Writing Tips from Alice Walker, Winner of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

And great performances from fellow Mississippians Nina Simone & Elvis

Primarily a poet, Alice Walker is best known for her fiction. She grew up in Mississippi. Her most famous work, "The Color Purple," was based on the difficult life of Walker's grandmother (Celie played by Whoopie Goldberg) and is a tribute to her ancestors. The book, however, allows Celie to transcend her soul-destroying circumstances by becoming a successful seamstress, something her grandmother never had a chance to do.

Steven Spielberg's 1985 hit film by the same name cemented Walker's legacy. 

But when the book came out, Alice Walker was "raked over the coals for the 'Color Purple' by people who didn't read it," and hadn't discovered the book's genius at tackling life's toughest, most taboo subjects.

Alice Walker always remembers Toni Morrison's wise quote "Racism is a distraction and its purpose is to keep you from getting your work done."

Alice Walker is the only person I know of who had her schoolwork submitted to national publications, like "The New Yorker," by a professor. She'd never heard of it and was relieved to hear her work had not been accepted "because the print is too small." (Many people find the glossy pages hard to see.)

One of her greatest accomplishments has been reviving the work of long-forgotten author Zora Neale Hurston of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston had never received the recognition she merited until Alice Walker began writing about her writing.

What has influenced her writing most? "Being the 8th of 8 children." Surely birth order and the circumstances of our upbringing shape our personalities and writing more than we know.

Here are some of Alice Walker's writing tips:

1.  On the Mechanics of Writing. Fiction is created in the mind of the reader. Simplifies the task by creating a simple picture to put in the minds of readers. 
	EXAMPLE: When her man insults Celie for leaving him, she powerfully counters, "But I'm here. I'm here," as the car drives away. 
	The words and the scene are so eloquently simple, but the meaning resonates deeply. It's a scene of triumph over psychological and physical abuse and all the shame and helplessness that goes along with it. The message is, I'm here because God put me here and I have a right to be here and fulfill my own purpose, so f--- off, loser! 

2. "Don't accept muddiness. Don't present anything half-baked. Wait. Be sure." Let things sit a while after you write, rather than submitting it hot off the press. 

3. Her best advice ever: "be true to whoever you are and believe in your right to see it and to say it." It's not easy, but this is what you need to do to be on solid ground. 
	Culture is a lightning rod people are afraid to tackle, but Alice Walker has the distinction of having significantly changed the culture of female circumcision in Africa with her book "Gathering Blossoms," her hardest book to write. It gave her nightmares. But the book's slogan changed people's thinking: "Torture is not culture." 

4. Writing doesn't feel like work to her once she gets into the "flow." 
	Ms. Walker relied on synchronicity and dreams to write "The Temple of My Familiar"--an extraordinary experience to write it. It prompted her to go to Mexico, where she learned "worlds of information." We can join her in this magical experience for just the price of the book.

5.  A spiritual practice is very important to her. She has worked very hard to be in touch with her inner child. She has a Buddhist practice of meditation.
	She  says she "really had to separate Charlton Heston from Bible stories in her mind. Christianity isn't really that." Today younger generations are even more negatively affected by media.

There has been a lot to heal from, including a national trauma that became a personal trauma for many Americans of all colors the week of April 4, 1968 when Martin Luther King, Jr. was slain in Memphis. Terrible riots erupted in 110 US cities! (Thankfully, as when the Brits burned down the White House, back then there was no 24-hour news cycle to drive people insane.) 
	A highly pregnant Alice Walker was so upset about the news of MLK's death that she lost her baby! 

"Writing is about healing and healing our culture." -Alice Walker

Fear is the enemy, she says. Fear leads to:
(a) police brutality
(b) book banning (her book "The Temple of My Familiar" has been banned)
(c) an inability to constructively debate solutions or even listen to one another anymore. But the problem is really alienation from oneself and one another.  

"Art is the mirror in which we can see our true collective face. We must honor its sacred function. We must let art help us." 
-Alice Walker

Alice Walker finds comfort in James Baldwin's words. He said he's writing for the future, after the collapse someone is clearly working very hard to provoke. (This thought occurred to me too about 10 years ago.) Remembering this helps her keep the proper perspective. History has shown it really doesn't matter if books are banned or what have you. Often, in fact, banning a book makes it more popular. 

I might add, what matters is that our writing is in print, not solely in the cloud where it remains electricity-dependent and can be deleted or censored. So print paper copies of everything.

"Dare to engage the world in a conversation it has not had yet." 
-Alice Walker

Ride the Waves

Capitalize on trends, or create your own, as Alice Walker did with Zora Neale Hurston & her culture-correcting book "Gathering Blossoms." 

Latest Trends:  https://trends.google.com/trends/trendingsearches/daily?geo=US&hl=en-US
Superheroes are big now, but trends aren't what they used to be. Rather than being organic, they are influenced by logarithms, PR agencies, etc. Nonetheless, it's helpful to tie your writing into the latest trends and hottest word searches.

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Post-Script

Did you know James Earl Ray almost certainly did not assassinate MLK? While browsing in a bookstore 15 years ago, I was shocked to read that the King family has stated in court and in writing that they conclude that the evidence indicates Ray was not the killer at all, but a mere passer-by on the street behind the Lorraine Motel -- just a working class white guy walking to his car, a patsy within a much more complicated story. In fact, the King family has stated that they believe the true murderer was a Memphis Police Department officer, Lieutenant Earl Clark.


Fearful for the Future of Our Nation: Two 1968 Performances In Response to MLK's Assassination (Nina Simone & Elvis)

It wasn't easy, but we got through it. Step back and remember, the news monetizes fear, much more so now than back then. Be prepared with what you need, but don't let it stop you from fulfilling your life's purpose and doing your work.

Mississippian Nina Simone, jazz singer/piano virtuoso and graduate of Julliard, was so enraged at the news of MLK's murder she grabbed her gun and was ready to implement justice. Fortunately, she was married to a sheriff's deputy who told her no, that won't benefit you. [Not spiritually and not materially. Save your sanity and let God take revenge, Romans 12:19-21 "vengeance is thine, oh, Lord."] Instead, do what you do, he told her. Put your anger into writing a song about it. The result is "Mississippi Goddamn," a serious song written as a show tune or circus music. Nina Simone soon moved to Liberia (Africa) and France, and was forgotten in the US for a generation. (I'd never heard of her till I moved to Europe.)

Another Mississippian, Elvis (and nearby resident in Memphis) also gave a very moving performance in an effort to heal the lived trauma in that terrible time. His family was so poor they were the only white family that had to live in the segregated Black section of town, something very unusual that gave him a huge musical advantage. He chose to sing a song that is (was?) so common we forget it's about the Apocalypse, the  1863 "Battle Hymn of the Republic/Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory." [VIDEO NOT ONLINE! Can't believe it, so the very first US television satellite broadcast ever, the 1973 Elvis TV Special from Hawaii, will have to do.] It starts at minute 1:20. I love how the medley goes from the Confederate National Anthem to the Civil War era Battle Hymn of the Republic to Hush Little Baby, and back to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. His daughter was just 2 months old when MLK died, so this may be a tribute to the baby's response to the trauma and his own attempt to comfort her. Enjoy!