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Diving Deep into Obsession: a Conversation with Sara Reish Desmond
by Writing Workshops Staff
3 weeks ago
Few writers understand the power of obsession as well as Sara Reish Desmond. The Pennsylvania native, whose debut collection What We Might Become has been praised for its "quiet fury" and "haunting, perfect stories," believes that our deepest fixations hold the key to our most illuminating writing.
Her upcoming Writing Obsession Generative Zoom Seminar promises to unlock the creative potential that lies within our most persistent preoccupations. Desmond's approach to teaching mirrors her approach to writing: she doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable spaces where we haven't yet found resolution.
Instead, she invites writers to lean into these liminal moments, the spaces between who we are and who we might become. Her fascination with adolescence, grief, and transformation permeates both her published work and her pedagogy, creating an environment where writers can explore the psychological terrain that drives their most authentic storytelling.
With endorsements from established voices like Jess Row, Robin MacArthur, and Steve Yarbrough, and student testimonials that speak to her ability to "unlock potential" and generate work that continues long after class ends, Desmond has established herself as both a masterful storyteller and an intuitive guide for emerging writers.
Her seminar draws heavily from Steve Almond's Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, examining how obsession functions as the engine of creative discovery.
Below, you will find our thoughtful interview with Sara.
Writing Workshops: Hi, Sara. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Sara Reish Desmond: I am a native of central Pennsylvania (yes, Amish country!) who is fascinated by liminal characters and experiences of all kinds--adolescence, grief, motherhood, becoming. I earned my MFA in Fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts and published my debut collection of short stories, called WHAT WE MIGHT BECOME, in the fall of 2024. I live and write just north of Boston in a very, very old house. I teach writing regularly on-line, in a nonprofit community art center and in various veterans and senior centers in the Boston area.
Writing Workshops: What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice? Have you noticed a need to focus on this element of craft?
Sara Reish Desmond: I am teaching this class about Obsession (capital O) because I believe that obsession drives our most illuminating writing, which is often a person's best writing. I believe that we come to writing and story-telling as a means of working out whatever we haven't quite yet resolved through other means. The writer Steve Almond articulated this idea beautifully in his most recent book, TRUTH IS THE ARROW, MERCY IS THE BOW. I think about Steve's collection of essays a lot; it's pushed me to consider new ways of telling a story, new ways of problem solving a story when something isn't working, and new ways of drawing out of writers what they are really seeking to answer.
Writing Workshops: Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
Sara Reish Desmond: At first, I'll ask students to engage in a quick access exercise that will serve as the foundation for subsequent exercises. Then, we'll do a bit of reading (excerpts from an essay about writing) and we'll examine several passages from various published authors that approach "obsession" in different ways. We'll try our hand with an exercise that is both demanding and exploratory. My hope is that participants will share and offer their positive thoughts and that they'll leave with an inspiration/ a seed/ an idea and a clearer path forward in their work.
Writing Workshops: Who was your first literary crush?
Sara Reish Desmond: William Faulkner
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Sara Reish Desmond: All Fours by Miranda July
Writing Workshops: How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
Sara Reish Desmond: I am currently working on a major revision of a novel and new stories. The best way I can tell whether an idea is worth sticking with is whether the character or their story haunts me. Does the character or their circumstances (conflict!) walk alongside me in my daily life? Do they demand my attention? Another way I can tell that an idea is worth seeing through to the end is when I'm excited by the character's voice. I'm a lover of character and dialogue; getting voice right is really important to me. If I haven't found a way into a character's voice or I don't know what they'd say or do, I know I can't pursue the story and it's time to move on.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Sara Reish Desmond: I love to consider alternate scenarios and the "what if" of any scenario or conflict. To me, fiction is about exploring possibilities and, for me, liminal spaces or "in between" spaces feel the most ripe for possibility. I love teenage characters and any character grappling with who they think they are or what they might want to be. I find inspiration in oddballs, quirks, zealots and niches so specific they feel almost invisible. That's where I like to shine the light.
Writing Workshops: What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers? How did it impact your work? Why has this advice stuck with you?
Sara Reish Desmond: Find the thing you don't yet understand about yourself, your country, humanity, the world. Write to find the answers. This advice continues to guide my daily work at both the scene and holistic level of a piece.
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
Sara Reish Desmond: TRUTH IS THE ARROW, MERCY IS THE BOW by Steve Almond. There are so many great craft books-- the traditional ones by Francine Prose, Charles Baxter, Anne Lamott and Frank O'Connor and a few lesser known like Words Overflown by Stars by David Jauss should absolutely find their way to your shelves if you are a serious writer. But I can't say enough about Almond's new collection of essays which reads less like a craft book and more like a philosophical tour through the mind of a writer who has spent 30 years accumulating ideas about how we go to work as writers, how to pay attention to the story and ourselves.
Writing Workshops: Bonus question: What's your teaching vibe?
Sara Reish Desmond: Learn along with me :)
If you're ready to explore what drives your most compelling writing, Sara's approach offers both the intellectual framework and the generative exercises to help you discover—and harness—your creative obsessions.
Her Writing Obsession Generative Zoom Seminar promises not just new scenes and expanded narrative possibilities, but a deeper understanding of how your psyche shapes your voice. In a world where writing constraints often feel limiting, Sara offers permission to dig deeper into the very thing that makes you uncomfortable—because that's where your best work lives.
Sara Reish Desmond’s short story collection, WHAT WE MIGHT BECOME, was published in October by Cornerstone Press. Her fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review, Water~Stone Review, Cutthroat, Front Porch, and elsewhere. Sara earned her MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her stories have been finalists for the Rick DeMarinis Award, the Copper Nickel Award, and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
