For me, 'The Kite Runner' became about a guy who's emotionally shut down because he hasn't confronted his past.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
John Currin's exaggerated realism and his twisted women kept me off balance, never knowing if they were sincere or ironic or some new emotion.
Atticus Finch. That's who I want to be when I grow up. He's the greatest guy ever - a good dad, a good lawyer, doing the right thing. And he knows he's not supposed to win, but he's doing it anyway.
I'd say Rob Reiner's 'When Harry Met Sally' is my all-time favorite. It made me realize there's a way of telling a story where the audience is so in love with the characters that they forget you're even telling a story.
The Dumas memoirs - which I also discovered when I was a kid - had a big impact on me.
When I was a teenager, the number one book I was most obsessed with was 'Gone with the Wind.'
When I was growing up, the top movies dealt with grown-up, complex emotions.
The book I always say that influenced me, subconsciously, because at the time I didn't know I wanted to be a writer, was William Goldman's 'Marathon Man.' That was the first adult thriller that I loved. I read it when I was 15 or so, when my father gave it to me.
I was fascinated by a compelling character embroiled in a controversial topic that told the story from a different point of view.
My favorite movie is 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' with Clint Eastwood, a guy who gets his family killed by the bad guys then goes on a journey of revenge, eventually discovering himself - very existential.
All the old school Young Adult novels inspired me. I grew up reading R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Richie Cusick, and so on. I loved how you never really knew who the 'bad guys' were in their works, and I wanted to capture that feeling with 'Don't Look Back.'
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