“At 23, you can completely, literally reinvent yourself if you want to.” IfsWantReinventing Yourself Author:John Darnielle
“Back in the 90s, if you did mail order in music, you could make a good living doing it if you could hustle.” IfsOrderMailHustleGood Living Author:John Darnielle
“While writing is a mystical process, it's also work. If you show up to work five days in a row, nobody's going to pat you on the back - everyone does that. Well, do that with your writing. Just show up. Be there for it. When you get an idea, write it down somewhere and then be a steward of that idea.” IfsWritingWellsDoeIdeasShowsProcessFiveMysticalStewards Author:John Darnielle
“When I was kid, they always used to tell me to keep notebooks. I look at my shelves now and it's just nothing but notebooks. And if I haven't gotten an idea but I have time to work, I'll pull one out and I bet there will be five or six sentences that will kick me off.” IfsLooksIdeasKidsUsedFiveHavensSixSentencesKicksShelvesNotebook Author:John Darnielle
“I consider myself a lyricist first and foremost, but if you get something else out of what I do, that's fine too. I'm not sitting back here telling people how they have to take my stuff. We just want to play music, and hope that people like it.” PeopleIfsWantFirstsPlayStuffFineSittingLyricists Author:John Darnielle
“If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them. We go to countries like Germany, where I can't imagine that all of my fans are engaging with the lyrics first and foremost. I think they're catching a vibe, a feeling. I consider myself a lyricist first and foremost, but if you get something else out of what I do, that's fine too. I'm not sitting back and telling people how they have to take my stuff. We just want to play music, and hope that people like it.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantFirstsI CanCountryPlayFeelingsSongStuffImagineFansFineSittingGladGermanyImagine ThatEngagingCatchingLyricists Author:John Darnielle
“If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them.” PeopleIfsSongGlad Author:John Darnielle
“You can get really good reads on your dreams if you think of every character in them as actually being you.” IfsThinkingCharacterDreamYour DreamsGet RealGood Reads Author:John Darnielle
“If you're standing in the middle of a ring and you're playing the villain, and everyone is booing and throwing things at you, that's real.” IfsRealMiddleStandingRingsThrowingVillainBooingThrowing Things Author:John Darnielle
“If you get into a fight and somebody punches you, you get two feelings. One: That really hurts. Two: That relief in the realness of, like, Wow, this is what it is. It's not an intellectual process.” IfsTwoFeelingsFightingProcessHurtIntellectualReliefWowRealness Author:John Darnielle
“In wrestling, people just throw each other around, possibly actually bleed, and are still friends in the locker room afterwards. But there's a real glee - a feeling goes up in the arena, especially on non-TV days. If it's just people in a room and somebody starts to bleed, that's very exciting.” PeopleIfsStillsRealFeelingsRoomsTvsExcitingWrestlingArenaLockersGleeLocker Room Author:John Darnielle
“Not everybody relates to pain, but if you can watch other people playacting it, you can absorb some of that vibe. It's like watching horror movies - you want to have the experience, but in a safe environment.” PeopleIfsWantPainWatchesEnvironmentHorrorSafeRelateSafe Environment Author:John Darnielle
“What's funny is that people think, "Well there has to be something more than wrestling, because wrestling has such an absurd quality to it." But if you tell a love story, people don't ask what else is in there. They say, "Oh, it's just a love story." All stories have many levels, but these ones show their hand and say, "You might want to look a little deeper."” PeopleIfsThinkingWantWellsLooksLittlesStoriesShowsHandsMightAsksLevelsQualityDeeperLove StoryAbsurdWrestlingStory People Author:John Darnielle
“Every place on earth has a frequency. It's not good or bad, it's just the way it is, and if you can attune yourself to that frequency, then you can find comfort in that.” IfsWayEarthComfortFrequency Author:John Darnielle
“You can get into anything if you are determined. I always thought that with music, too.” IfsDetermined Author:John Darnielle
“People will complain that they don't want to wait around for lightning to strike, but why not? If you invest yourself in chance, the potential for disappointment is pretty low.” PeopleIfsWantWaitingChanceLowsDisappointmentStrikesComplainingWhy NotLightning Author:John Darnielle
“I suspect by the time the Beatles were writing the White Album, they didn't go, "'I Wanna Hold Your Hand!' I wanna play that!" It's like if somebody asked you to put on the clothes you wore in high school. Well, no. No!” IfsWritingWellsPlayHandsSchoolWhiteClothesHigh SchoolAlbumsSuspects Author:John Darnielle
“It's easy to follow national politics and weigh in on social media, but if I'm tweeting stuff about Chatham County, no one cares.” IfsCareSocialEasyStuffMediaSocial MediaCountyNo One Cares Author:John Darnielle
“There are stylists I really love. I'm a huge Joan Didion fan - if I wrote something that she might like, then I'd feel very proud. I want the action to move as quickly as it does in A Book of Common Prayer, where one thing bonks right into another very quickly.” IfsWantFeelsDoeBookMightActionMovingPrayerCommonOne ThingFansHugeProudStylist Author:John Darnielle
“I did a lot of music criticism. I don't think much of it was any good. I think I wanted to show off a lot when I was younger. Now I just want people to enjoy the story. If it were possible to publish anonymously, that would be awesome.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantStoriesShowsWould BeWantedEnjoyCriticismPublishShowing Off Author:John Darnielle
“When I became conscious of being a person, when I was very small, I knew that I was from Indiana, but I had never seen Indiana. I was born there, but we moved when I was, like, a year old. I always had a sense of a place that was far away from where I was. I would research it and find out about it and I remember on Christmas morning I used to always call Indiana to find out what the weather was like; to see if it was snowing or not.” IfsYearsPersonsRememberUsedBornMorningResearchConsciousMovedSnowWeatherFar AwayIndianaChristmas Morning Author:John Darnielle
