We can't write a serious novel in the 21st century without acknowledging the inescapable self-awareness we're stuck with. The idea we're surrounded by falsehoods and lies. It's hard for the thinking person to believe in narratives. And yet we want some place to invest our belief.
Michael HelmIt's fiction's job to express how it feels to be living now, and it's a complex feeling, full of contradiction. To me it often feels like a brutal trivialization of reality.
Michael HelmNovels seem to exist because of this need to know and connect, and so story becomes charged with necessity.
Michael HelmI just write what I want to read, and sometimes keeping it interesting means adding one more element that ends up adding another year to the work.
Michael Helm