Robert Osborne
ORP: Do you write or create with an audience in mind? If so, how do you consider the relationship between that audience and your work throughout your creative process?
Robert Osborne: I don’t write with an audience in mind. But as a Black writer I’m always wondering how my writing is going to land with different audiences. How am I representing my people? How do I also stay authentic to myself? At certain point I decided not to worry about it, but if I’m being honest, it’s always in the back of my mind.
ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?
RO: I never cared much about whatever notoriety may come along with writing, and of course, very few writers can make a living just from their fiction, so for me success is the respect of other writers whom I respect. To be part of a community of writers whom I admire. Everything else feels so elusive.
ORP: Does writing or creating energize or exhaust you? What aspects of your artistic process would you consider the most challenging or rewarding?
RO: Writing energizes me. I usually write at the end of my workday, and it helps me get the energy I’ve lost because of work. The most challenging part of writing for me is plotting longer pieces. It doesn’t come naturally to me. It means a lot of rewriting, but it’s very rewarding when it finally works.
ORP: What does vulnerability mean to you as an artist and/or writer?
RO: I think it means being honest about your own feelings, your flaws, your blemishes and putting them on the page. It means letting people see all of that and being okay with it. It’s something I’m working on. I think it’s hard to write anything meaningful without vulnerability. Even if your story is completely made up, you still draw from your own feelings. If you’re not vulnerable, it will show.
