Interview: Ann Friedman on Letters
The accomplished author drills down on correspondence AND the alphabet
Welcome to Three Quora Questions, our series of interviews in which a guest expert joins me to field strange and interesting questions posed on Quora.com (the internet’s oddest knowledge repository).
Here’s a fun story about the internet crossing over into real life. A few weeks back, I bought a classified ad to promote Chortle in The Ann Friedman Weekly. Ann is an OG of the internet newsletter scene—or as Fast Company calls her, “A pioneer of the medium.” Two days after the ad ran, I was wearing my Chortle hat on a family outing to our local kids museum, and a very nice lady came up to ask me about it. This nice lady turned out to be… Ann Friedman!
It was a lovely experience and I’m glad she was nice enough to say hi, in part because I quickly started bothering her to do an interview with us. And she said yes! (Did I mention she’s nice?) Like many in the newsletter industry, Ann’s publication focuses a great deal on news, leaving very little time for discussion of letters. We’ve remedied that below.
Popular posts from Chortle
What are some tips for writing a good love letter?
ANN: Tell a story rather than summarize a feeling. Reference an inside joke or a cute nickname or something you only say to each other. Above all else, make it super specific to your beloved.
If you could find the sentiment on the front of a greeting card—even if it's a greeting card in a cute little letterpress shop—it's not good enough!
If you could write a letter to any fictional character, who and what would you write?
ANN: I would send fanmail to Marie de France, the 12th-century nun at the center of Lauren Groff's Matrix. In this time of leaders who use their charisma and influence for evil, I want her advice on converting rule-followers into rule-breakers, rejecting male authority, and translating ecstatic visions into universally appealing directives.
I have a few other questions, too, but since they are spoilers I'll keep them between me and Marie for now.
What is the most special and mysterious letter in the alphabet?
ANN: Q, obviously.
I'm outsourcing this answer to Julio Torres, who created a sketch for his series Fantasmas about an anthropomorphized Letter Q—a punk trailblazer played by Steve Buscemi, who has paved the way for later-in-the-alphabet avant-garde freaks X, Y, and Z. “All of the letters of the alphabet have been so accessible until Q takes the stage,” Julio says. Enter Buscemi with an atonal keyboard riff.
It is honestly the perfect sketch for anyone who has thought too hard about letters and has ever known an aging punk.
Addendum: Ann is teaching writing workshops this spring, which sounds like a very cool opportunity. In addition to creating her newsletter, she’s a New York Times bestseller and has had bylines in some of the biggest publications around. Give the classes a look!
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