Kafka wrote the great line: "my education has damaged me in ways I do not even know." And that's always been a signature motto for me.
Lynne TillmanConversation on the page should reflect what the story is about. It doesn't have to be "realistic" in the sense that it's something you heard and plugged into a story.
Lynne TillmanI'm not just interested in the thoughts I have, but also in others' thoughts, and why not carry those forward? That's why American fiction can be so thin. All these fears, like not seeming to be original - I mean, hell, most stuff isn't. The question is whether you can articulate your thoughts for the moment in which you're living, which is a different time. Say them in a newer way. There are new events, and language changes - sensibilities change. We are writing in and of the time we're in. Oh, it's a weird time.
Lynne TillmanThe literary world is more time-traveling than the art world, and novelty is much more important in art than it is in writing.
Lynne Tillman