When I was raped I lost my virginity and almost lost my life. I also discarded certain assumptions I had held about how the world worked and about how safe I was. Alice Sebold More Quotes by Alice Sebold More Quotes From Alice Sebold I'm just a friendly bystander who they occasionally ask questions of. That's my level of involvement. Alice Sebold bystanders levels friendly Well, it's my voice, so it's more accessible that way, and there are also all sorts of things like plot and timelines that are already known entities, so for me, it's very different from writing fiction. Alice Sebold voice different writing Depending on where I am in the process, sometimes I have a page count and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I have an hour count; sometimes I'm just happy to string a few words together. I do keep pretty rigorous hours, because otherwise you never get anything done. Alice Sebold pages done together I wake up very early in the morning. I like to start in the dark, and I never work at night, because my brain is evaporated by 4 p.m. Alice Sebold dark morning night I'm not a slash-and-burn kind, and I'm also not a posterity kind. They just kind of exist on my hard drive. It's like walking down the street - what you leave behind is still there, even if you never go back and revisit it. Alice Sebold streets behinds kind I mean, if I went into my closet, I could find a previous draft and try to figure that out, but it takes a long time for me to find the voice to tell a story in. I was working from other points of view for a couple years there. Alice Sebold couple views mean A lot of people ask questions that they don't want to answer themselves, and if we're honest about the intimacy that we have with our parents, you wish them the best and you wish them the worst more than anybody else in the world. I think everyone has had a moment in their life where they wished a parent ill, and I think it's perhaps a very romantic idea that that doesn't happen. Alice Sebold people ideas thinking I think that if you're somebody who's a control freak, the process would make you crazy, but I'm kind of a process freak, so I'm excited to see what he does with it. I know it's not going to be my book, so just starting with that knowledge frees me from having to get all freaked out about it. Alice Sebold crazy book thinking Books and novels in particular that grapple with quite a few things are difficult to explain, so I think that first line can come in a substitute for trying to form a longer sense of what the book is about. Alice Sebold trying book thinking I went to church irregularly and was mostly reading comics in the pew. Alice Sebold pew comics church reading I think it's an interesting thing to me, because we have this desire for everything to be explained to us. But if you go through your daily actions, very little ends up having a written-down explanation for why things happen, or why people do specific things. Alice Sebold daily me you people I always had that sense of being censored for the things that I thought. Why is it wrong to embroider your pants, or paint with acrylics on your clothing? Why is that weird? Isn't it weirder to want to be like everyone else? Alice Sebold weird thought always want I find talking about my work harder than it might be if honesty wasn't my calling card. Alice Sebold find honesty work talking I was motivated to write about violence because I believe it's not unusual. I see it as just a part of life, and I think we get in trouble when we separate people who've experienced it from those who haven't. Alice Sebold violence life believe people I wanted to be a novelist for so long. Alice Sebold novelist wanted long I think understanding is the way to gain perspective - and therefore can live among those hideous realities. You can live with them. Alice Sebold think you perspective way To me, the idea of heaven would give you certain pleasures, certain joys - but it's very important to have an intellectual understanding of why you want those things. Alice Sebold me you understanding heaven I'd like to go back to poetry again. I really, really revere good poetry. It's been my private discipline. Alice Sebold good go discipline poetry We all work hard to understand the dynamic relationship we have with a parent. Alice Sebold work-hard parent work relationship I'm gradually working through my obsessions, and maybe, when they're all free and clear, I'll write a comedy. But I'm not there yet. Alice Sebold write free through comedy
