“It's funny - for a long time, I didn't know I was writing a book. I was writing stories. For me, each story took so long and took so much out of me, that when I finished it, I was like, Oh my gosh, I feel like I've poured everything from myself into this, and then I'd get depressed for a week. And then once I was ready to write a new story, I would want to write about something that was completely different, so I would search for a totally different character with a different set of circumstances.” KnowsWantFeelsWritingLongBookDifferentCharacterStoriesWeekReadyCircumstancesLong TimeFinishedWriting A BookDifferent CharactersWriting StoriesOh My Gosh Author:Molly Antopol
“But what I realized when I was looking back at them was that no matter how different they are, they're still coming from me, and they're still coming from my brain and my set of obsessions. I think that no matter how different I tried to make them, there were just these certain questions that I just kept circling back to as I was writing. I think they were the ones I was really swept up in in that decade.” ThinkingWritingStillsDifferentMatterCertainBrainDecadesI RealizedObsessionLooking Back Author:Molly Antopol
“There are certain writers I can't read when I'm trying to write because their voices are so distinct. Cormac McCarthy, he's the most different writer from anything I've ever written, but there's something about those really spare sentences that is just tough - it would be too much of an influence. Grace Paley is my favorite writer. Her stuff is so voice-driven, when I read her a lot I want to make my writing more voice-y and dialogue-heavy. I love a lot of stuff in translation.” WritingTryingDifferentGraceInfluenceToughMy FavoriteTranslations Author:Molly Antopol
“The stories I love the most are where the author has a lot of empathy for everyone. The author loves their characters and takes their situations really seriously, and you feel like you're just dropped into a different world.” WorldDifferentCharacterSituationLike YouEmpathy Author:Molly Antopol