People really saw themselves in a big way in Elian Gonzalez's story.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
At first, I did stories on people who were maybe just eccentric. Omar was a natural progression from that.
Most writers spend their lives standing a little apart from the crowd, watching and listening and hoping to catch that tiny hint of despair, that sliver of malice, that makes them think, 'Aha, here is the story.'
The story drove the book. That had a very seminal effect on the way I saw writing and storytelling. If you can set a character in a story that is compelling and has a backbone, you draw people in.
Juan Hernandez was an actor out of New York, but what made Juan so great and what made Omar so great was that they both already knew how to box, so we didn't have to take them into a gym and teach them how to throw a left jab.
Kids gave Elon a very hard time, and it had a huge impact on his life.
I always take a story that's kind of out there, like an urban myth. I take some possibility that people imagine, that they are familiar with, and try to turn it into a story.
I was just fascinated with how everyone else in the world lived, and I was interested in telling their story.
I was fascinated that everybody in the story thinks that they're in the right.
The biggest stories are written about the things which draw human beings closer together.
The way to tell a really big story, I think, is to tell a really small story.