During an interview with Lit Hub Radio’s Threshold podcast, Susan Orlean talks about the risk of telling stories that don’t have an obvious built-in audience. “It’s a lot safer to do a celebrity profile than to write a story about a couple of oxen in Cuba,” Orlean says. “That’s a risky undertaking.”
Orlean says she’s faced that moment of doubt with every story she’s written. Following the initial excitement about her idea, she begins to wonder if anyone else will care about her topic. Most of the times, enthusiasm wins, but sometimes it doesn’t. “I lose my nerve; I lose that conviction that it’s a good idea,” she says. “And the minute you lose that conviction, it is really hard to go forward, because these stories rely 100 percent on my enthusiasm for the subject. They simply can’t go forward without me saying, oh my god, I want to learn about this.”
