It's The Fear Of What Comes After

Part Of What Makes For Good Writing Is An Ear For What We Would Call The Poetical. Poetry Itself Is Another Thing And It Seems To Me To Be The Most Difficult Writing - That Those People Are The Best Writers And They Lead The Way For Everyone Else And Their Writing Is Frighteningly Great.

In A Way, Film And Television Are In The Same Sort Of Traumatic Trance That Print Journalism Is. The Technology Has Outpaced Our Comprehension Of Its Implications.

There Are Certainly People For Whom Politics Is Not A Category That Helps You Understand Human Existence. In Fact, It's Kind Of A Detour Into Superficiality, And Although I Disagree With Those People, I Don't Think It's The Case That Everyone Who Writes Has To Write Politically Or Has To Write In Opposition To The Really Horrendous Things That Are Going On On A Political Level In The World Today. There Are Some Writers Who Simply Aren't Any Good At That And Really Should Stay Away From It.

I Love Musicals But It's Very, Very Different. It's Really Just A Different Form Than Serious Drama, And Has Very Different Rules And A Completely Different Set Of Characters And Requirements And Ambitions. It Maybe Shouldn't Be As Separate As It Is, But It's Got A Different History. In Terms Of Serious Drama, I Think You'd Have To Say That You Could Break It Down Essentially Into The Narrative Realist Tradition And Experimental Theater.

You Have To Have Hope. It's Irresponsible To Give False Hope, Which I Think A Lot Of Playwrights Are Guilty Of. But I Also Think It's Irresponsible To Simply Be A Nihilist, Which Quite A Lot Of Playwrights, Especially Playwrights Younger Than Me, Have Become Guilty Of.