I have to remind myself that all is permissible. Art has to be a free space. Language has to be a free space. And I just shouldn’t worry about that kind of thing while I’m working. I might pay the consequences later, but that’s not my problem while I’m doing the writing.
Over at the Atlantic, William T. Vollmann explains why an old Persian proverb by Hassan the Assassin—”Nothing is true; all is permissible”—is the most useful mantra for his writing process.
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