“The thematic links came a little later, after I noticed I was gravitating towards certain elements - war, city, weather. So it wasn't all planned out from the start, it came out of the process.” LittlesWarCertainProcessCitiesElementsWeatherLinksThematic Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“Since most of the action of the war actually happens off the page (offstage), I wanted to give the characters something they had to contend with on a daily basis, some sort of obstacle. Weather seemed to be the one great equalizer regardless of your station in life - when it snows, everyone is inconvenienced to a certain degree. Plus it's tactile, weather, it affects the skin.” GivingWarCharacterHappensActionWantedCertainDegreesPagesSkinsBasesObstaclesSnowWeatherStationsPlusEqualizerTactile Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“An initial impulse of mine was to portray the way in which a city is impacted by war. But this is vague, no? After all, how do you actually have an entire city - or country, for that matter - be a character a reader can follow? One way is by making it smaller and personalizing it, by writing specifically about the citizens and the way they contend with the reality, even minutiae, especially minutiae, of their lives.” WayWritingWarCountryMatterCharacterRealityCitiesMinesReaderCitizensOne WayImpulseVagueInitialsMinutiae Author:Said Sayrafiezadeh
“I was trying to hold up a mirror to this country, to reflect the past years or so, and the varying degrees in which we've been affected by the war(s) that doesn't seem to end. And we've all been affected somehow, even if we have no connection to the military, even if we don't know anyone who's killed or been killed. No one escapes something so large.” IfsKnowsTryingYearsWarEndsCountrySeemsPastMilitaryDegreesConnectionsMirrorsAffected 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
“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
