I don't feel any ethical dilemma when I write. In my memoir, I was able to write with candor about the two most difficult people in the world to writ…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

The benefit of writing a collection - as opposed to a novel - is that I'm able to have some version of the war in each story without having to commen…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

Such platitudes as "If you believe it, it will happen," "If you give 100%, you get 100%," "Good things happen to good people" people utter when we do…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

Love and happiness inextricably combined? I wanted love stories to coincide with war stories, I wanted hope for my characters, I wanted a sense of a …

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

[Ending] is partly drawn from a desire to shock the audience, to brutally de-romanticize what many Americans think is happening overseas. And partly …

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

When the ending finally comes to me, I often have to backtrack and make the beginning point towards that ending. Other times, I know exactly what the…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

I was trying to hold up a mirror to this country, to reflect the past years or so, and the varying degrees in which we've been affected by the war(s)…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

I sometimes have to write for a while before I figure it out, pretend that I know what I'm doing, sort of like ad-libbing on stage until you remember…

- Said Sayrafiezadeh

I don't work with an outline, except a vague one in my head, a general idea of character, place, arc... I'm like a composer with a symphony in their …

- Said Sayrafiezadeh