American - Writer | 1983 -
Havana is a uniquely complicated city and contains a great many histories.
Laura van den Berg
GreatCityComplicatedHavanaMany
I love noir, quite obviously.
LoveNoirQuiteI LoveObviously
I once took a workshop with Jim Shepard, and he has this term, 'rate-of-revelation,' that has come to mean a lot to me: 'the pace at which we're learning crucial emotional information about the stories' central figures.' An ever-increasing rate-of-revelation is good; a stagnant r-of-r is not.
LearningGoodMeInformationMean
'Find Me' I think, is brooding in a very literal sense of the word in that you have all of these sort of interior storm that's growing within Joy over the course of the book and leading her to her moment. And certainly, I think there's an aspect of the supernatural.
MomentStormJoyMeBookThink
America loves a good comeback story!
GoodComebackStoryAmericaLoves
Children tell themselves stories, engage in self-delusion and fantasy, but those narratives are more evolving than calcified - and with that malleability comes both freedom and danger.
FreedomChildrenFantasyMoreEngage
Often, contrasts bring art to life: the bright speck of paint on a dark canvas; the tightrope walk between humor and tragedy.
LifeArtHumorWalkDarkTragedy
My students are often asking me, 'What do you think are the most important qualities for a writer?' And one thing I always tells them is that it's helpful to be willing to sit in a space of uncertainty. There are entire years, especially with novels, where you really don't know where the project is going.
SpaceMeUncertaintyThinkYouKnow
I was born and raised in Orlando, where the economy and culture has been powerfully shaped by tourism, and so I've long been interested in how we narrate the places we visit, how the gap between what we see and what we know manifests when we're traveling.
CultureLongBornKnowPlacesSee
I tend to be drawn to characters who are not rule followers, who behave in unexpected and unusual ways.
UnexpectedFollowersBehaveRuleWho
The past is an open wound, a life force busily shaping an increasingly bewildering present.
LifePastPresentOpenForceWound
I've always been most drawn to fiction that wrestles with that death-fear. Sometimes I joke with my students, 'If no one is in danger of dying, I'm not interested,' but of course I'm not really joking.
SometimesDyingAlwaysJokeFiction
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