I've been an advocate against the view of the writer as a partitioned genius hanging in conceptual space, or up on a mountain, a bringer of Promethean fire, some unique transmission that comes out of nowhere. I prefer the opposite view - that writers come from somewhere. They read things, and they think about them, and they incorporate other people's thoughts.
Jonathan LethemWith a book you can read the same paragraph four times. You can go back to page 21 when you're on page 300. You can't do that with film. It just charges ahead.
Jonathan LethemI learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.
Jonathan LethemSome people have things written all over their faces; the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.
Jonathan LethemI grew up with an artist father, and my parents' friends were also mainly artists or writers, so he connects what I do with his example.
Jonathan LethemI've been an advocate against the view of the writer as a partitioned genius hanging in conceptual space, or up on a mountain, a bringer of Promethean fire, some unique transmission that comes out of nowhere. I prefer the opposite view - that writers come from somewhere. They read things, and they think about them, and they incorporate other people's thoughts.
Jonathan Lethem