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" I'm always trying to switch voices and genres. "

Colson Whitehead

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" I was allowed to write about race using an elevator metaphor because of Toni Morrison and David Bradley and Ralph Ellison. Hopefully, me being weird allows someone who's 16 and wanting to write inspires them to have their own weird take on the world, and they can see the different kinds of African American voices being published. "

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" I'm of that subset of native New Yorkers who can't drive. "

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" I usually have two or three ideas floating around. When I have free time, the one I end up thinking most about is the one I end up pursuing. "

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" If self-absorption, vague yearnings, and a nagging sense of incompleteness are sins, then surely I will burn for all eternity, and I will save you a seat. "

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" In '82 and '83, that was the rise of the VCR. Every Friday, my brother and I would go to Crazy Eddie's - which was a video store in Manhattan - and rent five horror movies. And that's basically what we did, basically, for three years. Becoming social misfits. "

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" I take inspiration from books, movies, television, music - it all goes in the hopper. Depending on the project, I'm drawing from this or that piece of art that has stayed with me. Toni Morrison, George Romero, Sonic Youth - they are all in there. "

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" 'John Henry Days' was already half in the can before my first book came out, so I'd already started something that was big and sprawling - I just had to finish it. "

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" Monsters are a storytelling tool, like domestic realism and close third. "

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" I'm not a representative of blackness, and I'm not a healer. "

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" If the world's nations can set aside their petty bickering over religion, politics, and territory, certainly I can 'get that Olympic Spirit' and rise above my prejudices. "

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" I'm someone who just likes being in my cave and thinking up weird stuff. "

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" Usually, when I write a novel, it takes me about 100 pages to figure out the voice of the narrator. "

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" A lot of early Misfits song titles are inspired by old B-movies, which were my Popeye's spinach when I was a kid. "

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" It's always hard to write and get your words out there, to find an editor, a publisher - readers! - who are going to appreciate them. "

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" I try to keep each different book different from the last. So 'Sag Harbor' is very different from 'Apex Hides the Hurt;' 'The Intuitionist,' which is kind of a detective novel, is very different from 'John Henry Days.' I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me. "

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" The readership for 'Sag Harbor' was different from people who'd read me before - it was linear and realistic, not as strange as 'The Intuitionist.' Did they carry over to 'Zone One,' a story about zombies in New York? Some, some not. I'm used to people not caring about my other books. "

Colson Whitehead

" I like to explore different ideas of race, how the concept of race has evolved in the country. It's one thing I enjoy talking about, but I don't feel compelled to talk about it. "

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" Some people don't like my fiction, because they prefer the nonfiction. But moving around keeps the work fresh for me and, hopefully, for my one or two readers who follow me from book to book! "

Colson Whitehead

" I try to have each book be an antidote to the one before. "

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" Having a wife and kids drove home the brutal reality of the slave system for me - the price it exacted on families. On the other hand, whenever I despair over our history, I am brought back to hope, the hope that things will get better, for my children. "

Colson Whitehead

" I like questions that tee me up to make weird jokes, frankly. "

Colson Whitehead

" In fifth grade, we did 10 minutes on slavery and 40 minutes on Abraham Lincoln, and in 10th grade you might do 10 minutes on the civil rights era and 40 minutes on Martin Luther King, and that's it. "

Colson Whitehead

" I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction. "

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" There's always an attack on the sophomore novel from some quarters. "

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" Some books are well-received with critics; other books sell. "

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" If you're writing a detective novel or horror or sci-fi, you want to expand or reinvigorate the genre in your own little way. "

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" I'm not a teacher; I'm not a historian. I'm trying to create a world for my characters. "

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" In the apocalypse, I think those average, mediocre folks are the ones who are going to live. "

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" I'm raising kids, and so much of American culture sustains me and gives me things to think about and work on. "

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" I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me. "

Colson Whitehead