“My approach to short stories is to think of each as its own world, with its own parameters, and even its own aesthetics. The tradeoff for the fun and satisfaction this brings
is that I often find myself between them—it can be difficult to gain momentum with a new idea if I’m not finding the ‘right’ language or feeling inspired by some leap of the imagination. It helps then, to immerse myself in other forms and be reminded of what’s possible in art more generally. Movies, even more so than written fiction, must necessarily make a world concrete. I love the mash-up of present and past that Sofia Coppola achieves in Marie Antoinette, how she collapses an historical figure into a vulnerable child, a teenager who feels contemporary. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a paradigm for probing an audacious premise for what is deep and true, for enlivening a human experience. The practice of staying away from the desk for long periods can gain its own kind of momentum, yet some ideas really do just need more time to be worked out at the desk. Ideally, get several ideas cooking at once. What was half-baked and set aside six months before will suddenly be crackling with urgency.”
—Katie Chase, author of Man and Wife (A Strange Object, 2016)
Photo credit: Calvin Eib