Word: eps
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...EP: None are about one specific experience of mine, but all are informed by my experiences. None of the characters are me or people I know, but they all have parts of them...
...EP: First I think of the situation I want the story to show, then I pinpoint who the characters will be. Probably five of the stories will be in the third person, a little more than half. Generally if a main character is very distant from me and my experience, I will write him or her in the third person. I should probably deviate from this at some point...
...EP: I was inspired by some John Updike stories. One in particular inspired me to write about older people, “Playing with Dynamite.” For the most part before that I had written about younger people. I like George Saunders a lot—how he addresses the absurdity of suburban living—but I don’t think I write like him. I’ve also been inspired by Barry Hannah, Flannery O’Connor, Bobbie Ann Mason and many others. Basically everything I read influences the way I think about...
...EP: Yes. The town is not unlike where I grew up in Maryland. But it has no name...
...EP: First I think of a general idea that would be interesting for a story. A story I just wrote is about a young immature mother who is jealous of her son’s relationship with his piano teacher. Then I try to think of an arc for the story: I decide where the story should be going, where I want it to end up and I think of some scenes and details I want to include. Then the plot usually develops itself further in the process of writing. My stories are generally contained—they aren?...