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" 'What It Is' was based on this class I've been teaching for 10 years - I wanted to write a book about writing that didn't mention stuff like story structure, protagonists, and all those things that we know about only because they already exist in stories. "

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" The happy ending is hardly important, though we may be glad it's there. The real joy is knowing that if you felt the trouble in the story, your kingdom isn't dead. "

Lynda Barry

Story

You

Trouble

" I tried to be like the richer kids as much as I could because I wanted to live on their streets, at least hang out on their streets and eat their amazing food and walk barefoot on their shag carpets. I became something of a pest in that way, and in general, other people's parents didn't like me. "

Lynda Barry

Parents

Live

" I go to work the minute I open my eyes. "

Lynda Barry

Work

Open

" Humor is such a wonderful thing, helping you realize what a fool you are but how beautiful that is at the same time. "

" If I didn't try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time. "

" For horror movies, color is reassuring because, at least in older films, it adds to the fakey-ness. "

" Race and class are the easiest divisions. It's very stupid. "

" Kids don't plan to play. They don't go: 'Barbie, Ken, you ready to play? It's gonna be a three-act.' "

" My mom didn't want me to go to college. She didn't want me to read - when I read, I may as well have been holding a pineapple. "

" Sometimes I think I'm the craziest person on the planet. "

" I am about as detailed as a shadow. "

Lynda Barry

Shadow

About

" My childhood is always going to limit me. "

Lynda Barry

Limit

Going

" Whenever I do a book, I'm usually guided by a question or something that I'm trying to tease out. "

" If I had had me for a student I would have thrown me out of class immediately. "

" I look crazy. I know I do. Been true since I was a kid! "

" I am not sure how much I would like being married if I wasn't married to him. A man who likes flea markets and isn't gay? I knew I was lucky. "

Lynda Barry

Lucky

Man

" 'Good Times' is a story about the loss of innocence, how adults are responsible for their actions but children aren't. "

" When you learn about stories in school, you get it backward. You start to think 'Oh, the reason these things are in stories is because a book said I need to put these things in there.' You need a death, as my husband says, and you need a little sidekick with a saying like 'Skivel-dee-doo!' "

" Playing and fun are not the same thing, though when we grow up we may forget that and find ourselves mixing up playing with happiness. There can be a kind of amnesia about the seriousness of playing, especially when we played by ourselves. "

" I live in constant fear of being fired or dropped for that dark part of my work I can't control. "

" In my writing class, we never, ever talk about the writing - ever. We never address a story that's been read. I also won't let anyone look at the person who's reading. No eye contact; everybody has to draw a spiral. And I would like to do a drawing class where we could talk about anything except for the drawing. No one could even mention it. "

" Love will make a way out of no way. "

" I grew up in a house that had a whole lot of trouble. As much trouble as you could imagine. "

" For 'Picture This,' I wanted it to be a drawing book that didn't have any instructions about drawing, beyond the real simple stuff you'd find like in a Bazooka bubblegum wrapper, or in 'Highlights' magazine. I just wanted it to be feelings about looking and seeing and pictures. "

" The minute you understand racism, you're responsible for being racist. It's like eating from the tree of knowledge. "

" I was unable to sleep and I would stay up and draw these little cartoons. Then a friend showed them around. Before I knew it I was a cartoonist. "

" The thing that really struck me when I went to junior high was class. I grew up on a pretty poor street, but the school district I was in included some fine neighborhoods - so I got to know a couple of the kids from those places and went to their houses and experienced such culture shock. "

" I listen like mad to any conversation taking place next to me just trying to hear why this is funny. Women's restrooms are especially great. I wash my hands twice waiting for people to come in and start talking. "

Lynda Barry

Women

People

" I remember my comic strips being called 'new wave.' It bugged me. "

" I do dumb stuff, like playing my favorite dumb Barry White song and lip-synching into the mirror so it looks like his voice is coming out of my mouth. "