Whiteness is not the default in my fiction. Roxane Gay More Quotes by Roxane Gay More Quotes From Roxane Gay Twitter is my happy place. I am not there to overthink 140 characters. Roxane Gay 140-character happy-place character I look at my older writing to see where my weaknesses are and then I try to address those weaknesses and make new mistakes. Roxane Gay mistake writing trying Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about. Roxane Gay diversity literature stories People of color are not under any kind of obligation beyond working hard, doing their best, and learning from their mistakes. Roxane Gay color mistake people And all the women are feminine, so we never get to see masculine presenting women and we never get to frame that as beautiful, which it is, and that's incredibly frustrating, so for every gain or benefit that the internet offers there is a liability. Roxane Gay feminine internet beautiful If I cannot rest and relax, all the work I do is for naught. Roxane Gay relax ifs My dad is a workaholic so I take after him in this respect. Roxane Gay workaholic my-dad dad I don't know that anyone in the United States is taught to rest. Roxane Gay taught united-states knows Intellectually, I know I am worthy, however arbitrary a thing worthiness is, and have always been worthy. Roxane Gay arbitrary worthy knows Emotionally, my ambition is not yet sated. Emotionally, I still feel like a kid at the adult's table, yearning for recognition. I'm not sure where this all comes from but it is how I feel. Roxane Gay adults ambition kids I am interested in intense, unbreakable emotional connections and oftentimes, such connections can be found between siblings. Roxane Gay sibling connections emotional What is it like to be connected to someone you can never get away from, for better or worse? I love trying to answer that question. Roxane Gay get-away answers trying Good fiction challenges us as much as it entertains and these days, we could do with both of these things. Roxane Gay these-days challenges fiction I write because I love doing it. Roxane Gay writing The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating. Roxane Gay criticism stories writing I like what the internet offers: the ability to get people interested in your mind, and have a chance if you're not conventionally attractive. Roxane Gay chance mind people The idea of life in France is a utopia where the women are beautiful and they eat cheese all day and wear designer clothes and are magically thin and more evolved. And that's wonderful. Over here, we're still fighting for birth control. Roxane Gay birth fighting beautiful Knowing that a story needs to be told is a great motivator, even if telling a given story comes at a price. Writing Hunger has been the most difficult writing of my life, and it's the rawest and perhaps most necessary. We'll see how people take it. I always strive to write beyond personal catharsis because though I write first and foremost for myself, I do recognize that I need to look outward as much if not more than I look inward, so the reader has something with which they can engage. Roxane Gay hunger writing people I would like to believe that most people, regardless of gender, are good and kind. The good men in my stories are the rule. It's the bad men that are the exception and because I tend toward the dark in my fiction, you see more of the exception than the rule. Roxane Gay dark men believe I would love to see more acknowledgement of how challenging it is to feel positive about fatness when you can't find clothing. When there literally is not something made for your body. Nobody ever talks about that; all those fat girl clothes swaps and stuff are for a very specific kind of fat girl. If I was Lane Bryant fat, I would be joyful about fatness. Roxane Gay girl kind challenges
