Andre Dubus: Eavesdrop and use what sticks
When your art imitates real life, it resonates.
In Townie, author Andre Dubus' son gives a window into his father's creative process...
"Muscle memory," Pop said the words slowly to himself, the way he'd always done whenever he heard a line or phrase or human situation that intrigued him. Usually it would end up in a published story of his months or years later...
We talked awhile, then I told him about the gym where I was working out, about a bumper sticker on the locker of one of the powerlifters there: I don't know how I feel till I hold that steel.
"What," he said. "Tell me that again."
A few years later they became the opening line for his novella The Pretty Girl.
Eavesdrop and use what sticks. When your art imitates real life, it resonates.
Screenwriter Brian Koppelman often posts clips where he describes overhearing real conversations and how they’d work as dialogue in scripts. For example:
Similar vibe at overheardnewyork on IG too:
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