Basements Quote by Dana Spiotta

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

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

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

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

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

I am a great procrastinator. When the writing is going really well, the laundry piles up.

— Dana Spiotta

I like to buy books for the kids in my family. I guess that's why they call me the 'mean' aunt.

— Dana Spiotta

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

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

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

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

Usually there is a paradox in what a character wants. A conflict is built deeply within them. And then you put them in motion,…

— Dana Spiotta