“Memory implies that there is some static time and place you can go back to, whereas if you relive it by trying to put yourself back in that context, its more nuanced, less black and white. More traumatic, but also more exciting. When I knew I had to write about things that would be painful, I put off doing it for ages. But then eventually the fear of not doing it becomes greater than the fear of doing it.” IfsWritingTryingWould BeAgeBlackMemoriesWhiteGreaterExcitingPainfulBlack And WhiteStatic Author:Damian Barr
“I went through in the edits and cut tons of stuff that was "funny" because if it wasn't funny at the time, so it shouldn't be funny now. It's about having that unity of experience. You have to try and take away your hindsight knowledge of a situation.” IfsTryingStuffSituationCuttingUnityEditsHindsight Author:Damian Barr
“I had to do things to myself on the page that had been done to me in real life. I had to try and drown myself in the bath. You have to do that. And the impulse is to rescue yourself and to spare the reader, but I can't rescue myself. And why should I spare the reader when nobody spared me? It's telling people what happened.” PeopleShouldTryingI CanRealDoneHappenedReaderPagesReal LifeImpulseRescueShould ISparesBaths Author:Damian Barr