There was a lot of tension between my dad and his mother and brothers. Sometimes when I was over there, I remember thinking, "I don't want to get shot." Scott McClanahan More Quotes by Scott McClanahan More Quotes From Scott McClanahan I just realized that I never look at a painting and ask, 'Is this painting fictional or non-fictional?' It’s just a painting. Scott McClanahan just-realized painting looks Writing should be like skirts. Long enough to cover what it needs to cover and short enough to maintain interest. Scott McClanahan skirts writing long Most book things now (with a few exceptions) are just built around nice, safe books written for nice and safe book club readers. These are usually the books you see on display at Barnes and Noble. These Internet writers are like literary terrorists to me. They're training as we speak. They're getting ready to invade. They're building an army. Scott McClanahan army nice book We like something because someone else liked it. Scott McClanahan like-something I have no interest in being a trained ballerina. People should dance how they want to dance. I want to be the funky chicken. Scott McClanahan ballerina want people We're artists. We cry out to be exploited on some level. Write a dissertation on my work. Write a biography about me. Scott McClanahan levels artist writing Fashion costs money, but songs are free. You can write them for free and you can sing them for free and they can infect those around you or the people from the future and they can sing them for free too. Scott McClanahan fashion writing song You can write songs about your comic books and the girl or boy you sort of know and your mom and dad and it's all right there in front of you. Scott McClanahan girl mom song Fellini is a just a province kid. Rome exists for Fellini, not the other way around. Scott McClanahan rome kids way New York exists for me. Not me for it. Scott McClanahan new-york "He Stopped Loving Her Today" a fascinating book about the making of a record. Really, to be honest, it has some of the best George Jones anecdotes I've ever read, like cocaine psychosis causing this personality called "the Duck." Scott McClanahan psychosis ducks book It's like that where these little anecdotes come through, and I guess that's what I like about books like that [He Stopped Loving Her Today]. Fiction now is so experiential. Scott McClanahan anecdotes book fiction [He Stopped Loving Her Today] is all about the experience of being alive and the thought process of consciousness, and then you have these polemical essay-type things going on for a couple decades now. Some of these music books are where you're going to see an anecdote of a person behaving without some kind of commentary. Scott McClanahan anecdotes couple book The whole exploitation thing is funny, too. Exploitation is the nature of the world, isn't it? Scott McClanahan exploitation whole world There's always tons of crap music people are trying to sell us - [it's] the same way with publishers and galleries. Scott McClanahan trying people way I think all good art is outsider art. Scott McClanahan outsiders art thinking In memoir, can you really tell the truth about yourself? You're not going to write about your little peccadilloes, like, "I like a finger in my ass during sex." Or whatever it is. You're not going to come out in typical everyday conversation and say that. That's something that's going to be only for a select few. Scott McClanahan everyday writing sex Only cool people care about the origin stories of why they like something, and I'm not cool. Scott McClanahan care stories people I don't think anybody does anything anymore without commenting on why they're doing it or making fun of it as they're doing it. Scott McClanahan doe fun thinking I'm sure we're going to find out one day that the brain is as worthless as the appendix. Scott McClanahan appendix one-day brain
