Sam Lipsyte and The Fun Parts

I recently attended a reading by Sam Lipsyte, author of New York Times bestseller 'The Ask' at the Lillian and Vernon Creative Writers House. Sam Lipsyte read out of his latest book of short stories titled 'The Fun Parts'.  

Returning to the form with which he began, in ‘Fun Parts’, Sam Lipsyte explores many different voices and perspectives through characters that are vibrant and have a tendency to crash and burn. The boom is daring, hilarious and deeply felt in its fiction. Times Magazine described it as a book that "everyone should read" and I couldn't agree more. 

The reading itself was a great experience. Sitting in the Lillian and Vernon Creative Writers house, surrounded by portraits of the literary greats like Vonnegut, Anne Sexton, James Baldwin, in a beautiful room, listening to Sam Lipsyte read out if his book, made for an immensely satisfying experience. I say this because Sam Lipsyte is a literary rock star. It was in this reading that I realized the power of being able to successfully read your own work. Though the reading material in itself was great- Sam Lipsyte's reading made it infinitely funnier.

Sam Lipsyte read "The Climber Room"; the story of a 36 year old, preschool teacher, Tovah Gold who has to deal with the sudden onset of wanting a baby and a life that feels almost "unlivable". Just to throw in a few nuggets from the story- "She craved the bleakness of biology. It didn't matter if the baby was hers, except it absolutely did. She wanted to carry it and give birth to it and breast-feed it and live in a natural cocoon with it for as long as possible.” The story was very funny. By the end of the reading, the audience, including I, was in tears. 

There was much to be gained from this experience, as after the reading, in a short Q&A session, Sam Lipsyte talked about his writing process among other things. In response to the question in the minds of almost every struggling writer ever born, that is, "what do I do to make my writing better", Lipsyte stressed on the importance of revision. "Revision is key. The best writers are the ones who are willing to work on the same short story for months," he said. He talked about how it was important to let one's work sit for a while before attempting to revise it so that one could look at it with fresh eyes. 

As someone who is very interested in writing, hearing a successful writer talk about his own experiences with writing and give advice on the ways to approach it, was incredibly helpful and encouraging. 

-Smriti Bansal