I got a call from Mick Jagger. When I was writing my Henry James term paper, I got a call to appear on the Today Show. I was interrupted when I was working as a clerk in a liquor store in Syracuse by a call from the vice president of Paramount, asking me if I could fly out the next day and, you know, talk about movie ideas. It was all unexpected.—Jay McInerney, interviewed by Victoria Blake

I didn't want to divide the story into different sections with the past, the far past, and then the present where she's older. I wanted to blend them together. When people think deeply about anything, their minds dismantle time and see things together, and I wanted to capture that feeling where things are happening all at once.—Mary Gaitskill, interviewed by Sarah Anne Johnson

However, something compelled me to write in third person, and after the first few paragraphs, it became clear that the freedom of the omniscient point of view was seducing me away from the shores of nonfiction.—Laura Valeri

I will tell you what I learned. Never let go of your vision. Listen to the opinions of teachers and friends and agents and publishers, but listen closer to your own voice. It is your job to bring your vision to someone. It is not your job to bring their vision to someone. That is not what art is all about.—Ron Savage

Also in issue 51, you'll find two full-page Focus pieces:

• Looking Back, by Andrew Porter
• Sinopia for the Writer's Toolbox, by Lisa Graley

One issue, $6 in the U.S. We will add $3 for shipping to Canada, $4 for overseas.

To SUBSCRIBE, click here!