Tao Lin
Tao Lin
Tao Linis an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published three novels, two books of poetry, one short story collection, and one novella in print as well as an extensive assortment of online content. His third novel, Taipei, was published by Vintage on June 4, 2013...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 July 1983
CityAlexandria, VA
CountryUnited States of America
confused humorous character
I like Bret Easton Ellis' sense of humor. I feel like mine is sometimes similar to his. And how his characters sometimes seem really confused in a humorous manner. I like that. And I have that sometimes in my characters.
nice weather listening
I was delivering pizzas at Domino's. I was 17 maybe. I liked it a lot. Just driving in the nice weather and listening to music.
girlfriend messages text-message
I cried when my ex-girlfriend sent me a text message saying how much she liked my present to her.
accurate looks
My face always looks bored or depressed. It's not an accurate impression.
opinions secretive society
I'm not being secretive about anything. I just actually don't have opinions about society.
arts facial funny major obituaries people
I think it would be funny for people to read in obituaries of me that my major contribution to the arts was the popularization of the phrases 'neutral facial expression' and 'screaming in agony.'
affects choose editing music published songs time type within words
I don't think music affects what words I choose to type in what order, within what punctuation, at this point, because I'm rereading and editing each sentence, at this point, in my published books, probably 100-150 times each, on average, and listening to probably 20-60 different songs in that time.
amount certain sure terms time whenever worked
I feel 'proud' whenever I feel that I've worked on something for a certain amount of time with a certain amount of attention. I'm not sure if I think in terms of 'pride' though.
experience focused written
I haven't written about an immigrant experience because I haven't experienced that before and am focused on existential themes.
almost music specific time
I listen to music almost any time I'm not sleeping, 'hanging out' with specific people, or showering.
certain context discern effect effects good
I can discern that certain things have an effect on certain other things, but I don't view those effects as good or bad. If a context and a goal is defined, I could say if it's good or bad. But overall, I don't view things as good or bad.
accurate closer creating meaning static view
I don't view my memory as accurate or static - and, in autobiographical fiction, my focus is still on creating an effect, not on documenting reality - so 'autobiographical,' to me, is closer in meaning to 'fiction' than 'autobiography.'
I like most any place if I have Internet access.
poetry wrote
My first book was poetry, but I didn't write it first. I wrote it third. So my first two books were prose.