Etgar Keret

Generally, all my life, I have had strong friction with life - I was a problematic soldier, I was kicked out of the army, I was in fights. There was something about writing that was a way of experimenting with this emotion. ”

I rarely return to characters. My characters, at least most of them, are much more a part of that superorganism that is the story than separate and independent creatures. ”

I see creative-writing classes as some sort of AA meeting. It is more of a support group for people who write than an actual course in which you learn writing skills. This support group is extremely important because there is something very lonely about writing. ”

In Israel, the role of the writer is dictated by the language in which you write. Writers see themselves as cultural prophets. ”

I have to admit that talking authoritatively about my students' stories can make me feel, at times, like an astronaut who has just landed on a new planet and insists on giving guided tours to its inhabitants. ”

I always have a story in my head that needs to be written, or at least I think I do. But I usually can't find the time to write it. ”

I don't have Facebook or Twitter accounts yet. Being a compulsive storyteller, I always make up for myself discouraging stories about how such accounts will get me into embarrassing and time-consuming situations. ”

I was first introduced to Kafka's writing during my compulsory army-service basic training. During that period, Kafka's fiction felt hyperrealistic. ”