Maddie Esposito (‘23) could read when she was two years old. Esposito says the composition notebook she wrote her first book in was “disintegrating in my hands” by the time she was through.
While she said the book was “terrible, obviously,” it’s unsurprising that Esposito ended up studying Creative Writing and History at the University. She says she’s always been a big reader and her dream of being a writer is a long-held one.
Her taste in fiction was fantasy when she was little. She said, “I think it was because I was trying to kind of escape all the nonsense of my own head […] And now I read more realistic stuff, and I think it’s just because I really like to hear other people’s stories.”
The genre she writes in nowadays is literary fiction, which she summed up as “real stories about real people.” Realistic fiction, she said, is a reminder that all people, if you look close, are fascinating.
Another way Esposito puts it is, “Literature is a way that you can connect with people without even really needing to know them.”
She gains inspiration from the books she reads and her own life. Her journaling tends to come in handy, too, when she’s looking for ideas. For her senior thesis, Esposito’s novella was centered around two characters she saw herself in.
“In my preface, I wrote like I am as much Eve as I am Lily, like there’s components of me in each of these characters […] And so I think really it’s just writing the way I feel and the things I’ve experienced and trying to make sense of them,” Esposito said.
After graduating from UR, Esposito ended up staying in the Rochester area. She’s currently working at the nonprofit Rochester Area Community Foundation. Her work includes (but isn’t limited to) event support, managing, and social media marketing. Her dream is to one day work as a writer full-time, and she’s moving toward that.
Now that she’s out of college, Esposito has been finding a community to write with and places to go to create. She mentioned that although she was writing while in school, she now has more freedom and time. Earlier this fall, she went to a literary retreat run by local, queer-owned bookstore Archivist Books in the Catskills. She spent roughly two and a half days working in the same space as other writers, and her review was nothing short of glowing.
“Like, genuinely was one of the best weekends of my life, and just showed me that, kind of renewed that motivation of like, this is what I want to do full-time. This is what I want to do for my career,” Esposito said.
Currently, she’s working on a website to compile her work. She’s getting ready to submit her work too — something she hasn’t done before — including a short story she’s been working on revising. Patience is key, she explained, and she’s taken the time to edit and find beta readers for her work. During the retreat, she worked on outlining a novel, too.
Finally, Esposito is trying to show herself grace, because writing can take a lot of time. “Writing, yes, is putting words to paper, but it’s also editing, it’s also reading, it’s also researching, it’s also learning how to do your craft better, which I think is what I’ve really leaned into this year,” Esposito said.
Updates on her writing can be found on @madisonrubywrites on Instagram.
