Usually there is a paradox in what a character wants. A conflict is built deeply within them. And then you put them in motion, throw everything at them until they reveal themselves further. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Most human things are full of conflict and ambivalence, not ease and simplicity. The world has grown increasingly fundamentalist, and the parameters of discussion have become narrowed. People, when they're fearful, are vulnerable to certainty in rhetoric. — 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
