Min Jin Lee Reads a Chapter From the Bible Every Day Before She Writes

Ahead of the release of Min Jin Lee's new novel "American Hagwon", Electric Literature has published a quick-fire interview with her, conducted by executive director and publisher Denne Michele Norris. Asked for a six-word story about her publication week, Lee says, "I've been cooking for 10 years." She writes alone because other people distract her. She starts a project with a question and knows she has reached the end when she has answered it. Her ideal day begins at nine with coffee, a chat with her husband and meditation. Then, following a habit of Willa Cather, she reads one chapter of the Bible and works for five to six hours. Lee says she does not believe in inspiration and that motivation follows action. She writes one bad draft after another until the text is good, and is on roughly her fifteenth draft by the time editors see it. She dislikes the advice to show rather than tell, and urges writers to keep a low overhead. She keeps three separate desks for writing, reading and administrative work. She names Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck as the writers who made her want to write. Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.