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Wit and Wisdom from Margaret Atwood
A few insightful quotes from the literary icon
The author of The Handmaid’s Tale and countless other books spoke at Book Riot Live a while back. She was smart and funny and fabulous, and it seemed only fair to share some of her words with more people.
On her first novel
I started writing my first novel when I was 7. It was about an ant. It taught me a lot about narration. Nothing happens to ants for the first three quarters of their life cycle. In the last little bit — the ant actually did things. I’ve never started a novel that way since.
On not writing for a while
I had a dark phase when I was into painting and things like that. I started writing again at sixteen.
On writing beyond your personal experience
Ax murdering and gerbil strangling are both things I haven’t done.
I wrote a story of woman who was really old — a high school teacher, my concept of hell. Her life was over. She was 40. I’d never been 40 but it seemed really old.
On life before Feminism
When I was 17, in 1956, Feminism hadn’t arrived yet. That’s a long time ago. There were no…
