Maria Semple
Maria Semple
Maria Keogh Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of This One Is Mineand Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth17 June 1964
CountryUnited States of America
fun letters novel plot puzzling together
'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.
blamed felt found move novel poisonous seattle state stuck
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.
books deeply delightful expect good move novel reach roar
When you need a good laugh, do you reach for a book? I don't. I expect books to move me deeply and submerge me in another reality. So when a novel makes me roar with laughter, it's always a delightful surprise.
adapting hands last main mess novel problems work
Writing a novel is so hard, and there are so many problems that the last thing you're thinking about is adapting this mess you have on your hands as a movie. You just want to get it to work as a novel. That's your main focus.
certain change characters complexity necessary novels
Novels demand a certain complexity of narrative and scope, so it's necessary for the characters to change.
given needs novel represent specific time
I think a novel has to be about where you are at a given moment in time. I think it really needs to represent some specific pain you're going through. it's not just a story.
novelist novels took
I must say, it was a lot easier writing novels than I thought it would be. I think it's because I'm a novelist at heart, and it took me a while to figure that out.
form itself love novels presented wildly
I love epistolary novels and became wildly excited when the form presented itself to me.
gets steer
I steer clear of any novel that gets billed as a 'meditation.'
I know what it's like to feel snobby; I know what it's like to feel anxiety; I know what it's like to feel like busted because you're crazy.
thrill
I just feel like there's this illicit thrill in reading other people's mail and spying on their lives.
art people relate turning
I guess that's what art is: Turning something painful into something people can relate to.
mind
I don't mind finding these ugly sides to my personality and exaggerating them because that's something you can write towards.
held ted
I attended TED in 2007 and 2008, the last two years the conference was held in Monterey.