“But it's hard for me to pinpoint where all my characters and dialogue come from - imagination or real life. My memoir, of course, was all about my past, and many of the short stories cleave very closely to my life, but the more stories I wrote in the collection, the more that seemed to be invented, but who knows... I think I'm writing about a young woman with acne who shoplifts, but I'm really writing about myself.” ThinkingKnowsWritingRealHardCharacterStoriesPastYoungCoursesImaginationReal LifeMemoirDialogueCollectionsShort StoryYoung WomenMy PastAcne Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“The benefit of writing a collection - as opposed to a novel - is that I'm able to have some version of the war in each story without having to comment on its all-encompassing nature. Turn the page and here are new characters and new situations, but the war remains... Isn't that how life has been for us for over a decade?” WritingHas BeensWarCharacterStoriesAbleTurnsSituationNovelBenefitsPagesRemainsDecadesVersionsCollectionsCommentNew Situations Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“Of course, I had a paradigm of a certain city in my head when I wrote these stories, a city that inspired my imagination, but it was only inspiration.” StoriesInspirationCertainCoursesImaginationCitiesInspiredMy ImaginationParadigm Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“I don't work with an outline, except a vague one in my head, a general idea of character, place, arc... I'm like a composer with a symphony in their head: I can hear the music, I just have to figure out how to put it down on paper. But I don't always know where my stories are going when I begin.” KnowsI CanIdeasCharacterStoriesFiguresPaperComposerVagueSymphonyOutlinesArcs Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“When the ending finally comes to me, I often have to backtrack and make the beginning point towards that ending. Other times, I know exactly what the ending will be before I begin, like with the story "A Brief Encounter With the Enemy." It was all about the ending - that's what motivated me.” KnowsStoriesEnemyEncountersMotivated Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“Love and happiness inextricably combined? I wanted love stories to coincide with war stories, I wanted hope for my characters, I wanted a sense of a future. So do they. So does the reader. But perhaps I shouldn't speak for everyone when I say that love and happiness are interdependent. In my own experience, happiness came with love. Specifically, my wife. That's when my own apathy and stasis ended for good.” DoeWarCharacterStoriesWantedSpeakMy OwnWifeReaderMy WifeLove StoryApathyHappiness And LoveWar StoriesStasisWanted Love Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
