Kate Braverman
Kate Braverman
Kate Bravermanis an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She was raised in Los Angeles, which is the focus for much of her writing...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
falling imply landscapes love marriage women
Falling in love with landscapes is what L.A. women do. It doesn't necessarily imply betrothal or marriage.
angeles area bizarre exists los outside publishing screens shallow trained work york
There's a bizarre prejudice that exists in the New York publishing establishment that any work outside the tri-state area is being done by trained chimpanzees, that geography screens out sensibility. There's an idea that all Los Angeles writing is about the movie industry, that it's vulgar, shallow and banal.
acts books dangerous deal internal madame toxic work written
I've written books as acts of discovery: things I need to know and that I need to touch. And it's very dangerous work to deal with the most toxic internal elements... I feel like Madame Curie at my computer. I feel like I should be hemorrhaging from my eyes and ears.
writing heart hunting
Writing is like hunting. There are brutally cold afternoons with nothing in sight, only the wind and your breaking heart. Then the moment when you bag something big. The entire process is beyond intoxicating.
elements revolution flutes
The Peruvian flute music is . . . cool. In this music, they have not yet invented the industrial revolution that leads to excessive punctuality or the failed experiment they call the nuclear family. This is the music of elements, untarnished, unrehearsed.
writing illumination flare-up
Whenever I get lost in a novel I just throw a poem in. What it does is flare up, and it's so illuminated that I'm able to see where to go. I write between these illuminations.
ifs
If you can be anything else but a writer, be it.
writing sound logic
I write a lot by sound. One sound leads me to another. These sounds aren't random; they have their own logic.
writing thinking giving
writing is about doing something very close to the bone. It's about shocking yourself. When I write, I like to make myself cry, laugh - I like to give myself an experience. I see a lot of writing out there that's very safe. But if you're not scaring yourself, why would you think that you'd be scaring anybody else? If you're not coming to a revelation about your place in the universe, why would you think anyone else would?
dimes ability
I have a great ability to improvise verbally and I am very funny on a dime.
mourning historical citizens
As a citizen of the post-historical variety, I am in continual mourning and prepared for worse.
children talking clothes
Like I'm dragging bundles of old clothes? I'm carrying artifacts that breathe fire. I'm talking about a language of smoke. These are three-dimensional creatures that can mate. I'd no more leave them go by the side of the trail than I would my child. I'll carry them until someone amputates my arms.
writing moon pyramids
All good writing is built one good line at a time. You build a novel the same way you do a pyramid. One word, one stone at a time, underneath a full moon while the fingers bleed.
tattoo children real
I know California isn't a real destination. You can't get there from New Jersey, not simply by following a line drawn on a map. The process of arrival is more subtle and complex. It involves acts of contrition. You must appease the gods. You must find novel forms of penance. You must tattoo your children and look at the wonder. It's about conjuring and awakening and intuitions you wish you never had.