Sarah Schulman
/How did you become a writer?
Hard to say but by age six I knew!
Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.)
Too many to even understand. The Diary of Anne Frank and Harriet The Spy were my first exposures to the idea that girls could be writers.
When and where do you write?
I don't have a standard time or place. I work when I feel like it and have time.
What are you working on now?
About to start a brand new novel, probably in 2 weeks. Just finished a novel, tentatively called The Cure, The Cause. Working on a screenplay for a biopic of Carson McCullers called LONELY HUNTER. Working on the musical adaptation of my novel, SHIMMER with composer Anthony Davis and lyricist Michael Korie. Collaborating with Marianne Faithful on a musical called THE SNOW QUEEN using 22 songs of her 60 year career.
Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?
No.
What’s your advice to new writers?
Information has consequences. - Irene Fornes
What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
Write whatever you want for the first six drafts, then you need to start shaping it into something that communicates to readers.
Sarah Schulman is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, nonfiction writer, and AIDS historian. Her 20th book, LET THE RECORD SHOW: A Political History of ACT UP, NY 1987-1993 has been optioned for television by Killer Films and Concordia Films.
