Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is. Tim O'Brien activityessentialhard Change image and share on social
Place is so important to me. The Midwest is like a ghost in my life. It's present as I look out the window now. I see Texas, but if I close my eyes and look out the same window, I'm back in my hometown in Worthington, Minnesota, and I cherish those values and that diction. Tim O'Brien backcherishclose share on social
I received my draft notice right after graduation from college and had three months before going into the Army in September to think about it. Tim O'Brien armycollegedraft Change image and share on social
Unlike Chicago or New York, small-town Minnesota did not allow a man's failings to disappear beneath a veil of numbers. People talked. Secrets did not stay secret. Tim O'Brien beneathchicagodisappear Change image and share on social
In February 1969, 25 years ago, I arrived as a young, terrified PFC on this lonely little hill in Quang Ngai Province. Back then, the place seemed huge and imposing and permanent. Tim O'Brien agoarriveback Change image and share on social
The world comes at me that way - comes at me in clumps of stuff, sometimes little vignettes and sometimes whole stories. And then the rest is erased by the internal filter that erases things for the same reason you'd forget swatting a mosquito. Tim O'Brien clumperasefilter share on social
'The Things They Carried' is labeled right inside the book as a work of fiction, but I did set out when I wrote the book to make it feel real... I use my own name, and I dedicated the book to characters in the book to give it the form of a war memoir. Tim O'Brien bookcarrycharacter share on social
When writing, I'm not thinking about war, even if I'm writing about it. I'm thinking about sentences, rhythm and story. So the focus, when I'm working, even if it's on a story that takes place at war, is not on bombs or bullets. It's on the story. Tim O'Brien bombbulletfocus share on social
Above all, a well-imagined story is organized around extraordinary human behaviors and unexpected and startling events, which help illuminate the commonplace and the ordinary. Tim O'Brien behaviorcommonplaceevent Change image and share on social
Stories are not explanations of the world we live in. Science does that, and math does that. Our obligation as fiction writers is to enhance the mysteries. Tim O'Brien enhanceexplanationfiction Change image and share on social
