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I feel that I'm solid at description.
Christopher Bollen -
It's really hard to write about art in general. But it's exceptionally hard to fictionalize art and make work that isn't a parody, or is something that could withstand critique and exist in the art world as a valuable object, or a true piece.
Christopher Bollen
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I was a very scared child.
Christopher Bollen -
I really believe there is something in the nature of a democracy that naturally leads people to distrust the government, to assume because a democracy is built by people just like themselves that there must be secret plots and cover-ups and wizards behind the scenes running the machine.
Christopher Bollen -
My dad liked more macho adventure books like Shogun or spy novels. My mother reads murder mysteries. In fact, so does her mother, my grandma. That's where I trace the familial line of murder mystery obsession.
Christopher Bollen -
My parents were great parents, but for some bizarre reason they allowed me to watch whatever I wanted on TV, we had cable. And I constantly watched horror movies.
Christopher Bollen -
It's just as political, what you do in the bedroom is just as political as what you do in public.
Christopher Bollen -
One day I want to write a full-on horror book.
Christopher Bollen
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The Greeks really believed in history. They believed that the past had consequences and that you might be punished for the sins of your father. America, and particularly New York, runs on the idea that history doesn't matter. There is no history. There is only the never-ending present. You don't even have your family because you moved here to get away from them, so even that idea of personal history has been cut at the knees.
Christopher Bollen -
It is a little out of touch to presume that someone wants to follow your every observation and insight over the course of hundreds of pages without any sort of payoff. That's why writing isn't a one-way street. You have to give something back: an interesting plot, a surprise, a laugh, a moment of tenderness, a mystery for the reader to piece together.
Christopher Bollen -
I like to be alone, I mean, I really love to be alone more than anything else, and I don't really like to talk about myself to death, and I don't like to share too much, and I don't really have dreams of extreme fame or even extreme respect.
Christopher Bollen -
I also remember when I watched Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 1990 at, like, age 15. That scared the crap out of me. Because it didn't operate inside the usual conventions of the horror genre in the way that I could accept. I can accept horny teenager counselors being murdered at camp. But I couldn't accept the derangement of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which was that anyone could be murdered at any moment - whole families, with no build-up music and no meaning. It terrified me.
Christopher Bollen -
I have to say I do read partly for escapism. Why can't I escape and learn something?
Christopher Bollen -
The death drive is parasitic. It runs off of other drives, leeching off of them.
Christopher Bollen
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There are certain moments where artwork might seem like it's part of someone's career - if you really know the art world - , but I did my best to prevent that overlap.
Christopher Bollen -
I just think, as writers, especially with a book that takes years to write, you sort of wake up every morning hoping and praying that you can make it work for the day.
Christopher Bollen -
Secrets are never secure because they are always at risk of being found out.
Christopher Bollen -
If you've been in the art world for more than eight years, you realize another generation is making the exact same work as the previous generation - but treating it like it's never been done before. It becomes very cyclical very quickly.
Christopher Bollen -
I smoke cigarettes when I write, which is disgusting, but it really helps me.
Christopher Bollen -
There's something about fear and aesthetic that go hand in hand.
Christopher Bollen
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When you create a fence, you keep people out, but you also limit your mobility.
Christopher Bollen -
I also wonder why is it that so many of the movies and books that are detective stories are also the most aesthetically interesting? From Hollywood noirs to horror movies like The Shining 1980.
Christopher Bollen -
Talking to all those great writers and artists for the magazine was a form of graduate school for me.
Christopher Bollen -
There seem to be two ways of generating interest from the reader: withholding information or by telling the reader on the first page exactly what's going to happen.
Christopher Bollen