies I'd love to watch!
Thanks so much Lily. This is one of those MVP issues in writing. And it’s strange that it’s so challenging to see what the real AQ is in our work but that’s because our subconscious hides behind so many trapdoors.
Yes! I love that comment about our "subconscious hides behind so many trapdoors." Do you have anything that helps with this? Ex. meditation, plant medicine, certain writing practices?
My post coming this Saturday might help. It's about identifying the Uniquely Universal Urgency in your work. That's closely connected to the Abiding Question.
Thanks for resurfacing this beautifully rendered and extremely practical piece, Aimee. One of the most important lessons I learned in corporate, years after leaving academia, was that is okay to say “I don’t know,” or the more camouflaged, “Let me get back to you on that.” In that context, it was, for me, a matter of maturity, being able to admit that I didn’t know something. And it brings me back to my mother telling me, when I was 20 years old, “You can write when you’re older.” Maybe she was right. I’m not saying that you cannot ask these questions when you are younger, but perhaps it’s harder to admit that there are questions to be asked. That’s why this piece is so valuable. Thank you, as always, for the insight.
Thank you, Sheri. There is nothing more authoritarian than the pretense that someone knows it all. In government or business or writing. Maybe that label would discourage people from pretending or thinking they need to know it all?
I agree with the premise, but I don’t think it would help remove from power those people who pretend to know it all.
I needed to read this today. Very helpful and affirming.
So good, though I can't answer the questions now, actually if I ever can :-\ I've bookmarked the link for later.
So clarifying. And it's about plumbing our truths, I think.
So true. Even when not writing about ourselves we are always writing about our selves!
I loved this Aimee! This is everything, it will lead us to the aboutness of our stories, this concept of the Abiding Question. I am going to apply it right away to my completed novel and WIP. Loved this: ‘The key to great writing is not to know what you have to tell, but to know what you’re asking. In this sense, every good book is a mystery.’ Thank you! Look forward to seeing you May 10!
Yay! Thanks so much Amy🙏🏼💕
Wow--I'm glad I stumbled upon your article this morning, Aimee! Not only have you whetted my appetite to read your books, you've also done the same for my own still-born of a novel-in-progress.
I plan to work on this exercise asking "what is my abiding question?" to get back into the revision. I initially was inspired to write my novel modeled after my own dysfunctional family because I wanted to explore the questions of:
How did we turn out the way we did? How did this particular family become dysfunctional? But as I've been working on it so long, before the MFA program, during, and now--long after, I'm finding that my questions are evolving.
Anyhow, thank you for writing this, and for sharing your own abiding questions for each of your books. They all sound like movies I'd love to watch!
Thanks so much Lily. This is one of those MVP issues in writing. And it’s strange that it’s so challenging to see what the real AQ is in our work but that’s because our subconscious hides behind so many trapdoors.
Yes! I love that comment about our "subconscious hides behind so many trapdoors." Do you have anything that helps with this? Ex. meditation, plant medicine, certain writing practices?
My post coming this Saturday might help. It's about identifying the Uniquely Universal Urgency in your work. That's closely connected to the Abiding Question.