“I think there's a playfulness and a distance to Kavalier and Clay that I don't aspire to in my stuff. Maybe I'm more old-fashioned, and less of a fabulist, in that way.” ThinkingWayStuffDistanceAspireOld FashionedClayPlayfulness Author:Jim Shepard
“Disasters occur organically in my work, in that that's the way my thinking tends, more than that's what I start out by planning. I'm sort of a catastrophist.” ThinkingWayDisasterPlanning Author:Jim Shepard
“Does research get in the way of the story? It certainly can. Anything can, given that as writers we're all geniuses at procrastination. But mostly research teaches me about the world. Which often shows me the way, in terms of the story.” WorldWayDoeStoriesShowsGivenTermTeachGeniusResearchProcrastinationShow Me Author:Jim Shepard
“I love the box that such a decision puts you in, and I love the interest the reader has in seeing how you negotiate that box: that seemingly hugely narrowed set of options. I also like the way in which it reminds us that we connect to the real world. That our relationship to the world matters.” WorldWayRealMatterInterestDecisionSeeingReaderBoxesReal WorldOur Relationship Author:Jim Shepard
“I don't think conservativism is about a deficiency. I think it's about a commitment to an ideology that has to in some ways devalue the usefulness of empathy. I do think empathy can be learned. And enhanced.” ThinkingWayEmpathyCommitmentIdeologyUsefulnessDeficiencyDevalue Author:Jim Shepard
“Empathy is a human trait. But lots of humans exercise some traits more energetically than others. By "the usefulness of empathy" I mean the way in which a progressive might claim that empathy is a crucial aspect of any benign political system, and the way a conservative might argue that not only is it not necessary, but it might not even be all that helpful, in that regard.” WayHumansMeanMightPoliticalExerciseEmpathyAspectClaimsRegardConservativeArguingHelpfulProgressiveCrucialTraitsUsefulnessPolitical SystemsBenign Author:Jim Shepard
“The protagonist of Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours doesn’t make it easy for us, channeling as he does Barry Hannah and Denis Johnson by way of Rick Bass and Dennis Hopper, and self-presenting as yet another damaged romantic who thinks it’s always time to play the cowboy, skating in and out of sense. He can’t see right, and he’s haunted by nearly everything. He’s trying to open up or shut himself down or at least get a hold of himself. He’s trying to make do with what he’s done, while he reminds us that we’re all, one way or another, in that position.” ThinkingWayTryingDoeSelfDonePlayStoriesEasyPositionOne WayCowboyJohnsonBassPresentingSkatingFourteenChannelingProtagonists Author:Jim Shepard
