Closer All the Time: A Portrait of Maine, An Interview with Jim Nichols
by Joshua Bodwell
“…there’s always something more you can take out…”: Jim Nichols with Joshua Bodwell on his influences, Maine, and his new book, Closer All the Time.
“…there’s always something more you can take out…”: Jim Nichols with Joshua Bodwell on his influences, Maine, and his new book, Closer All the Time.
“It is a story, like love, as fanciful and appealing as a unicorn crossed with a whale, and as real and baffling as a narwhal.”
“To be honest, I’d say that in the end the only thing that ultimately matters in story writing is simply trying to create a strong and original narrative, plus always aiming to make every story a little tour de force, which is a what a truly successful short story should be, possessing that intensity—it’s why a story is so much different than a novel and special in a way.”
“While the focus remains on R’s mother and her quest, we see how a plight that seems unique when the story opens—how many mothers set out to rescue their sons from foreign militants?—lies on a continuum of vulnerability for women living in nations at war.”
“This kind of consummate attention is what I feel called to as a fiction writer”: Nathan Poole with Rolf Yngve on writing, nature, and faith.
Join us for our seventh-annual celebration of the Short Story, as we dedicate the month of May to short fiction.
Percy has turned himself into a cross-medium, cross-genre success whose unabashed embrace of work outside the narrow confines of literary fiction is opening up new opportunities and allowing him to have a hell of a good time.
“I think for a work to really ascend, there has to me something magical in the creation of it. It’s the difference between the art and the craft. The craft we can teach…The art is the stuff that only comes from inside the heart and the soul of the creator.”
“Is there ever enough solitude? I think I’ve always been alert to the competing tugs between togetherness and separateness, especially with regard to family life.”
