{"id":312731,"date":"2026-06-23T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=312731"},"modified":"2026-06-22T18:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:04:31","slug":"andrew-sean-greer-refuses-to-kill-his-darlings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/andrew-sean-greer-refuses-to-kill-his-darlings\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Sean Greer Refuses to Kill His Darlings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like so many others (including the Pulitzer Prize committee), I read Andrew Sean Greer\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9780316316132\"><em>Less<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>in 2017 and was endlessly charmed by the singularity of Greer\u2019s voice. Rollicking through vivid landscapes and madcap scenarios, Greer\u2019s novels commit to comedy and eccentricity, standing out in an often muted literary landscape. His newest book, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9780385551977\"><em>Villa Coco<\/em><\/a>, set in a ramshackle villa in the Italian countryside, is just as vibrant; while reading it, I laughed out loud at jokes about superstitions and mistranslations, and I was captivated by the protagonist\u2019s messy romance with a married man. Most of all, though, I was touched by the coming-of-age narrative at its heart. Greer\u2019s characters can be entertaining to a tranquilizing degree: It\u2019s impossible to pinpoint the emotional effect they\u2019re having on you until you turn the very last page and miss them immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had the pleasure of meeting with Greer over Zoom for Electric Lit\u2019s 23 Questions. He claimed that his workspace was messy and covered in clementine peels, but I failed to see any evidence of this disorderliness; I was just delighted to speak with him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014 Amulya Tadimety<\/strong><br>Editorial Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Describe your publication week in a six-word story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Andrew Sean Greer:<\/strong> It\u2019s the calm before the calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. What book should everyone read growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG:<em> <\/em><\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9781250146694\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I Capture the Castle<\/a><\/em> by Dodie Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. Write alone or in community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Alone. I love the idea of \u201cin community,\u201d but no way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4. If you were a novel what novel would you be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Any Wooster and Jeeves novel by P. G. Wodehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5. Describe your ideal writing day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Wake up, go swimming with my best friend in the San Francisco Bay. Sit in a cafe with him and write. See, I&#8217;m not alone, strangely. Go home and have lunch, take a nap, and then write again for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>6. Typing or longhand?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG:<\/strong> Typing [laughs]. Good lord!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>7. What\u2019s a piece of writing advice you never want to hear again?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG:<\/strong> Kill your darlings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>8. What\u2019s a piece of writing advice you think everyone needs to hear?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG:<\/strong> Stop while the iron is hot. So in the middle of a great paragraph, if you&#8217;re near the end of your day, stop right there because then the next day is so easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>9. Realism or surrealism?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG:<\/strong> Surrealism. Who wouldn\u2019t choose surrealism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>10. Favorite and least favorite film adaptation of a book:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9780312243029\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Hours<\/em><\/a> is my favorite film adaptation. I just couldn\u2019t believe they pulled it off. Least favorite is <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9780312367541\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>A Wrinkle in Time<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>11. What\u2019s your favorite comfort snack?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Apparently it&#8217;s clementines. I have a lot of peels next to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>12. Edit as you go or shitty first draft?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>A combination. I edit as I go and it always turns out to be a shitty first draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>13. How did you meet your agent?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>She read my first novel and contacted me because I was without an agent. I saw a couple agents, and I asked her, \u201cIf I call you, will you answer the call? Or will you say you&#8217;re gonna call back later?\u201d She said, \u201cOf course I&#8217;ll answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>14. Best advice for pushing through writer\u2019s block?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Write anything. Anything at all. Even take a walk and write down things you see on the street. It doesn&#8217;t have to be about the novel . . . It will turn out to be about the novel. Block means that you need to go somewhere else, and you discover where you go by just rewriting, even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>15. What\u2019s your relationship to being edited?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>I love it and hate it. I need to be coddled and praised and flattered and manipulated into doing what I know is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>16. Book club or writing group?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Book club . . . I&#8217;m in a poetry book club that&#8217;s been meeting every Saturday for six years. That&#8217;s pretty wonderful. It\u2019s an easy book club because poems are short and we do the same poem for like five weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>17. The writer who made you want to write:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Well, I wanted to write when I was really young, so I will say Richard Adams, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9780743277709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Watership Down<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>18. How do you know when you\u2019ve reached the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Oh, I know what the end is going to be when I start writing the book. So I can&#8217;t wait. It&#8217;s such a wonderful downhill moment when you&#8217;re like, I know exactly what I&#8217;m gonna do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>19. Writing with music or in silence?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Silence. Sometimes if I&#8217;m in a cafe, I put on Philip Glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>20. Describe your writing space.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>A little messy. Incredibly messy. There\u2019s a pile of books to my left that are the books I think can help me write the book I&#8217;m working on, and a couch that I can nap on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>21. How do you keep your favorite writers close to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>I keep a copy of Proust. I have one on my computer and . . . because I live between Italy and the United States, I have copies in both houses because you can&#8217;t carry that stuff around. But if I need it, I have it there.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"related-content-block alignright no-title\">\n    \t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"post-box\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/the-most-anticipated-queer-books-for-summer-2026\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-box-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2>The Most Anticipated Queer Books for Summer 2026<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- <p>Celebrate Pride with new and debut titles from Douglas Stuart, \u2018Pemi Aguda, Deb Olin Unferth, and more<\/p> -->\n<!-- temp without tags -->\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>Celebrate Pride with new and debut titles from Douglas Stuart, \u2018Pemi Aguda, Deb Olin Unferth, and more<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-box-lower\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJun 5\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8211; <span>D\/Annie Liontas<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-box-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"post-box-category\">Reading Lists\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- blah -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-768x576.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/brielle-french-61JpASTemRU-unsplash-scaled-e1780505116874.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\n\t<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>22. What\u2019s the last indie bookstore you went to?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"related-content-block alignright no-title\">\n    <\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Booksmith, yesterday . . . I bought Ayelet Waldman&#8217;s novel <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/269\/9781101875346\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>A Perfect Hand<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>23. Outside of literature, what are you obsessed with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ASG: <\/strong>Fashion. Everyone needs something; they know baseball statistics, or the intricacies of politics, or something outside of the writing world. I like to look at secondhand clothes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like so many others (including the Pulitzer Prize committee), I read Andrew Sean Greer\u2019s Less in 2017 and was endlessly charmed by the singularity of Greer\u2019s voice. Rollicking through vivid landscapes and madcap scenarios, Greer\u2019s novels commit to comedy and eccentricity, standing out in an often muted literary landscape. His newest book, Villa Coco, set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1807,"featured_media":312830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5567,350],"tags":[6513],"class_list":["post-312731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-conversations","tag-23-questions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Andrew Sean Greer Refuses to Kill His Darlings - Electric Literature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Pulitzer Prize-winning author shares favorite novels, ideal writing days, and stopping while the iron is still hot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/andrew-sean-greer-refuses-to-kill-his-darlings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andrew Sean Greer Refuses to Kill His Darlings - 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