Does research get in the way of the story? It certainly can. Anything can, given that as writers we're all geniuses at procrastination. But mostly research teaches me about the world. Which often shows me the way, in terms of… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
Oh, I usually don't know a whole lot about a subject when I begin; the process itself teaches me a lot as I go along. Usually I know enough about one narrow area of the subject to start myself going,… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
I love the box that such a decision puts you in, and I love the interest the reader has in seeing how you negotiate… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
I don't think conservativism is about a deficiency. I think it's about a commitment to an ideology that has to in some ways devalue… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
I do find stories - or literary fiction - an apt form for analyzing the world. And especially for trying to imagine the other.… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
Does research get in the way of the story? It certainly can. Anything can, given that as writers we're all geniuses at procrastination. But… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
“But what I did was the kind of thing you'd do and the kind of thing you've done: I felt bad for him and… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
I have written screenplays. Most recently for Errol Morris, who was thinking about doing his first fiction movie, and with a young director who… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
Class is the most taboo subject in America. The American media would rather talk about race or perversion or anything else considered taboo before… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
I don't beat at the details, but I do always keep in mind that anything that isn't A) moving the story forward or B)… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
Empathy is a human trait. But lots of humans exercise some traits more energetically than others. By "the usefulness of empathy" I mean the… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
“But this is the only account hand-copied and tacked to my bulletin board, the testimony of a Dutch pilot caught on shore near Anjer,… — Jim Shepard Copy Share Image
