Funerals are all abstract ceremony. Chuck Palahniuk More Quotes by Chuck Palahniuk More Quotes From Chuck Palahniuk This would be...a book that would be a trapdoor down into some place dark. A place only you could go, alone, when you opened the cover. Because only books have that power. Chuck Palahniuk would-be dark book No matter how much I try and hide this, bit by bit, I start to fall apart. Chuck Palahniuk falling-apart trying fall We're all going overnight express delivery straight to Hell. Chuck Palahniuk delivery hell Control the things you can control. As for the rest - God bless it all. Chuck Palahniuk things-you-can-control god-bless bless People didn't know who I was or why I was there, so they started inventing stories about me. I was a registered sex offender and I'd just been released from prison and was being forced to do community-service work. I was a murderer, an arsonist - all these horrific things had been projected on me because no one knew what to make of this white guy who showed up and made toast at 5 o'clock every morning. Chuck Palahniuk white morning sex My writing has to excite people and depict or include their experiences. That's part of my process - to go out and interact with people. It's very much like an archival process. I understand that the Brothers Grimm would go out and get people talking so they could document folk tales that weren't being documented any other way. I try to offer a little bit of myself - some experience from my life that evokes stories in other people. Chuck Palahniuk brother writing talking A writer's job is to cultivate what can go wrong. You're always looking for that dramatic arc of where things can fail. Chuck Palahniuk dramatic failing jobs I don't remember the hotel rooms or the airports but I always remember the events. Chuck Palahniuk airports events rooms you ever been trapped in a world where you're everyone's worst nightmare? Chuck Palahniuk worst-nightmares trapped world It only takes one mistake,' the Dan Banyan guy says, 'and nothing else you ever do will matter.' With his empty hand, he takes one of my hands. His fingers feel hot, fever-hot, and pounding with his heartbeats. He turns my hand palm-up saying, 'No matter how hard you work or how smart you become, you'll always be known for that one poor choice.' He sets the blue pill on my palm, saying, 'Do that one wrong thing- and you'll be dead for the rest of your life. Chuck Palahniuk smart mistake blue I hate how on TV they have to fill so many minutes. It means they have to put in anything, and by doing so they sort of trivialize news; news becomes this commodity that they need to fill dead time between commercials with. Chuck Palahniuk hate mean needs The last story you should write is the most important story. You should start with a story that is just an amusing, entertaining, fun story to write and learn your writing chops with the least important things before you start applying them to the most important things. Chuck Palahniuk important writing fun My stories tend to bring people from isolation into community - with at least one other person, usually with a whole community of people - so that they find themselves accepted back by a world that they kind of fled from. Chuck Palahniuk community stories people Real writers write because they love to write. They don't write for public acclaim. Chuck Palahniuk acclaim real writing There was no real sense of life because she had nothing to contrast it with. Chuck Palahniuk fight-club-novel fight-club-book real What we think of as Halloween is really the product of media barons, city mayors, and candy-makers. You know, before the 1920s, Halloween was really a terrible, terrible night. Chuck Palahniuk halloween night thinking My whole life is about forgetting. It's my most valuable job skill. Chuck Palahniuk skills life-is jobs That if you could acquire enough, accomplish enough, you’d never want to own or do another thing. That if you could eat or sleep enough, you’d never need more. That if enough people loved you, you’d stop needing love. Chuck Palahniuk want sleep people Disaster is a natural part of my evolution toward tragedy and dissolution. Chuck Palahniuk evolution tragedy natural That guy behind me on the airplane? He's been kicking my seat because he hates me. He's kicking my seat because he hates me and I'm gonna kill him. When we get off this plane, I'm gonna make eye contact. I'm gonna kill that guy. And all of that is just stuff in my head, but it's good to get rid of that stuff. Chuck Palahniuk airplane hate eye