“I assumed just from being around, all these years, that people would immediately glom on to, Well, it's a departure, and it's a dystopian kind of thing, and that's natural, of course. But it's surprised me - not even surprised me, but it's pleased me - how much people have been responding to the way the book was written.” PeopleWayYearsWellsKindHas BeensBookCoursesNaturalWrittenDystopianRespondingDeparture Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“Yeah, and the language the "we" has, and the character the "we" has. Because that was the part of the book that I didn't plan out, but the part that I was most curious about as I was writing. You know what you're doing, but you're sometimes still sort of curious as you're writing it.” KnowsWritingStillsBookSometimesCharacterLanguagePlansYeahCurious Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“We can skip through a lot of the stuff people might ask about the writing of the book, and so their comments always start well, well down into the nitty-gritty.” PeopleWritingWellsBookMightAsksStuffCommentSkip Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“It's just a weird idea to me because each book is a complete universe unto itself, so why would I want this other universe from this other galaxy that has nothing to do with mine? That's how I really feel about it. Let's be honest - I'm still the writer, so certain things will be common denominators. But that I just want to keep natural and not studied.” WantFeelsStillsBookIdeasCertainUniverseNaturalCommonHonestMinesBeing HonestGalaxyCommon Denominator Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“Some writers are writing one great, big book and just taking all these different avenues towards it. They might seem on the outside to be different, but they're really not. And that's a different kind of mindset. I don't know why it is, but I just feel like I really want to escape myself as much as I can - myself as the artist, or as the writer, or as the thinker - with each new project, because one, it's just boredom, but also, I guess I just feel most comfortable starting a new book if I just feel a little in the dark about it.” IfsKnowsWantFeelsWritingKindLittlesI CanBookDifferentBigsSeemsMightArtistDarkComfortableProjectsStartingMindsetBoredomThinkerDifferent KindsAvenuesNew BooksNew ProjectsBig Book Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“So my first book I had no experience having written a book, but each book is a little snapshot of who you are at that moment, accrued all through time, so I accept that.” FirstsLittlesBookMomentsAcceptingWrittenWho You AreThat MomentRough TimesSnapshots Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“All of my books really do look at that to degrees of difference. Technically, I do enjoy the flashback! But not just for informational material.” LooksBookEnjoyDifferencesMaterialsDegreesFlashback Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“I think because of these big issues of life and death that maybe sex feels like a crass question. But for Christ sake, this is a book that is so interested in an elemental human condition. And one of the ideas about surrender is an erotic surrender, too. These folks are surrendered by destiny; they surrender to each other in certain moments, but there is a lot of erotic surrender.” ThinkingFeelsHumansBookIdeasMomentsBigsCertainSexChristDestinyIssuesConditionsSakeFolksSurrenderLife And DeathHuman ConditionEroticElementalsCrassThis Is A Book Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“Obviously loss of family is huge and critical, but I think really it's more about losing a sense of family. The horror of that kind of incompleteness. Writing this book, I tried not to think about my father, which does no one any good fictionally. I did try to imagine not just the horror of that moment, but the horror of having witnessed it, and the lifelong void. And I think that's what's so frightening.” ThinkingWritingTryingKindDoeBookMomentsFatherLossImagineHugeHorrorLosingCriticalThat MomentVoidFrighteningLifelongIncompleteness Author:Chang-Rae Lee
