Norman Mailer distrusted extensively researched novels. He said, "I feel in a way that one's ignorance is part of one's creation, too."
Mailer's outsized ego triggered his taking great pleasure in making trenchant pronouncements and outrageous innuendos during interviews, but he meant what he said in this interview. Too much research and not enough story line yields an encyclopedic treatise, not a compelling narrative. Of course, we should ground what we write on reality, but facts are not what moves our readers; rather, our interpretation of those facts and an imaginative exploration into their underlying value are what keep them turning pages.
Mailer's outsized ego triggered his taking great pleasure in making trenchant pronouncements and outrageous innuendos during interviews, but he meant what he said in this interview. Too much research and not enough story line yields an encyclopedic treatise, not a compelling narrative. Of course, we should ground what we write on reality, but facts are not what moves our readers; rather, our interpretation of those facts and an imaginative exploration into their underlying value are what keep them turning pages.
