{"id":123324,"date":"2018-03-23T11:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=123324"},"modified":"2018-03-22T17:40:27","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T21:40:27","slug":"so-be-it-see-to-it-from-the-archives-of-octavia-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/23\/so-be-it-see-to-it-from-the-archives-of-octavia-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"So Be It, See to It: From the Archives of Octavia Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Octavia E. Butler seated by her bookcase, 1986. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. \u00a9 Patti Perret<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like most ambitious writers, Octavia Butler maintained a routine that became ritual. Each morning she\u2019d rise before dawn, and then write until she had to do the work that brought her money. She labored as a dishwasher, then as a potato-chip inspector, and in her off time she orchestrated her future career. Since 2008, Butler\u2019s annotations, notes, research materials, and drafts of novels have been housed at the Huntington Library<\/a> in California. A selection is presented below.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Octavia E. Butler, notes on writing, \u201cI am a bestselling writer \u2026 \u201d 1988. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. \u00a9 Estate of Octavia E. Butler.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Octavia E. Butler, notes on the Oankali, ca. 1985, Xenogenesis trilogy. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. \u00a9 Estate of Octavia E. Butler.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Octavia E. Butler, notes on writing, \u201cTell stories filled with facts \u2026 \u201d ca. 1970\u20131995. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. \u00a9 Estate of Octavia E. Butler.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Like most ambitious writers, Octavia Butler maintained a routine that became ritual. Each morning she\u2019d rise before dawn, and then write until she had to do the work that brought her money. She labored as a dishwasher, then as a potato-chip inspector, and in her off time she orchestrated her future career. Since 2008, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[1113,33480,29494],"class_list":["post-123324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-huntington-library","tag-imago","tag-octavia-butler"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSo Be It, See to It: From the Archives of Octavia Butler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A selection of Butler\u2019s notes, sketches, and dreams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/23\/so-be-it-see-to-it-from-the-archives-of-octavia-butler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So Be It, See to It: From the Archives of Octavia Butler by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 23, 2018 \u2013   Like most ambitious writers, Octavia Butler maintained a routine that became ritual. 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