December 2008
Chris Brandt is a writer and activist. Also a teacher, translator, carpenter, furniture designer, and theater worker.

How much do you revise?
Never stop.

How do you know when a piece is done?
When I think it is, I know it’s not.

How do you “practice” your craft?
Listening. Listening. Listening.

In your work, are you more interested in the language or the message?
Yes.

What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
When the words fall just so, and say what cries out to be said in a way it’s not been said before, so that the ear is surprised and hears it new.

Are there any aspects of writing that you feel can’t be taught?
Yes, the impulse that drives you to write in the first place.

How does teaching influence your work as a writer?
If I make up an assignment for the students, I have to do it too, and the results sometimes lead where I don’t think they will.

How do you create lessons to appeal to as many students as possible?
I make lessons that appeal to me. Then if some of the students don’t like them, I try to figure out one they do like.

Do you stick to lesson plans or follow the class dynamic wherever it takes you?
Definitely follow the class. They are my teachers, after all.

How much of yourself—your personal interests, your approach to writing—do you share in a classroom?
Anything that’s relevant.

What are your grammatical pet peeves?
Two contradictory ones: the _New York Times_’ utter inability to use noun clauses properly is the first. I mean, they are supposed to get it right! The second is my annoyance with all the petty language cops out there who don’t want to allow the language to change. English has been growing less and less inflected for a couple of hundred years now, and it will probably continue to do so; to try to stop it is foolhardy and stupid.