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" You know the way there are two kinds of actors - the De Niro kind who's always De Niro, and then somebody like Daniel Day-Lewis, who transforms himself eerily? Well, I aim to be the Daniel Day-Lewis kind of writer. I don't have a house style. "

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" I'm constantly saying, 'I read a fascinating article in 'The New Yorker'... ' I say it so often that sometimes I think I have nothing interesting to say myself, I merely regurgitate 'The New Yorker.' "

Emma Donoghue

Interesting

Myself

Say

" I think the only difference between me and other people is that when I hear of an interesting historical incident, I immediately write it down and Google it. "

Emma Donoghue

Down

Interesting

" I love it when novels contain a broad cast of characters, including queer ones. "

" Writers should be applauded for their ability to make things up. "

Emma Donoghue

Should

Make

" For all that being a parent is normal statistically, it's not normal psychologically. It produces some of the most extreme emotions you'll ever have. "

" A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places. "

" I hate desks; they make me feel like a child doing homework. "

" I'm not at all snobby about book prizes and how they pollute the world of literature. Just like with the Olympics, a little bit of competition gets people truly engrossed in the business of literature. "

" There's no neutral language about travel. Either travel is described in ways that make it sound kind of shallow or just glossy or silly or a way for rich people to spend their time; or else travel is often described in quite derogatory ways, you know, like immigrants swarming across borders, for instance. "

" I'm really not one of these procrastinators who cleans the house in order to put off writing, but life gets in the way. "

" Some writers can produce marvelous plots without planning it out, but I can't. In particular I need to know the structure of a novel: what's going to happen in each chapter and each scene. "

" I would say I have sort of a natural gift for character, and following one person's point of view at a time, and dialogue, but I'm not naturally good at strong plot. "

" Every parent has those moments where they look at their child and think, 'There's a demon in those eyes and no one can see it but me!' "

" Identity politics are wearisome; you don't want to go on speaking for any one group as a writer. "

Emma Donoghue

Group

Identity

" The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side. "

" I have never been depressed or thrown a plate, which I attribute to the cathartic effects of writing books about people whose lives are more grueling than mine. "

" The way to my heart is through Belgian milk chocolate. "

" Kids delight in 'magical thinking', whether in the form of the Tooth Fairy or the saints: whether you see these as comforting lies or eternal verities, they are part of how we help kids make sense of the world. "

" I am clumsy, a late and nervous driver, and despise all sports except a little gentle dancing or yoga. "

" I'm finding that success is way more time-consuming than failure ever was. "

Emma Donoghue

Failure

Success

" I tend to be so lost in the work that I don't notice the weather. My partner will come home and say, 'Beautiful day, wasn't it?' and I'll say, 'Was it?' as I won't have noticed the real world at all. "

" I've been writing full-time since I was 23. "

" Any parent knows how to be the ideal parent. "

" I come out of an academic background, and I'm aware that what I'm doing is simultaneously research and fiction. I want to meet both those obligations. "

" I read three books a week. "

" You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well. "

" I remember a period where my publisher said to me, 'Look, your historical work is selling much better than your contemporary work, so please give us more historicals.' "

Emma Donoghue

Remember

Better

" I got in the habit of giving away a book as soon as I've finished it because I lived in a housing co-op at Cambridge and had no space to keep books. "

" I'm named after Jane Austen's Emma, and I've always been able to relate to her. She's strong, confident but quite tactless. "

" Ah yes, the paradox of publicity is that even as we do it, we know it's killing off the chance of another reader happening across our book in the ideal state of innocence. "