Sometimes the work of a given story is to trace the contours of a question or a problem, and the story ends the moment the question snaps into focus or the problem reveals itself. That’s very different from trying to answer the question or solve the problem.
“Even more than I ever wanted to write a book, I wanted to have health insurance.”
But we are hopefully past the stage where the Anglophone world is only willing to provide space for three, four “big” writers per country/language at a time.
I sought out ways to capture the feeling of euphoria surrounded by pain; how memories worm themselves into everything.
Podcast #9: Tristan Foster & Kyle Coma-Thompson
A conversation between Tristan Foster and Kyle Coma-Thompson, co-authors of the new book 926 YEARS.
Our culture has a very specific and somewhat rigid preconception of what a Wall Street trader looks like, and I wanted to write a character who challenged that preconception.
So a good way to make myself write an essay is to nurture and cultivate a small obsession. Like a Chia Pet.
How could the alpaca consciousness not be affected by all this?
We’re all in over our heads – like residents of the underworld, dimly aware of another world above – but we’re also blissfully (or willfully) oblivious to so many perils around us, because that obliviousness allows us to keep moving, like Wile E. Coyote, even when there’s no longer any solid ground underfoot.
When all of the prescribed actions are over, now how do you behave? There is no prescription for two weeks after the funeral, or five weeks after the funeral.