To Conform Is To Lose Your Soul

I'm Being Provided With Some Emotional Ballast By Giving Me An Intimate Portrait Of One Character In Particular In Contrast To The Collective. I'm Fortunate That I Had Very Sympathetic Readers, But Ordinarily - If A Book Makes You Laugh Too Much, It Shifts From "literature" To "entertainment."

Every Time You Hear Someone Read Your Book And Liked Your Book, You're Never Sure Whether That's Going To Follow With A Similar Remark From Someone Else. Perhaps I Have Low Expectations, But Whenever I Hear Someone Say, 'i Liked Your Book,' I Don't Know If It's Going To Happen Again.

I Think Comedy Is So Much Easier To Do On The Page Than It Is In Real Life. When I'm Writing, Comedy Is An Easy Way To Win Over The Reader. You're Automatically More Disposed To Keep Reading, Thinking Maybe, "i'll Get Another Laugh Or Two." I Think It's A Survival Instinct In Me. I Mean, You Don't Want To Lose These Guys Within Five Or Ten Pages. You Want Them To Keep Going. I Think To Some Extent It's A Desperate Measure That I Throw Out There, Because A Novel Isn't A Complete Waste Of Time If It Made You Laugh.

Being Serious Is Serious Business In Fiction. It's Commercial Or Hoi Polloi In Fiction To Be Funny. It's Too Accessible To The Great Unwashed.

One Thing That I Discovered About Myself Is I Really Don't Like Traveling. I Feel Like It's A Terrible Personal Failing, But I Was So Satisfied To Arrive At The Conclusion.