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Like someone excitedly relating a story, only to find the words petering out, the path gets narrower the further I go, the undergrowth taking over.

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Writing things was important, wasn't it? Nakata asked.'Yes, it was. The process of writing was important. Even though the finished product is complete...more

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Writing from memory like this, I often feel a pang of dread. What if I've forgotten the most important thing? What if somewhere inside me there is a d...more

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I believe that I have not been fair to you and that, as a result, I must have led you around in circles and hurt you deeply. In doing so, however, I h...more

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It just happens to be the way that I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.

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If she did experience sex--or something close to it--in high school, I'm sure it would have been less out of sexual desire or love than literary curio...more

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The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remain...more

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If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings.

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Language is very tough, though, a tenacity that is backed up by a long history. However it is treated, its autonomy cannot be lost or seriously damage...more

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I love pop culture -- the Rolling Stones, the Doors, David Lynch, things like that. That's why I said I don't like elitism.

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I write weird stories. I don't know why I like weirdness so much. Myself, I'm a very realistic person. I don't trust anything New Age -- or reincarnat...more

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Like most novelists, I like to do exactly the opposite of what I'm told. It's in my nature as a novelist. Novelists can't trust anything they haven't ...more

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A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey,this is no time for sleepin...more

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As I suspect is true of many who write for a living, as I write I think about all sorts of things. I don't necessarily write down what I'm thinking; i...more

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My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly where I set down each and every o...more