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" I always tell my students to complicate your characters: never make it easy for the reader. Nobody is ever one thing. That's what makes characters compelling. "

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" At 28 years old, seven years out of college, I was so convinced that my voice outed me as a fag that I had stopped speaking to people I didn't know. "

Marlon James

College

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" My first novel, 'John Crow's Devil,' freed me up to write about the past, and 'The Book of Night Women' freed me up to have a book totally based on voice and being very spontaneous. "

" The fiction writer in me likes gaps in stories because I can jump into that gap and try to suggest something. "

Marlon James

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" I wanted a picture of Jamaica that isn't in books, and certainly not in novels. "

" Pretty much everything I've written is a mix of excitement and fear. "

" Caribbean literature only has to be true to itself. It doesn't need colonialism or imperialism. It's always been vibrant. "

" 'The Daily Mail' interviewed my friends in Jamaica to find out if I was ever the victim of a vicious homophobic attack because, to them, I'm a gay refugee. But nothing like that happened. So, no surprise, that story didn't appear. I'm really pretty boring. "

" There was never a single murder in my neighbourhood; there was barely a robbery. It was so suburban, it was almost disappointing. "

" In 1976, Rastafarians were one of the most violated, persecuted groups in Jamaica. They could be beaten within an inch of their lives, or detained for two years, just for being found in a 'proper' neighbourhood. "

" I grew up with reggae. Reggae is like family. I know it, and there's a type of love and familiarity, but sometimes you want to hang out with other people. "

" Some of the craziest aspects about 'Weeper' were the things I found out to be true. I mean, true of people. "

" I'm really interested in how non-American countries process race. "

" If your depiction of loss doesn't make the reader feel loss, then you didn't depict it right. "

" We're not big on irony in Jamaica, sarcasm and double-talk. We tend to say things plainly, sometimes to the point of boredom. "

" Not every gay person recites poetry or has read Keats. You can get readers through anything if the characters are complicated. You can't dismiss Josey Wales' quite liberal worldview. "

" I come from a very big family from every economic background. Some of the streets I talk about, I've actually walked on because I have family from there. Jamaica has so many contradictions. "

" If reggae comes from another country, you can have the relationship to reggae that I have to rock. But it's something I grew up with. It's probably something I appreciate more now. In the '80s, I was all about New Wave and synth pop - New Order and Depeche Mode and Eurythmics and Michael Jackson and tons and tons and tons of Prince. "

" I find the violence in PG13 movies unbearable. This kid will never run home, never have another birthday. His death is slow, nightmarish. And you have to explore the consequences - the people who live on with this death. "

" We shouldn't romanticize rejection. There's nothing romantic about rejection. It's horrible. "

" What I find, particularly with young writers and readers, is that they don't want complicated feelings. "

" I think the Greeks were the only people ever to nail character. Their heroes are deeply flawed. "

" A lot of time, I'd spell things in standard English instead of phonetically because I want people to understand what's going on. It's also very lyrical, and the great thing about lyrical prose is even when you're not totally sure of the words, you can be swayed by the musicality of it. "

" I think, for me, there's The Book I Should Write and The Book I Wanted to Write - and they weren't the same book. The Book I Should Write should be realistic, since I studied English Lit. It should be cultural. It should reflect where I am today. The Book I Wanted to Write would probably include flying women, magic, and all of that. "

" I was the nerd. Because I was reading. I wasn't into sports. I was really into art. Very geekish about comics. Assumed gay. "