“I think it's harder than ever to be an artist. I think that you end up, especially as a middle-aged person, you pay such big consequences for saying, 'I'm just going to devote my life to making art,' or 'I'm going to devote my life to writing novels.' You end up with no resources.” ThinkingWritingPersonsArtEndsBigsArtistPayNovelMiddleConsequenceResourcesHarderMiddle Aged Author:Dana Spiotta
“I like to mix the real and the imaginary. Sometimes it is characters inspired by real people I know or know of. Sometimes it is a named person from the common cultural dreamscape. And it is tricky, because they have a lot of associated ideas that come with them, and a lot of actual facts.” PeopleKnowsPersonsIdeasRealSometimesCharacterFactsCommonInspiredImaginaryTricky Author:Dana Spiotta
“I take the outline from a real person as inspiration, but the in-line is totally made up. Which is why I usually invent imaginary names.” PersonsMadeRealInspirationNamesLinesImaginaryOutlinesReal Person Author:Dana Spiotta
“Even a documentary portrait of a person that tries to be very accurate is shaped by the filmmaker in so many ways.” WayTryingPersonsFilmmakerAccuratePortraitsDocumentaries Author:Dana Spiotta
“I find poignancy in the moments when a person realizes that she has made mistakes. I am not as interested in the mistakes themselves as I am with the consequences and how the person responds to her realization.” PersonsMadeMomentsRealizingMistakeConsequenceRealizationMade A MistakePoignancy Author:Dana Spiotta
