“Workshops are where you first start hearing people say really dumb things about your writing and wher you first start developing an ability to deflect those comments, or at least not let them change what you initially wanted to do with a particular story. You need that kind of armor to survive as a writer.”
the Bret Easton Ellis interview (by Jon-Jon Goulian) in the new Paris Review is PERFECT IN EVERY WAY (via emilygould)
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BEE comes off as serious, sincere, and hardworking in this interview, as someone who cares about reading and writing way more than he’s given credit for. (I especially love the shout-outs to Lorrie Moore, both for her op-ed hating on American Psycho and as the best short story writer of her generation.)