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" The marketplace tells us that good, visceral storytelling has a place. But there are lots of questions about the format that stories take. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Good
Place
Questions
Related Quotes:
" The young adult category is particularly interesting to me in terms of science fiction and fantasy tropes. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Young
Me
Fantasy
" When we talk about dystopias, especially in young adult fiction, a lot of them are essentially science fictional futures. They aren't necessarily tied to the traditional concept of dystopia. And so in that space, my impression is that kids love reading about weird, wild, adventurous places, and dystopia fits that bill. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Weird
Science
Space
" I focus a little more on pacing when I write books in the young adult category, and of course there's the great American fear of anything sexual, so that's somewhat backed off in YA. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Fear
American
Off
" I started really thinking a lot about where does a country go when we stop being able to speak to each other, when a nation stops being able to solve problems because its ideological differences become so deep that it just becomes dysfunctional. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Problems
Country
Thinking
" When we live the 21st-century good life, almost every aspect of it is predicated on not looking at the implications of what we're up to. Happiness at this point has a lot to do with not looking, so you don't feel complicit in some vast and awful enterprise. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Life
Looking
Up
" I think inherently, a little bit, I'm a bit of a pleaser, and I want people to like me and be nice, and to not ruffle feathers and just make everybody happy and stuff. It's a personality flaw. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Happy
Think
Personality
" We're all happier when we know less, because the details are frightening and haven't really improved much. The more you pay attention, the more horrifying the world is. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
World
You
Know
" When I think about myself as a writer, for sure I am a science fiction writer. The tools of extrapolation, the tools of anticipating the future - those are science fictional questions. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Science
Future
I Am
" Novelists want to be published and need a publisher to decide to print 20,000 copies. So you need to entertain on some level. I want to reach out and connect. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Need
Connect
Decide
" I think that, when I think about the future that 'The Water Knife' represents, it's one where there's a lack of oversight, planning and organization. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Future
Planning
Think
" I know people who have gone into career death spins, and that's something you're always aware of as a writer. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
People
You
Always
" When somebody keeps telling you, 'This book is amazing,' you sort of have this pleasing instinct to say, 'Oh, let me make you happy again; let me do that trick again.' "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Me
Book
Amazing
" I'm not proud of it, but I'm a great liar when I travel. I smile and lie, and things are smooth. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Liar
Lie
Proud
" I am interested in agricultural corporations and how they function. The idea that they own the genetics of our food supply is a really compelling thing to me. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Me
Own
Genetics
" Maybe storytelling belongs in audio - a short story is the length of a commute. That can be a sacred spot where you have the ear of the reader without having to compete with other media like games or TV. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Story
You
Storytelling
" I don't put a very clear label on my work. If anything, I write science fiction - looking at a moment now, in the present, and then extrapolating outward to think about what the future might look like if this particular trend goes on, or if this particular trend is the most dominant. That's a science fictional tool. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Future
Moment
Science
" The loneliest Chinese man I ever met lived halfway up the Three Gorges, in Sichuan Province. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Lived
Man
Three
" Businesses that decide to be reality based and identify where they're vulnerable to climate impact, that start thinking about how to buffer against it, are going to be able to take advantage of shortages. When the water runs out, not everyone is in the same pickle. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Impact
Water
Thinking
" I didn't think of myself as writing 'cli-fi,' but I'll take the label. I'll take any label that makes someone think they might be interested in my stories. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Think
Someone
Stories
" People don't actually stay still, you know - when their area is a disaster, they go somewhere else, right? And that's just a natural human impulse. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
People
Disaster
Go
" Economies are embedded inside ecosystems. Companies dependent on tourism, for example, are affected by low rainfall - there's less snow for skiers, and forest fires are more intense. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Tourism
Low
Inside
" Everyone in China knows The Topics. The television stations and newspapers run the same state-generated stories all across the country, and the Chinese form their opinions based on these somewhat controlled sources. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Country
Television
Same
" I'm less crazy and unhappy when I'm writing. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Crazy
Writing
Unhappy
" I'm really interested in how conflicts arise and how they reach points of no return. I'm no pacifist. Sometimes force is necessary. But war is a choice. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Return
Reach
Choice
" I'm interested in how we react when we're heavily pressed. When we're vulnerable and our survival is in question, how do we behave? "
Paolo Bacigalupi
React
How
Question
" I think that we live in a highly specialized, technologically advanced society. Highly developed societies tend to have very remote understandings about what underlies our prosperity. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Our
Society
Think
" Originally, 'The Windup Girl' started as a short story - a very gnarly, complicated short story set in Bangkok that didn't work very well. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Girl
Work
Story
" Teens want to read something that isn't a lie; we adults wish we could put our heads under the blankets and hide from the scary story we're writing for our kids. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Writing
Hide
Lie
" As an author, you're really grateful for the people who are supporting you, but on some other level, that can be a dangerous echo chamber. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
You
Grateful
Level
" I don't know why we choose to reach out to help another person, or why we decide that we can't, and withdraw and try to care only for ourselves, but I'm fascinated by that choice. "
Paolo Bacigalupi
Care
Choice
Choose