Maria Semple
Maria Semple
Maria Keogh Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of This One Is Mineand Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth17 June 1964
CountryUnited States of America
famous pick
My summer reading suggestion: Pick a really famous, really long novel.
novelist novels took
I must say, it was a lot easier writing novels than I thought it would be. I think it's because I'm a novelist at heart, and it took me a while to figure that out.
early figure individual unique voice worldview
It was important for me early on to find the voice of each character and figure out what was unique about them and their individual worldview that I could use for comedy or conflict.
characters filled good grew head mind seemed
My father was a screenwriter, and I kind of grew up in that world. I always had a mind for characters and dialogue, and my head was filled with that stuff, so it seemed like a good place to start.
joke shake watch
I'm not the comedy police, but you watch a movie, and everyone's laughing, and then you shake it out, and you realize, 'There's no joke there!'
shocking
My first novel didn't sell well. It was really painful and humiliating and shocking to me.
home my-boyfriend coming-home
I'll see something awful on the street and I'll come home and say to my boyfriend, "I just saw the funniest thing on the street." It's a stance. It's the way I was born, or the way I was damaged.
writing thinking good-things
I think one of the good things about writing novels is that you always start from scratch.
writing
Anything I write I ask myself: Is it true, is it entertaining?
writing people trying
I spend my whole life trying to put up a front to prevent people from seeing certain parts of me. Weirdly, when I go to write, I feel like I have to expose it, almost compulsively.
constant holding life love people reading talking thinking turning
The one constant in my life has been my love of books: reading them, thinking about them, talking about them, holding them, turning people on to new ones.
dark thinking world
My way of looking at the world is that if it is true, it is funny and it is dark. No matter how dark it is, I just think it is funny. I can't help it.
full literary original submit
Some people, especially literary people, they think, 'I'll write this original script, and it will be full of ideas. I'll submit it, and they'll hire me for television.' That's not the case.
amazon buy resolved
On Jan. 1, 2012, I resolved to not buy anything from Amazon for a year.