Grant Faulkner

1 week ago | grantfaulkner.substack.com | Grant Faulkner

It’s as if Ephron was telling Hanks to talk louder, to project, to speak from his diaphragm. But a writer’s voice isn’t so simple. It’s an enigmatic and elusive thing. I couldn’t help but thinking that after Tom Hanks went home, he wondered, “Just what did she mean by voice?” It’s like she handed him a jewelry box without the key. Voice is perhaps the main thing that invites us into a story and keeps us reading.

2 weeks ago | grantfaulkner.substack.com | Grant Faulkner

I'm somewhat obsessed by being vulnerable in general, writing with vulnerability, and our human need to be seen and understood—coupled, paradoxically, with our proclivities to hide ourselves, to feel shame, to not risk being who we really are for fear of … banishment, ostracization. “We're only as sick as our secrets,” as the old AA adage says. A secret kept in the dark grows and becomes more harmful.

3 weeks ago | grantfaulkner.substack.com | Grant Faulkner

I’ve been wondering why humans have such a deep need to confess, to bare their souls in search of relief. Whether a confession happens in a church confessional, on a therapist’s couch, or at an AA meeting, the goal is similar: to find reconciliation, grace. To unshed burdens. To gain back yourself. To be seen in your full truth, your full being. Absolution comes through expression, acknowledgment. By giving your story to another, you find a new story. Or you hope you can.

1 month ago | grantfaulkner.substack.com | Grant Faulkner

I’m a bad parent. I’ve been so busy this year that I forgot to mark the third birthday of The Art of Brevity, which is actually my favorite book that I’ve written on writing. It’s the book I most often speak about and teach—so reach out to me if you’d like to book me!I’ve spoken with a lot of writing/reading groups as well.

1 month ago | grantfaulkner.substack.com | Grant Faulkner

I recently moderated a panel of authors who published their first book after the age of 50 (as did I), and it occurred to me how our creativity is shaped by our perceptions of time. To be precise, the way we feel our mortality influences the what, the how, and the why of our creativity. When I turned 60, I watched a clip of Jamie Lee Curtis, who talked about the urgency she felt when she turned 60.