Things Could Be Worse And Things Could

I'm Being Provided With Some Emotional Ballast By Giving Me An Intimate Portrait Of One Character In Particular In Contrast To The Collective. I'm Fortunate That I Had Very Sympathetic Readers, But Ordinarily - If A Book Makes You Laugh Too Much, It Shifts From "literature" To "entertainment."

Sometimes You Have To Make Decisions That Necessarily Exclude The Collective. It's More Difficult To Be A Friend - Even Though They Know Each Other And They Treat Each Other Like Friends, It's More Of A Challenge For Them. It's Just Institutional Fact; The Two Characters That Are The Most Aloof Are The Ones Who Have The Most Responsibility.

Humor Is A Very Big Part Of Life, And If You Exclude Humor From Your Book, You're Not Capturing A Very Important Part Of Human Experience.

Names Generate Meaning In A Short Amount Of Space — They Provoke Thoughts, Questions. That's Something I Like Doing. Of Course, You Have To Be Careful. Sometimes It Can Alienate The Reader, It Can Be Another Level Of Mediation, To Make A Character Carry The Great Burden Of A Metaphoric Name. The Character Can Be A Device Before He Or She Becomes A Person, And That Can Be A Bad Thing For A Writer Who Wants To Offer Up A Kind Of Emotional Proximity In The Work. It's A Constant Struggle, The Desire To Be Playful And The Desire To Communicate On Some Very Stark Emotional Level.

I Come From A Very Illustrious Line Of Divorces. We Love To Get Divorced In My Family. My Mother And Father Have Been Married Four Times Each - Eight Ceremonies With The Best Of Intentions.