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
shocking
My first novel didn't sell well. It was really painful and humiliating and shocking to me.
character characters consistent growth narrative needed reason remain week wrote
One reason I find all this character growth and narrative swerving so exhilarating is because I never got to do it when I wrote for TV. Our characters needed to remain consistent from week to week.
amazon buy resolved
On Jan. 1, 2012, I resolved to not buy anything from Amazon for a year.
boring feels level life nobody responsibility tells
When you become a parent, that's a whole new level of life intruding. Nobody tells you how boring and time-sucking it's going to be! Or how the responsibility feels like an airbag going off in your life.
gets steer
I steer clear of any novel that gets billed as a 'meditation.'
I know what it's like to feel snobby; I know what it's like to feel anxiety; I know what it's like to feel like busted because you're crazy.
thrill
I just feel like there's this illicit thrill in reading other people's mail and spying on their lives.
art people relate turning
I guess that's what art is: Turning something painful into something people can relate to.
mind
I don't mind finding these ugly sides to my personality and exaggerating them because that's something you can write towards.
held ted
I attended TED in 2007 and 2008, the last two years the conference was held in Monterey.
Even when I was writing 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' I started to appreciate Seattle's many charms.
both complex reads
Both 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' and my first novel, 'This One is Mine,' are pretty complex on a story level, and fun reads as a result.
good tv work
And dialogue, I'm good at it, and it's because it's the only thing you have to work with in TV writing.
menace society
An artist must create. If she doesn't, she will become a menace to society.