Writing & Shame

"The fuel for great writing is shame."

Welcome to our weekly column offering perspectives on lit mag publishing, with contributions from readers, writers and editors around the world.

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You know how sometimes you write a line because it sounds right? You don’t know if it makes sense, but your character or narrator simply says it?

Well, since I wrote the short story that became the one-person play, Fremont’s Farewell, one line in particular, uttered by Ronald Fremont, has been rattling around in my head—“The fuel for great writing is shame”—a line I felt was true, but wasn’t sure. Until now.