Novelists are in the business of constructing consciousness out of words, and that's what we all do, cradle to grave. The self is a story we tell.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
All writing is an act of self-exploration. Even a grocery list says something about you; how much more does a novel say?
Novels are a kind of experiment in selfhood, for the reader as well as for the author.
I think there's a natural link between the fact that our self is a story that we make up and that we're drawn to stories. It resonates, in a way.
Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression? Go and ring a bell in a yard if you want to express yourself.
Really, as a writer, I believe that if you're going to write about your own life, you need to do it as honestly and candidly as you are capable.
Every writer, to some extent, writes about himself.
However far fiction writers stray from their own lives and experiences - and I stray pretty far from mine - I think, ultimately, that we may be writing what we need to write in some way, albeit unconsciously.
A writer needs a life of introspection.
I don't really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident.
It is so common to write autobiographical fiction in which your own experience is thinly disguised.
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