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Toni Morrison Offers Four Steps to Writing.

“When did I feel like I was a writer? Somebody told me. On my income tax, I didn’t write ‘writer.’” —Toni Morrison

It was a simple question, really. How does Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison cultivate a story idea?

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It’s apparently a simpler formula than might be expected. After the acclaimed Princeton professor addressed a full house at Sanders Theatre on Tuesday, an inquisitive first-year posed the query, saying she found Morrison’s stories, well, rather complicated.

At first, the grey-haired great one—and the audience—just laughed.

“They’re not really complicated,” Morrison said.

Toni Morrison’s four steps to writing:

1) Start with a free-floating idea—a philosophical question to explore.

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