Childhood is a branch of cartography. Michael Chabon More Quotes by Michael Chabon More Quotes From Michael Chabon Bina rolls her eyes, hands on her hips, glances at the door. Then she comes over and drops her bag and plops down beside him. How many times, he wonders, can she have enough of him, already, and still have not quite enough? Michael Chabon eye doors hands ...Landsman doesn't buy that. Bina never stopped wanting to redeem the world. She just let the world she was trying to redeem get smaller and smaller until at one point, it could be bounded in the hat of a hopeless policeman. Michael Chabon hats trying world Every generation loses the Messiah it has failed to deserve. Michael Chabon messiah loses generations But the first lie in the series is the one you make with the greatest trepidation and the heaviest heart. Michael Chabon heart lying firsts [While writing], I'll go anywhere I find that is quiet, has no internet. I have a big internet problem. Michael Chabon problem writing quiet I'm never going to be a Tom Clancy. And I wouldn't really want to be - not that I have anything against him, and I wish him continued success - because that's not why I'm writing novels. I'm doing it because I have to. I feel like I have to, anyway. Michael Chabon wish want writing For me, the goal is always to write a novel that I myself would like to read. People frequently ask me what my favorite book is, and in effect, there's always a capital-F Favorite, capital-B Book that I would like to write myself someday. I try to go for that ideal of writing the best, most entertaining, most beautifully written book that I possibly can. Michael Chabon goal writing book The problems you have as a novelist tend to have to do with making a living and trying to find ways to supplement the income you get from writing novels. For a lot of writers, that involves teaching. In my case, so far, I've been able to get by working in Hollywood with this TV stuff I've been doing. And it's very important, because my wife is a writer, too, and we don't have health insurance through any employer. Michael Chabon wife teaching writing I don't do a lot of foisting, because when it comes to books I don't really like to be foisted upon. Michael Chabon book I might spend 100 pages trying to get to know the world I'm writing about: its contours, who are my main characters, what are their relationships to each other, and just trying to get a sense of what and who this book is about. Usually around that point of 100 pages, I start to feel like I'm lost, I have too much material, it's time to start making some choices. It's typically at that point that I sit down and try to make a formal outline and winnow out what's not working and what I'm most interested in, where the story seems to be going. Michael Chabon writing character book I have a good memory for words, and when I come upon a word I don't know, I remember it, or try to - it's almost like a tic. Michael Chabon remember trying memories I don't have a problem with many uses of the word genre, just certain ones. I have the most trouble when these labels are used to prevent discussion, to prevent a work from being taken seriously as literature. When we say "genre," we generally mean "something crappy," something that would be sold in an airport. Michael Chabon airports taken mean All the preparation in the world doesn't avail you if you can't make that imaginative leap and put yourself in the position of the characters you've created, to imagine what it's like to be somebody else. Michael Chabon preparation character world When I'm writing solitude feels very good. But when I'm not writing it feels lonely... Having a big family solves that problem. Michael Chabon solitude lonely writing I feel that in the past, my style has shown itself to be capable of handling dark and light in the same paragraph, or even in the same sentence. That's something I almost take for granted. I think it was more a concern to get the details right and persuasively recreate the world I was trying to write about. Michael Chabon dark writing thinking That's why school was invented - to give your parents some peace and quiet during the day. Michael Chabon parent giving school There's something inherently more appealing about the idea that you could reveal and tell stories about characters over the course of a TV season - 13 or 26 episodes, whatever it might be - than in the course of one two-hour movie. You can do so many more novelistic kinds of things on a TV show - with time, with gradual development of relationships, and so on - than you could possibly do in a movie. And that is very appealing. Michael Chabon tv-shows character ideas I love the internet and it has been incredibly useful and I have made discoveries that have been immeasurably crucial to my work- things I don’t know how I ever would have found out otherwise, that are perfect, just what I need for whatever I’m doing. Michael Chabon perfect writing discovery I don't think you could teach someone to be a genius, but you can certainly teach them to not make rookie mistakes and to look at writing the way a writer looks at writing, and not just the way a reader looks at writing. There are a lot of techniques and skills that can be taught that will be helpful to anybody, no matter how gifted they are, and I think writing programs can be very good for people. Michael Chabon mistake writing thinking When I turned 50, I started feeling inclined to saying yes to new opportunities. Michael Chabon entertainment