I don't know if it's a failure of imagination on my part, but I'm not going to be writing about Paris in the 1800s. I feel like it would come off as just ludicrously uninformed, even if I did a lot of research. Maria Semple 1800sfailurefeel share on social
When I graduated high school, I was one of many English-majors-to-be traveling through Europe with a copy of 'Let's Go Europe' in one hand, 'Anna Karenina' in the other, a Eurail pass for a bookmark. Maria Semple annabookmarkcopy Change image and share on social
One reason I find all this character growth and narrative swerving so exhilarating is because I never got to do it when I wrote for TV. Our characters needed to remain consistent from week to week. Maria Semple characterconsistentexhilarate Change image and share on social
Novels demand a certain complexity of narrative and scope, so it's necessary for the characters to change. Maria Semple changecharactercomplexity Change image and share on social
I think that's the most important job of a novelist - to bring authority to their writing. Maria Semple authoritybringimportant Change image and share on social
'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' is an epistolary novel - one told in letters. I had no idea how much fun it would be, puzzling together the plot with letters and documents. Maria Semple bernadettedocumentepistolary Change image and share on social
I naively thought I would quit television writing, move up to Seattle, my novel would come out, and then I'd have a novel writing career, and so I found myself really stuck in this very poisonous self-pitying state and felt like I'd never write again. And I blamed Seattle for that. Maria Semple blamecareerfelt share on social
When I came back from my first TED, very few people knew what it was. But around the time I was sitting down to write 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' in 2010, TED was exploding. Maria Semple backbernadetteexplode Change image and share on social
I just feel like there's this illicit thrill in reading other people's mail and spying on their lives. Maria Semple feelillicitlive Change image and share on social
On my walks, that's when the good ideas come. The kind of hard, gritty work is when you're sitting at the computer and it's kind of intense and you're kind of in super control of it - the walks are when you let go. That's when the really big breakthroughs come in, and it's very strange. Maria Semple bigbreakthroughcomputer share on social