I think that maybe happy families don't need stories the way unhappy families need stories. Maybe they're too busy living that they don't actually step back and talk about life like the Anton Chekhov quote. I prefer Anton Chekhov to Lev Tolstoy, and the reason is because of what he leaves out. Sometimes I think Tolstoy had a theory that he was proving and he proved it. Chekhov is more ambiguous.
Peter OrnerMy characters tend to be people who are looking back on a life lived, their joys, their regrets.
Peter OrnerI agonize over things like this - the order of things, section titles, all this architectural sort of stuff. Takes me years to figure out.
Peter OrnerWe don't want emotion handed to us - that's not emotion. You have to build and come from the reader's soul.
Peter OrnerI write when I have something to say and not when I don't. My time is better spent if I know I have nothing to say. I don't consider it writer's block; I just don't have anything to say.
Peter OrnerMy first book came out again - the re-issue from 2001. I was rereading it to make sure that I didn't miss any mistakes, and I didn't know who had written some of these stories. I really didn't. I am a different person now. It's weird. I think if stories are good, they have to have a life of their own that's independent of the writer. I like to think of my characters out there in other peoples' heads. That's a nice thing to think about.
Peter Orner