'If you can surprise yourself with your writing then it’s a lot more fun, and it’s a lot more interesting. That often involves creating characters you’ve never met or writing people that are not like you.’
Granta Magazine’s Luke Neima speaks to Rachel B. Glaser about being one of Granta’s 2017 Best of Young American Novelists.
They discuss the mystery of fiction, constructing stories out of Lego blocks, and the importance of surprising yourself with your writing.
Read Rachel’s story Day 4 in Granta 139.
Order a copy of her novel Paulina & Fran .
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘She sat sweating on the curb as her mother’s narrow face hovered over the parking lot like a hologram.’
‘When she reached her hand into his underwear, again she felt the turtle.’
‘Fiction is like those amazing robots that build other robots.’
Rachel B. Glaser shares five things she’s reading, watching and thinking about right now.
‘Confusion is the only natural response to the world, the alternative would be to just fall in with everyone else’s plans.’
’In my inferno of solitude, I thought there must be some reason why I was doing what I was doing.‘
