“But when I was finally ready to write it, I just told myself what I always tell myself when I write, which is that ‘no one’s gonna read my work, so it doesn’t matter what I put on the page.’ It was just difficult, but I also had very firm boundaries about what I would and would not share, and I maintained those boundaries as best I could,” she said. “I knew I was going to have to display a level of vulnerability that made me profoundly uncomfortable, so I dragged my heels for quite some time, and the book ended up being delayed by almost two years because of that,” Gay said. Gay said the challenges that she faced in writing such a personal and vulnerable book delayed its publishing date for nearly two years. Gay’s 2017 book “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body” detailed her personal trauma as a victim of sexual violence, as well as her relationship with her body and her weight. I try to take that responsibility as seriously as I can without letting it control who I am or what I do, because I am so much more than my work.”
“I do recognize that, over the years, I have in some sense paved certain inroads into publishing and contemporary discourse for people who look like me - for queer people, Black people, Black women and women more broadly. “It’s not something I ever take for granted,” Gay said.
I do a lot of drafting in my head, so I’m thinking through drafts before I ever sit down and write something.”Īlong with groundbreaking works such as her essay collection “Bad Feminist” and her memoir “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body,” Gay was also one of the first Black women to be a lead writer for Marvel comics through her work on “World of Wakanda.”Īs a queer Black woman, being told that she paved the way for many authors of marginalized identities is “unexpected and overwhelming” to hear, Gay said. I tend to just dive right in after thinking about what I want to say for quite some time. I’m not much of an outliner or storyboarder. “That research may not end up on the page, but it will certainly shape and inform what I have to say, both in fiction and nonfiction. “No matter what genre I’m writing in, I tend to do research and really just think about everything I’m learning,” Gay said. Gay said much of the writing process is internal, with most of her drafting being done in her head, but still includes much research. Her recent NYT opinion piece on her decision to take her podcast, “The Roxane Gay Agenda,” off Spotify - due to the platform exclusively streaming celebrity Joe Rogan’s podcast, which has been the subject of controversy after accusations of it spreading COVID-19 misinformation - took her three hours to write, as Gay said she “had already been thinking about Spotify and the differences between censorship and curation and what taste can mean.” Gay said her writing process varies greatly, with some works taking months to think through and write, and other shorter works taking mere hours. Always just believing that, even on difficult days, has really helped.” “I have a right to share my opinions, and I have a right to contribute to contemporary discourse. “For me, persistence and a sense of relentlessness have been key, and a sense that I have a right to use my voice,” Gay said. Gay, a New York Times (NYT) bestselling author, essayist and currently an NYT columnist, described her 20-year career progression as a “slow and steady journey” and one that required great persistence. Courtesy of Roxane GayĪhead of the upcoming talk, the Nexus spoke with Gay about her career as an author, her writing process and the realities of her large platform.
As a queer Black woman, being told that she paved the way for many authors of marginalized identities is “unexpected and overwhelming” to hear, Gay said.