“I can't trace thematic similarities between Then We Came To The End and The Unnamed to a life event; I think it's more just a natural progression as a writer. Everything changes in the second book - tonally, character-wise, situationally - and on top of that, I think I wanted a challenge. I wanted to see if I could do it.” ThinkingBookNaturalChallengesThings ChangeProgressionSimilarity Author:Joshua Ferris
“I'm not sure that all books aren't that way. I think that might apply to any book I was writing. The book was kind of the product of this enormous infatuation I had, not only with the office and office politics, but with perspective, and trying to tell a story from as wide a range of perspectives as you possibly can. I tried to capture it all with the first-person plural, but once I settled on that, I used it to tell the story from as many angles as I could. I guess, to put it romantically, it was about a love affair with the craft of perspective.” ThinkingWritingTryingKindBookPerspectiveOfficeAffairNot SureInfatuationLove Affair Author:Joshua Ferris
“Once I had the voice, I knew I wasn't going to fall off the bicycle. I tap right back into it. It really was like learning how to ride a bike - you never forget, and I was able to carry it along with some ease. I never encountered any stumping problems that left me not knowing what to do, so I was mostly able to hold my ground. Of course, I should mention that it took me a long time to actually acquire the voice; there were a lot of frustrated attempts along the way, revisions to long sections and versions of the book that I abandoned.” LongBookProblemFallForgetNever ForgetAbandonedFrustratedBicycle Author:Joshua Ferris
“I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that it had to be in first - person plural if it was going to illustrate how the individual becomes part of the collective. I had no interest in writing the book in a more conventional voice. It goes back to that fascination I had with telling a story in multiple ways. It was the only choice I gave myself, really - I said "This is it, pal. If you can't tell a story this way, you're going to have to abandon the book. Write it this way or give up."” GivingWritingBookChoicesIndividualInterestGiving UpAbandonMultiple Author:Joshua Ferris
“I think one of the ways you avoid being angry is to avoid being angry at the people in power. They might do crappy things, and piss you off, and make bad decisions, but they shouldn't be hated simply because they're in power. And I thought it was important to humanize them if the book was going to be even-handed to all the different ways you encounter people at work.” PeopleThinkingImportantBookDifferentDecisionHatedBad Decision Author:Joshua Ferris
“I think if there hadn't been the one passage of the book that mostly abandons the humor, and focuses very intently on one person's struggle with cancer, it wouldn't have been a critical success. So that was a very deliberate decision, to say "Well, if you think it's all fun and games, it's not." So that was my approach: We're going to have as much fun as I can possibly provide, but the serious things that might normally pass by you are not going to be lost.” ThinkingBookFunDecisionStruggleSeriousCancerAbandon Author:Joshua Ferris
“I'm being provided with some emotional ballast by giving me an intimate portrait of one character in particular in contrast to the collective. I'm fortunate that I had very sympathetic readers, but ordinarily - if a book makes you laugh too much, it shifts from "literature" to "entertainment."” GivingBookCharacterLiteratureLaughingEmotionalIntimateContrastSympathetic Author:Joshua Ferris
“Humor is a very big part of life, and if you exclude humor from your book, you're not capturing a very important part of human experience.” ImportantBookHuman Experience Author:Joshua Ferris
“There were times where I felt I was pressing a little bit too hard with the humor, and I had to pull back, because the overriding concern of the book was to create this disease that had no cure and make you pay attention to every emotional stage of what happens.” BookAttentionEmotionalConcernPay Attention Author:Joshua Ferris
“Every time you hear someone read your book and liked your book, you're never sure whether that's going to follow with a similar remark from someone else. Perhaps I have low expectations, but whenever I hear someone say, 'I liked your book,' I don't know if it's going to happen again.” IfsKnowsBookHappensLowsExpectationsRemarksLow ExpectationsI Liked You Author:Joshua Ferris
“My first job is to write a book that I believe is compelling and deserves the long sustained attention that any novel requires, and to worry about the commerce only late in the game.” WritingFirstsBelieveLongBookJobsGamesI BelieveAttentionWorryNovelLateDeserveCommerceCompellingE Commerce Author:Joshua Ferris
