I write very raw, ugly, illiterate first drafts very quickly (novels are always in first draft in under a year) and then I spend years and years fine-tuning, revising, editing, etc. What inspires me? Who knows. I am not inspired that much. That’s why I write long form fiction - I am not much of a short story writer. Ideas come seldom, but when a good one comes, I really stick to it and see it out. I’m a problem-solver - I've never thrown out an entire manuscript; I've always forced myself to repair it until it was a lovable thing again.
It [9/11 tragedy] was the spectacle, what al-Qaeda gets its main power from - why their terrorism truly earns the word "acts." They are very theatric… - Porochista Khakpour
It [9/11 tragedy] was the spectacle, what al-Qaeda gets its main power from - why their terrorism truly earns the word "acts." They are very theatric…
- Porochista Khakpour
In South Pasadena, artists were around but invisible somehow. Even though it was just a fifteen-minute drive from Downtown LA, it felt worlds apart. … - Porochista Khakpour
In South Pasadena, artists were around but invisible somehow. Even though it was just a fifteen-minute drive from Downtown LA, it felt worlds apart. …
I wanted to literalize the surreal here. Those are my favorite kinds of stories. I love when Gabriel García Márquez does that, for instance - it adds… - Porochista Khakpour
I wanted to literalize the surreal here. Those are my favorite kinds of stories. I love when Gabriel García Márquez does that, for instance - it adds…
I guess none of the sides of my hyphen are particularly subtle cultures. But perhaps there is also a sense that these characters are all parentless -… - Porochista Khakpour
I guess none of the sides of my hyphen are particularly subtle cultures. But perhaps there is also a sense that these characters are all parentless -…
Because for me to go fully experimental, it would turn into an artist book actually. And I'm not opposed to that. But I wanted to toy with the conven… - Porochista Khakpour
Because for me to go fully experimental, it would turn into an artist book actually. And I'm not opposed to that. But I wanted to toy with the conven…
Addiction is a very compelling subject for literature - especially now that it's nearly impossible to come out of adult experience without some addic… - Porochista Khakpour
Addiction is a very compelling subject for literature - especially now that it's nearly impossible to come out of adult experience without some addic…
I both loved and hated South Pasadena. On the one hand, it was so diverse - all my closest friends were immigrants or had immigrant parents. On the o… - Porochista Khakpour
I both loved and hated South Pasadena. On the one hand, it was so diverse - all my closest friends were immigrants or had immigrant parents. On the o…
But literature, I discovered, can also save you. Truly. Over the cliché and through the truth, it can save. - Porochista Khakpour
But literature, I discovered, can also save you. Truly. Over the cliché and through the truth, it can save.
There is less gray area there, less doubt. There is a security in being some thing all the way. Our culture, too, encourages this way of being - exag… - Porochista Khakpour
There is less gray area there, less doubt. There is a security in being some thing all the way. Our culture, too, encourages this way of being - exag…
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