Quote

There seem to be two ways of generating interest from the reader: withholding information or by telling the reader on the first page exactly what's going to happen.

Christopher Bollen

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Christopher Bollen
Age: 48
Born: 1975
Born: November 26
Journalist
Novelist
Cincinnati
Ohio
Seem
Information
Ways
Withholding
Happen
Generating
Interest
Page
First
Telling
Going
Exactly
Reader

More quotes by Christopher Bollen

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I had been going out to Orient for several years.
Christopher Bollen
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My parents were great parents, but for some bizarre reason they allowed me to watch whatever I wanted on TV, we had cable. And I constantly watched horror movies.
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An album for me as a teenager in the '70s was a fully formed concept. It was a body of work from an artist I liked or trusted or who excited me. Maybe one of the songs is really poppy and you listen to it on the radio as a hit single and then more of the world is about to find out about this artist by buying the record.
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It's really hard to write about art in general. But it's exceptionally hard to fictionalize art and make work that isn't a parody, or is something that could withstand critique and exist in the art world as a valuable object, or a true piece.
Christopher Bollen
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My strength is character. I'm pretty good at building walking-talking humans with brains like beehives.
Christopher Bollen
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One day I want to write a full-on horror book.
Christopher Bollen
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There's a structure to a detective story that I can easily understand. I understand playing that particular game. It's like solving a puzzle. Or creating a puzzle.
Christopher Bollen
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I'm convinced I was the only kid ever who had a Death on the Nile [1978] movie poster and a Murder on the Orient Express [1974] movie poster on his bedroom walls.
Christopher Bollen
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I like to be alone, I mean, I really love to be alone more than anything else, and I don't really like to talk about myself to death, and I don't like to share too much, and I don't really have dreams of extreme fame or even extreme respect.
Christopher Bollen
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I just think, as writers, especially with a book that takes years to write, you sort of wake up every morning hoping and praying that you can make it work for the day.
Christopher Bollen
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I was never afraid on stage. That's where I was the least afraid. I could just do what I do and I had the amplification and the lights.
Christopher Bollen
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I smoke cigarettes when I write, which is disgusting, but it really helps me.
Christopher Bollen
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I definitely don't take any of intrusions in my private life personally. You learn how to have a sense of humor pretty quickly. I honestly don't keep up on it unless it's something that would hurt someone else. I can take care of myself, that's not the problem. But it's just not fair to bring anyone else into the picture.
Christopher Bollen
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I really believe there is something in the nature of a democracy that naturally leads people to distrust the government, to assume because a democracy is built by people just like themselves that there must be secret plots and cover-ups and wizards behind the scenes running the machine.
Christopher Bollen
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It's hard for me to figure out where I want to be. But it's definitely in New York. I feel like New York throws different challenges at you and you can be more creative.
Christopher Bollen
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My dad liked more macho adventure books like Shogun or spy novels. My mother reads murder mysteries. In fact, so does her mother, my grandma. That's where I trace the familial line of murder mystery obsession.
Christopher Bollen
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There is something very romantic about the orphan figure in American literature.
Christopher Bollen
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When you create a fence, you keep people out, but you also limit your mobility.
Christopher Bollen
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I feel that I'm solid at description.
Christopher Bollen
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We've come under the influence of television, where in all honesty we can follow a show that could just get cancelled midway through the season and the entire plotline never resolves itself.
Christopher Bollen