Debra Spark on what’s funny in fiction—and what’s not. “The humor that works in literary fiction, the humor I like, is female. I mean ‘female’ in a pretty stereotypical way here. I don’t mean that the literary work is by women, per se, but that it is relational.”
“To love and to express it is to be vulnerable. To create works of art is to be vulnerable, and it’s hard for people to let themselves be vulnerable. Especially in this world, where the internet lets us democratically savage one another, it’s even scarier, but the courage to be an artist means also the courage to love and to express it.” So says Robert Olen Butler in this candid interview with Emily Alford.
“Many characters in the book deal with unexpected changes in their lives and would welcome facts to guide them. The title seemed to reflect the emotional struggles of the characters and almost implies that it’s simple to change a life. But my characters find that life is complex; what works for one person will not work for another.”
“I was more interested in it as a book exploring characters just going about their lives. For me that’s the part of the Rust Belt narrative not often told.”
“The most important part of a character’s Wounding Event is the darkness and fear it represents, a darkness that the character will soon have to face head on—as will we”: Michelle Hoover on stories that put characters’ flaws and fears to the test.
“Horses have an uncanny ability to tap into your feelings, your vulnerabilities, and your strengths.”
“But what happens if the author walks into the story and turns up on the page?”: Maggie Kast discusses narrative distance in Coetzee’s Slow Man.
In Part II of Sebastian Matthews’s five-part interview with Julianna Baggott (who also writes as Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode), the two discuss writing the Pure Trilogy, research and revision.
In Part I of Sebastian Matthews’s five-part interview with Julianna Baggott (who also writes as Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode), the two discuss pseudonyms, writing philosophy and the author-reader relationship.
Steven Wingate talks with Georgi Gospodinov about his new novel, The Physics of Sorrow, translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel and published by Open Letter Books earlier this year.
