How to Become a Writer

Lorrie Moore was born in Glen Falls, New York, and attended St. Lawrence University, winning Seventeen magazine’s short story contest at the age of 19. As a shy child who struggled to express herself verbally, Moore found herself able to do so through writing. Her parents’ love of theater and opera made a huge impact, exposing her early on to the shapes of stories. Spending their weekends at the theater, Moore also had an opportunity to observe the habits and idiosyncrasies of creative types: adults willing to “play” through songs, characters, and costumes. In an interview Moore stated, “I would sit there, fantastically engaged—gripped, really—while someone who was ordinarily the postman, say, or the office manager at GE, came out and danced something wild from Pajama Game” (Elizabeth Gaffney, The Paris Review, Issue 158, 2001).

After graduating from college, Moore worked as a paralegal before attending Cornell University for her MFA in creative writing, where she worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winner, Alison Lurie. After her degree, she quickly obtained a literary agent and sold her debut story collection, Self Help, published to critical acclaim. The stories in Self Help, including “How to Become a Writer,” were initially a part of her master’s thesis.