Michael Chabon joined us for a video interview to talk about "Telegraph Avenue," his creative process, reaching a point of despair, whether it's risky to write across gender and race, and "really really really long sentences." And how the invented world of a novel can be made real, as it comes alive on film or even on a film's sets, and that's like stepping into a dreamscape.
In the interview, Chabon talks about world building in his novels. He considers whether it's easier to create a fiction that's based in the pop culture we know or to invent an alternative reality. For "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," he had to decide if a Yiddish-Alaskan community would have Mickey Mouse and, if so, what they would call him. But for "Telegraph Avenue," he just had to walk into a record store.
