Usually there is a paradox in what a character wants. A conflict is built deeply within them. And then you put them… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
If you directly try to write about an idea, it will never be what you imagined. But if you're imagining through the… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I like to mix the real and the imaginary. Sometimes it is characters inspired by real people I know or know of.… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I am one Dana when I am talking to my daughter, another when I am talking to the IRS, and another still… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I think there's a false division people sometimes make in describing literary novels, where there are people who write systems novels, or… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
You are always working towards the moments in which characters experience reckonings or insight or change. I like to track them past… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I do want to write about social/cultural/historical context. I'm interested in relationships, in character, but within a specific social context. Which is… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Each character requires different language, and these issues become inseparable. You have all these balls in the air: language, character, narrative. For… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
When I write characters, I need to hear their voice. As soon as I get them speaking, and I feel how they… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
There are lots of authentic, moving characters in so-called systems novels, just as there are certainly deep structural ideas in some character-driven… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
My husband is a musician. He cooks and he's a chef but he also, he makes basement recordings. So many people in my life… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
People think it's suspect and self-indulgent to make art, and I don't think that's true. Some people think you should be busy making something… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Memory is not particularly linear - it is associative, repetitive, subjective and porous. But the writer needs to convey disorder and dysfunction without making… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I locate a great deal of the power of Occupy Wall Street in the name itself, 'Occupy Wall Street,' or '#OccupyWallStreet.' It works because… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Although a great restaurant experience must include great food, a bad restaurant experience can be achieved through bad service alone. Ideally, service is invisible.… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
The writer has to take risks and go somewhere full of mystery and possibility for the novel to deepen over the years it takes… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I am a great procrastinator. When the writing is going really well, the laundry piles up. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I like to buy books for the kids in my family. I guess that's why they call me the 'mean' aunt. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
If you directly try to write about an idea, it will never be what you imagined. But if you're imagining through the building of… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I like to mix the real and the imaginary. Sometimes it is characters inspired by real people I know or know of. Sometimes it… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
The idea that you can live off the grid and just do your own thing is a very American idea - that you should… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I think there's a false division people sometimes make in describing literary novels, where there are people who write systems novels, or novels of… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
