Write the Intimate & the Invented with Daphne Palasi Andreades

Write along with this Salon’s playlist!

Prompt #1: Getting a Sense

Think of a place you know well, whether real or imagined. Write about that place using ONLY sensory details: what are the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so forth, that immediately come to mind? Jot down these details, being as specific as possible. Be sure to include details that aren’t merely “positive,” pretty descriptions of that place.

Prompt #2: Point-of-View

Think about someone you love (or a character you are working on, whom you love). Write down as many specific details, images, and memories about this person/character, from the point-of-view of somebody who loves them.

Prompt #3: Love vs. Hate

Now, write about this same person from the point-of-view of someone who hates them. Include specific details, images, and examples, as well. (If “hate” is too strong a word, allow yourself to imagine why someone would dislike, be annoyed by, or find this person flawed.)

Q&A with Daphne Palasi Andreades

Do you have a writing schedule? 

I prefer to write during the day if I can, just because I feel fresh, I feel awake. Some people are night owls, but I just prefer to write during the day. I will be honest and say my schedule has been disrupted a bit, as you can imagine with the book coming out, doing these wonderful events and celebrating the book. So writing’s been a little tricky, schedule-wise, but in terms of a more general schedule, I like to alternate: for example, I’ll spend two days just writing, one day just reading, another day just focusing on teaching-related things, when I used to teach a lot more, and that way, it feels more interesting and I can bounce between different things.

How did you land on the topic for your novel? How did you find the motivation to stick with that idea through many drafts?

I think so much of writing my debut novel was out of a desire to see something represented on the page that I just hadn’t really encountered before. And I think that I was really writing, as well, to a younger self and all of the things I would have wanted to tell my younger self, as well as the younger cousins in my life and my little sister. I guess a part of me was imagining speaking to a younger self or my loved ones. You asked about sticking with it through different drafts and the motivation, and it’s difficult, you know. But the hardest part of writing my book was actually completing it. I think I was afraid to complete it and move on to the next steps of sending it out to reader friends, sending it out to agents, all of those things. I think there was a big fear there. But what helped me was to take breaks! And take time away from the draft, and let myself experience life, read, hang out with friends, cook, watch movies, do other things to fuel myself, so that I could come back to my draft. 

The first wave of the pandemic seems like a really difficult time to find inspiration. How did you keep yourself going if that’s when you began working on your book?

Right, yes. Just to clarify, I started my debut novel during when I was a graduate student at Columbia. So, all in all, the book took four years to write, and I completed it during the first wave of the pandemic. For those four years, I was on and off, working on the draft, working on short stories, working on other pieces, but I completed it during the first wave.

And I guess a little short, funny story that I want to mention is that, right before the pandemic hit, officially, and the city shut down, I had had this project, Brown Girls. It started off as a short story, and then just became a much longer and longer piece, to the point that it was like, “I think that’s a novel.” I had workshopped this piece during class, when I was a graduate student, and I had this amazing workshop teacher who just really championed the work, would meet with me to talk about the work during one-on-one conferences and stuff like that— I mean, that’s pretty standard if you’re a student— but even after I graduated, this professor and I—mentor and I— kept in touch. He’s the author Paul Beatty, he won the Man Booker in 2016, very, very generous and kind. Anyway, this professor was like, “Hey, Daphne, you started this project in 2017, have you finished it yet?” And I was like, “No, I didn’t finish it.” And then months later, you know, we would just check in again, he was very generous, and he was like, “Hey, you know, how are you doing? How’s the project you’re working on, Brown Girls? It’s so good, have you finished it yet?” And I was like, “No, I still haven’t finished it.”

I was just really embarrassed and ashamed that I didn’t finish it, so I told myself, “Come springtime, I am gonna finish this book,” and then when springtime came, the pandemic hit, and I was just totally thrown off my rocker, you know. But I am a really stubborn person, and I also hate breaking promises, and I was stuck at home, and so that’s, I think, that’s really all of the different reasons of motivation behind completing— wanting to complete the book, wanting to see it through, and not be embarrassed when I saw my mentor again!

Coffee, tea, both, or neither? 

I’m a tea person. I love matcha tea, I love bubble tea, I love brewing my own tea. It keeps me zen, I feel like I can’t handle caffeine.

This event was originally recorded on January 14th, 2022.